A LOOK BACK
Wind Energy Holding Bangkok Open (Bangkok, Thailand): Fifth seed Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia showed off the form that’s taken him as high as No. 8 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, moving past Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia in the Bangkok championship match, 6-3, 7-6(1). It was his 12th Challenger title in total and first since August at the $125,000 event in Qingdao, China. Tipsarevic, who continues his ascent towards the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings, rises to No. 118. Kavcic, meanwhile, continued his run of form in Bangkok, having won the Challenger title there in September.

City Of Onkaparinga Tennis Challenger (Happy Valley, Australia): Peter Gojowczyk started 2017 on a high note with a convincing win in the final over local favourite and wild card Omar Jasika, 6-3, 6-1. This is the German’s fifth Challenger title and first since prevailing in September 2015 in Nanchang, China. Tecnifibre player Jasika was competing in his first Challenger final.

Challenger BNP Paribas (Noumea, New Caledonia): Top seed Adrian Mannarino of France lived up to the billing by defending his Noumea crown over Nikola Milojevic of Serbia, 6-3, 7-5. Mannarino didn’t drop a set throughout the week. The 28-year-old has excelled in Noumea throughout his career, having also prevailed in 2013. The 21-year-old Milojevic was also competing in his first Challenger final.

WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID
Tipsarevic: “Winning the first Challenger in Bangkok means a lot to me. You start the year with a win and it gives you a lot of confidence. I’m coming back from a serious injury and these matches I’ve won will only help my goal to come back faster.”

Jasika: “Peter played an unbelievable match. I couldn’t really do anything about it. Sometimes you have to take your hat off and say ‘Too good.’”

“I’ve definitely got a lot of confidence going into the Australian Open now. I’m happy I got a lot of matches this week and I’m definitely not complaining.

A LOOK AHEAD
There are two Challengers on the calendar this week, with the $75,000 event in Canberra, Australia, taking top billing. All eight seeds are inside the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings, with World No. 63 Jan-Lennard Struff of Germany as the top seed and World No. 68 Gerald Melzer of Austria as the second seed. #NextGenATP star Quentin Halys and Wimbledon junior champion Denis Shapovalov are also in the draw.

Bangkok also hosts another $50,000 tournament this week. Tipsarevic will look for another title as the top seed, while Christian Garin of Chile is the second seed.

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Rohan Bopanna and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan topped Indian countrymen Purav Raja and Divij Sharan 6-3, 6-4 to win the Aircel Chennai Open doubles title on Sunday. It was the first all-Indian final at the ATP World Tour 250 tournament in 22 years.

Bopanna/Nedunchezhiyan saved four of the six break points they faced and won 86 per cent of their first serve points to claim victory and the title in 65 minutes. This was just their second event as a team after a quarter-final showing in Chengdu last fall (l. to Shamasdin/Siljestrom). They are the first all-Indian duo to win the Chennai crown since 2011 (Mahesh Bhupathi/Leander Paes).

Bopanna/Neduncheziyan beat Marcelo Demoliner/Nikola Mektic in the first round, saved three match points to defeat James Cerretani/Philipp Oswald in the quarter-finals and ousted fourth seeds Nicholas Monroe/Artem Sitak in the semi-finals before claiming the crown. They will split $24,240 in prize money and 250 Emirates ATP Doubles Team Ranking points.

The 36-year-old Bopanna has now won 15 doubles titles, while Nedunchezhiyan’s previous best result was a semi-final showing in Chennai last year with Somdev Devvarman (l. to Krajicek/Paire).

As runners-up, Raja/Sharan will split $12,740 in prize money and 150 Emirates ATP Doubles Team Ranking points.

Next Gen ATP star Thanasi Kokkinakis made a dream return to the ATP World Tour when he teamed with fellow Australian Jordan Thompson to win the Brisbane International title Sunday.

The players, who ironically will play against each other in the first round of next week’s Apia Sydney International, both claimed their first tour-level doubles title with a 7-6(7), 6-4 win over first-time team Gilles Muller and Sam Querrey.

