Roddick wins in San Jose

For the third time in his career Andy Roddick has won the SAP Open title in San Jose. He defeated Radek Stepanek 6-4, 7-5 in the finals to claim the 24th title of his career. Roddick was playing in his first ATP finals since winning in Washington last August. He now has a 24-13 record in finals, with 14 of those title coming on hard courts. Roddick previously won this title in 2004 and 2005, but lost in the semifinals the last two years. This was only Roddick’s second tournament of the year, with his other coming at the Australian Open. This week he is playing in Memphis, where he will face Gilles Muller in the first round.

For Stepanek, he is now 2-5 in ATP finals and was making his San Jose debut. He is currently 8-4 on the season and he improved his ranking three spots to #31 in the world. He, like Roddick, is playing in Memphis this week and will face American Jesse Levine in the opening round.

Sharapova stays perfect

World #5 Maria Sharapova continued her great play in 2008 by winning the Qatar Total Open in Doha. She defeated Vera Zvonareva 6-1, 2-6, 6-0 in the finals to win this title for the second time in her career. Sharapova is now 14-0 on the season, having won seven matches at the Australian Open, two in Fed Cup acti0on, and five more in Doha.

The win gives Sharapova six Tier I titles, and she is now 18-7 in WTA finals. She is playing this week in Dubai, where Justine Henin is the defending champion. Sharapova will face the very talented Agnes Szavay in the first round.

Nalbandian wins in home country

Top-seeded David Nalbandian won his eighth career title over the weekend at the Copa Telmax in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Nalbandian defeated fellow Argentine Jose Acasuso 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 in the finals to capture his first title since winning back-to-back Masters Series events late last year. With the win, Nalbandian moved back into the top 10, and is now ranked #8 in the world.

Nalbandian is now 8-7 in ATP finals, and before this year he had never gone farther than the quarterfinals in Buenos Aires. He is playing this week in Acapulco, and will face Boris Pashanski of Serbia in the first round.

Llodra wins second title of the year

Frenchman Michael Llodra wrapped up his second title of the year with a come-from-behind victory over Robin Soderling in the finals of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam. Llodra won 6-7(3), 6-3, 7-6(4) to claim his third career ATP singles title. Llodra joins Andy Murray as the only other player on tour to win two titles this year.

Academy student Larcher de Brito to play this morning

Fifteen-year old Michelle Larcher de Brito will play in her second career WTA-level tournament today. Previously, Larcher de Brito won her opening round match in her debut at the Sony Ericsson Open last year. Now, after receiving a wild card, she will play in the Regions Morgan Keen Championships in Memphis against Stephanie Cohen-Aloro in the first round. That match is first on Stadium court this morning at 10:00am Central Time. Good luck to Michelle!