New Haven wrap

The unusual combination of heavy rain and a giant with a headache cost me a nice little profit in New Haven this weekend.

Under normal circumstances, you would expect Ivo Karlovic to bludgeon his way past Mardy Fish, however on this occasion the exertions of having to play a couple of three setter's back to back the previous day because of the rain, meant that Ivo didn't really feel very well, bless him.

So, once Karlovic lost the first set on a breaker (no, really), there was no way back and the bedraggled looking Croatian succumbed meekly in straight sets, citing a headache as his excuse for a lethargic effort in defeat.

So, not much in the way of profit this week, thanks to a lack of Nurofen in New Haven and James Blake went on to claim his tenth ATP Tour title with a straightforward victory in the final over his mate Fish.

In the women's event, my US Open tip, Svetlana Kuznetsova claimed her first title of the year in unusual fashion, when her opponent, Agnes Szavay, became Svata's third opponent in a row to retire against her.

Szavay had a great tournament though, coming through qualifying to make the finals and she took the first set against Kuznetsova, before a back injury forced her out after losing the first three games of the second set. She could be one to keep on the right side of for the remainder of the year.

Hopefully, this sort of good fortune will continue for Sveta the whole way through the US Open which starts tomorrow.