`Yes, Virginia, there is tennis after the US Open.

Historically, this tennis has two parts: the Asian swing, which is primarily held outdoors, and the European swing, which is primarily held indoors.  This year, the tour has decided to mix it up, holding two events in Europe earlier than it usually does.  Normally, St. Petersburg is held the week after Shanghai.

St. Petersburg has the weaker of the two draws.  Mikhail Youzhny, who has seen better days, is ranked 29 in the world but is the top seed.  Jurgen Zopp, ranked 77 in the world, is the 8th seed.  Russians, like Nikolay Davydenko, have opted to skip this and play Metz (in France) instead.  A few years ago, Andy Murray used to play this event.

When seeds are ranked this low, the seedings almost don’t matter.  Upsets are bound to occur.

Even so, three of the top four seeds made it to the semi, including Youzhny, Klizan, and Fognini.

Martin Klizan is likely the only one you’ve never heard of, and he’s still the second seed.  Klizan made a big run at the US Open.  Remember how Jo-Wilfried Tsonga lost in the second round?  He lost to Klizan.

Klizan is not exactly a young new phenom.  He’s 23 from Slovakia, which makes him only moderately young.  Andy Murray, who has been toiling for some time, is 25.

Even so, Klizan has had one of his best years on tour, esp. on the Challenger tour on clay.  He made the finals of Rabat, Morocco (a Challenger event) in March, then won in Marrakech (also Morocco) the following week.  He reached the finals of Prague in May, and won the event in Bordeaux the following week.

He reached the semis of Kitzbuhel in July, an ATP event, then won San Marino, a Challengers event, before reaching the fourth round of the US Open, showing he can play on hard courts as well.

Klizan is a long, thin lefty and plays the usual steady baseline game.  He and Youzhny played a very close match with Youzhny taking the first set in a tiebreak, then Klizan taking the second set, 64, and the two playing a long tiebreak in the third for Klizan to win.

Klizan will play Fabio Fognini in the final who beat Daniel Gimeno-Traver of Spain in the semis.

Back in France.

Gael Monfils, formerly of the top ten, has had, yet another injury to recover from.  Metz has the stronger field with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as the top seed.  At 48th in the world, Nikolay Davydenko, who took a wildcard, was the 8th seed.  Davydenko would have been the third seed in St. Petersburg, only missing out for the second.  Gael Monfils, whose rank has slipped to 44, is the 7th seed.

Monfils showed he was capable of playing good tennis despite time away from the tour.  He reached the semis where he lost to Andreas Seppi who had a very nice summer, perhaps his best yet.  Tsonga, the defending champ, needed 3 sets to topple the Russian.  Tsonga plays Seppi tomorrow in the finals.