Kokkinakis, who did not play a match on the ATP World Tour last year after undergoing December 2015 shoulder surgery, said: “It’s pretty crazy. I haven’t experienced that for a while. To be honest, I haven’t experienced a competitive match for a while. To go on a run like that with a mate and to beat some really quality teams, and to do it in a place like Brisbane, such a good event, as an Australian, as well, the home crowd, yeah, it’s pretty surreal.”

Thompson, who also reached the singles quarter-finals (l. Nishikori), said: “Definitely matches help, especially to start of the year. We played, I think, four doubles. I played three singles. I guess it’s more important for Thanasi. He hasn’t played for a long time. For him to get matches under his belt is huge.”

While Kokkinakis will make his singles return in Sydney, he is yet to decide if he will play singles at the Australian Open. “I definitely want to play doubles if my body is still not up to [singles, at the Australian Open]… I have got a couple little niggles which I’m trying to deal with at the moment, but I think that’s just — you can play as many practice sets and stuff like that as you want, but there’s nothing, even in doubles, there is nothing that compares to a real live match with real live pressure, that little bit of tension in the body and stuff like that… It still feels stupid to me to try to play five sets with a real spotty preseason at best.

“I’m just going to take it day by day and try and do all the right things off court, and hopefully the body feels all right. I have missed too much time now to put too much emphasis on one tournament. I need to do what’s best for my body and see what happens even after the Aussie summer.”

The Aussies earned their first title the hard way. They survived match tie-breaks in the opening two rounds against Pouille/Wawrinka and top seeds Herbert/Mahut, before dismissing Grand Slam doubles champions Daniel Nestor and Edouard Roger-Vasselin in the semi-finals.

Revenge was sweet for Novak Djokovic on Saturday at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. Just six weeks removed from relinquishing the year-end No. 1 throne and ATP Finals title to Andy Murray, the Serbian notched a 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 victory in the Doha final.

Djokovic successfully defended his title in the Qatari capital, improving to an impressive 20-0 against his rival when winning the first set. After watching Murray wrestle away the top spot in the Emirates ATP Rankings, the World No. 2 was eager to make an early statement to open 2017.

“Best scenario I could ask for at the beginning of the season,” said Djokovic. “Playing all five matches in this tournament and then three hours against the No. 1, my biggest rival, and winning in a thrilling marathon match is something that definitely can serve as a positive incentive for what’s coming up.

“It’s only the beginning of the season, so we had a little laugh at the net actually about it. We both felt like if every match we’re going to play against each other is going to be this way this season, we’re going to have a fun time.”

The final was a thrilling exhibition of power and defensive prowess, with Djokovic and Murray exchanging bludgeoning blows from the baseline. The Serbian and the Scot took their rivalry to the next level last year and it continued soaring in their first encounter of 2017. Djokovic now leads the FedEx ATP Head2Head 25-11, but he acknowledges that the gap is narrowing.

“You might as well put a lot of hours in training and recovery, because every single point is a rally,” Djokovic added. “I did not expect anything else, to be honest. I knew that the only way to win against Andy is to work your way through him basically.

“He’s such a great defender and he is fighting so much and always gets the ball back. All the way to the last shot I didn’t know if I won the match. It was really, really thrilling performance from both of us. Just a great way to start the year.

“Every match we play is a huge challenge. You have to accept it and expect a great battle. Whether it’s a 250 or 1000 event or a Grand Slam final, it doesn’t change much, to be honest. You saw tonight how much we both wanted to win. Playing against your biggest rival always adds a little bit more flavour to the game and to the match.”

Djokovic will next head to Melbourne Park for the first Grand Slam of the year at the Australian Open. He is looking forward to reuniting with two other longtime rivals – Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. The Swiss and the Spaniard are returning to action after injuries hampered their 2016 campaigns.

“Tennis missed them,” Djokovic said. “We missed them, to be honest. Because these guys are legends of our sport. They are the guys that have done so much for the game on and off the court.

“They are stars. Anywhere they show up, people love them. They’re very important assets to our game. It’s great to have both of them back and to have Andy and myself and Wawrinka, of course everybody playing after a long time at the one Grand Slam together. I’m looking forward to competing with these guys and to see them. We’ll see what happens.”