After the Asian swing, the men’s tour moved to Europe.  Last week, events were held in Moscow and Stockholm.  This week, there were three tournaments played at the same time: St. Petersburg, Vienna, and Lyon.

These are the kinds of tournaments that allow players not named Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, and Murray a chance at the title.

As such, the winners are not the usual household names.  In Lyon, Croat Ivan Ljubicic won over Michael Llodra of France, 7-5, 6-3.

In St. Petersburg, Sergiy Stakhovsky beat Argentine Horacio Zeballos, the 8th seed, 2-6, 7-6 (10), 7-6 (9).

In Vienna, the only event where the top seed made the final, veteran Jurgen Melzer, the hometown player, beat top seeded Marin Cilic, 6-4, 6-3.

Next week, the tour turns to two ATP 500 events: Valencia and Basel in Switzerland where Roger Federer returns to action after having skipped the Asian tour due to fatigue and injury.