Wozniacki, Sweeting among winners as clay season opens

• GALLERY: 2011 WTA Champions

2. How Sweeting it is. At the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships in Houston an American took the title. And it wasn't Mardy Fish, John Isner or Sam Querrey. Former Florida Gator Ryan Sweeting won his first ATP title, playing the best tennis of his career and outlasting Brad Gilbert protégé Kei Nishikori. Sweeting celebrated by ripping off a cannonball in the River Oaks Country Club pool. The win moves him up to No. 71 which means he'll get a reprieve from the qualifying draws.

• GALLERY: 2011 ATP Champions

3. Vika for victory (again). A week ago, Victoria Azarenka made fast (albeit loud) work of Maria Sharapova, winning the Sony Ericsson Open for the second time. She got on a plane, crossed an ocean, adjusted quickly to a new surface, and won another title Sunday in Spain. While taking out qualifier Irina-Camelia Begu in the final of a $220,000 event isn't likely to be an Azarenka career highlight, good to her for keep the hot streak going. She's now in the top five and if you're looking for a "WTA vacuum filler" here's a good candidate.

Azarenka's ascent (and Wozniacki's continued success) is all the more relevant given the state of Kim Clijsters. Already struggling with a shoulder injury -- and generally flat appearances in Indian Wells and Key Biscayne -- Clijsters apparently injured her right ankle while dancing at a nephew's wedding. The initial report is serious spraining of both medial and lateral ligaments and a tear of the part around the ankle joint and the nearby tendon. Roland Garros looks doubtful.