After the first week of the ATP season, Novak Djokovic, Ivan Ljubicic and Xavier Malisse were the happiest men on tour after respectively winning titles in Adelaide, Doha and Chennai.

Adelaide saw the introduction of the round-robin system for the first time on the ATP Tour. During the group phase, seven of the eight groups were won by a player with a 100 percent record (two wins from two). Group four had to be decided by percentage of sets won after Joachim Johansson, Florent Serra and Gilles Simon ended the round-robin action with a win each. Johansson’s straight-sets win over Simon proved crucial and enabled the Swede to progress.

The biggest shock of the group phase saw Lleyton Hewitt knocked out by Igor Kunitsyn, and soon after losing his coach, too, as Roger Rasheed jumped ship claiming that ‘‘within the current environment, I don’t believe it is possible for us to get the results we are looking for.’’ Hewitt has since pulled out of Sydney and his participation in the Australian Open may also be in doubt.

The quarter-final line up consisted of some the younger talents on tour expected to achieve greater things in the years ahead -- Djokovic, Juan-Martin Del Potro and Richard Gasquet. Frenchman Gasquet fell at the quarter-final stage to Chris Guccione, an Australian wildcard. Djokovic safely moved into the last four, while Del Potro had his quarter-final delayed by rain. With the prospect of having to play two matches in a day to reach the final, the 18-year-old Argentine crushed Kunitsyn for the loss of just two games.

The semi-final was a far tighter affair and eventually it was Guccione who progressed, winning 7-5 in the third. Djokovic ensured his passage to the final with a straight-sets win over Johansson (who, like Del Potro, had to play twice in a day).

For the first time in the tournament, Djokovic was taken the distance, but still prevailed over Guccione to claim the third title of his career.

In India, many expected to see a long-awaited encounter between Rafael Nadal and David Nalbandian, the top two seeds -- but neither player reached the final. Nalbandian, who celebrated his 25th birthday a day earlier, was knocked out in the first round by Kristian Pless. He cited tendonitis in his left leg as the reason for his early departure, and his participation in the Australian is also not certain. The Argentinian's exit had all eyes focused on world number two Nadal. Without a title since the French Open, the Spaniard was hoping to to claim the title in Chennai and get his 2007 season off on the right note.

After recording three routine victories, Nadal met Malisse in the last four and his tournament came to an end, Malisse triumphing 6-4, 7-6 in an entertaining encounter. Malisse's final opponent was Austria’s Stefan Koubek, who produced some excellent tennis on his way to the final, including two emphatic victories against Paradorn Srichaphan and Carlos Moya.

The Belgian claimed the second title of his career (the last one came in 2005) after a comprehensive 6-1, 6-3 victory. Koubek last won a title in 2003.

The tournament in Doha was without defending champion and world number one, Roger Federer. However, two of the world’s top five, Nikolay Davydenko and Ljubicic, were present. Gael Monfils, a finalist last year, was unable to repeat his performance, losing in straight sets to Mikhail Youzhny. The outstanding showing of the week came from Sweden’s Robin Soderling, who completely outplayed and outclassed Marcos Baghdatis in the quarter-finals. His reward was a semi-final with Ljubicic after the Croat had taken out Youzhny in a third set tie-break. The Croat then repeated the trick in the semi-final, after Soderling had to contend with the disappointment of being unable to serve out the match at 5-4 in the third.

In the other half of the draw, the seeds upheld their rankings, as Davydenko faced Andy Murray in the last four. Murray had lost his previous two encounters with the Russian and on this occasion was able to gain a measure of revenge by winning 7-5, 6-2. The final between Ljubicic and Murray began with a 14-minute game, where Ljubicic was able to eventually hold serve. The big-serving Croatian went on to claim the title 6-4, 6-4, picking up his seventh career title. Up to 2005, Ljubicic had only won one title, but has won six in the past couple of years during the best period of his career.

The ATP Tour moves on to Auckland and Sydney before the first Grand Slam of the year in Melbourne begins on January 15.

(Article at http://sportsmagician.blogspot.com/ )