Bernard Tomic has been named to the Australian Davis Cup team for its forthcoming zonal tie against Taiwan. Tomic, 17, will be the youngest player ever named to the Australian squad.

The teenager was the subject of much controversy during the Australian circuit, including debates about whether he was ready to play Davis Cup and whether he would be welcome on the squad after clashes with Lleyton Hewitt and Australian Open officials. Tomic’s father also threatened that his son might begin representing his birthplace of Croatia.

But with Hewitt sidelined following hip surgery and Chris Guccione also out of the tie, Tomic secured his Davis Cup spot after posting encouraging results so far this season.

Peter Luczak, Carsten Ball and Paul Hanley are the other members of the team. Luczak, Ball and Tomic will be candidates to play singles.

Andy Murray’s victory over Igor Kunitsyn in Dubai ended with a relatively straightforward 6-2, 6-3 scoreline, but the early stages of the match featured a single game that lasted almost as long as some sets.

With Kunitsyn serving, the second game of the match lasted 24 minutes and went to 14 deuces. Murray finally went up 2-0 after converting his ninth break point.

“That was probably the longest game I’ve ever played on the tour,” said Murray.

The longest game ever recorded by the ATP lasted 31 minutes.

ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP)—Second-seeded Agnes Szavay of Hungary rallied to beat Sandra Zahlavova of the Czech Republic 2-6, 6-1, 6-3 in the first round of the Mexican Open on Monday.

On the men’s side, Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci defeated Oscar Hernandez of Spain 6-3, 6-2. None of the seeded players were on court Monday.

The women’s top-seed and defending champion Venus Williams plays Mathilde Johansson of France Tuesday. Men’s No. 1 seed Fernando Verdasco plays Italy’s Fabio Fognini.

DELRAY BEACH, Fla. (AP)—Wayne Odesnik and Evgeny Korolev have won their first-round matches at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships.

Despite falling and twisting his ankle at 3-1 in the first set, Odesnik cruised to a 6-3, 6-2 victory over fellow American Rajeev Ram on Monday.

Korolev, who reached the final as a qualifier in Delray Beach last year, scored a 6-2, 1-6, 6-1 victory over Nicolas Lapentti.

Top seed Tommy Haas of Germany is set to play the last match of the evening against Tiemuraz Gabashvili of Russia.

Haas won the Delray Beach title in 2006. He defeated Gabashvili in their only previous meeting.

Andy Murray’s victory over Igor Kunitsyn in Dubai ended with a relatively straightforward 6-2, 6-3 scoreline, but the early stages of the match featured a single game that lasted almost as long as some sets.

With Kunitsyn serving, the second game of the match lasted 24 minutes and went to 14 deuces. Murray finally went up 2-0 after converting his ninth break point.

“That was probably the longest game I’ve ever played on the tour,” said Murray.

The longest game ever recorded by the ATP lasted 31 minutes.

Followers of women’s tennis have been asking the question
for a solid 10 years now: Who’s next? In that time we’ve received just one
correct answer, in the long and loud form of Maria Sharapova. Now, though, as a
new decade has begun and an old cast of Grand Slam winners has reassembled,
we appear to have discovered the truth. The past will be next. Serena Williams, Venus
Williams, Justine Henin, Kim Clijsters, maybe Sharapova—can we conceive of a
women’s-tennis world beyond their dominance?

This past weekend’s Dubai final, between Venus, who is 29,
and Victoria Azarenka, who is 20, proved again how hazy the future remains, and
how difficult it will be to make one take shape. Azarenka, along with 19-year-old Caroline
Wozniacki, is the best hope for the current “new generation”—in pro-tennis, generations turn over every 18 months or so—to produce a consistent champion and
member of the Top 5. In fact, Azarenka is already No. 6 in the world, while
Wozniacki has been to a major final and is a stunning, though only semi-meaningful, No. 3. With those high
rankings, at their tender ages, we should be able to say with confidence that
we have seen the WTA’s future. But we can’t.

After a weary end to 2009, Azarenka has found her top form
again this season, and she played a quality match against Williams in Dubai.
Even more important and impressive was the way she handled herself. Maybe
Azarenka felt like she had little to lose against a seven-time Slam winner, or
maybe she looked at the match as a learning experience, but the sometimes-surly
and always intense Vika maintained her poise even after her ugliest errors,
and even when she fell behind in the middle of each set. She looked thoughtful rather than angry after her misses, she took an extra deep breath before serving on crucial points,
and she continued to try to implement her and her coach’s game plan—move
forward as soon as possible, but mix up the approaches—with admirable
persistence. She even smiled a few times. Of course, this being Azarenka, she
also bashed herself in her forehead with her racquet after one boneheaded forehand.
But overall, her agitated energy was more helpful than hurtful, more engaging than grating.

The same was true of her game. Azarenka is known primarily
as a hungry battler with a top-shelf backhand, but she showed flashes of her
underrated athleticism and hands against Williams. Twice she
took a backhand out of the air from behind the service line and hit a perfect
topspin swing volley into the corner. When Venus had her on the run along the
baseline, she managed to surprise her by sending  a stretch forehand back crosscourt for a winning pass. And
as her coach, Sam Sumyk, emphasized, Azarenka took the ball early and moved
forward whenever she had even the slightest opportunity.

And she still lost. In straight sets. The first and most
obvious reason is the physical difference between the two players. While Venus,
who is listed at 6-foot-1, is only three inches taller than the 5-foot-10
Azarenka, the disparity seemed to be much greater in their respective
lengths—Venus covers more ground with her legs and generates more pace with her
arms. Most important, she wins many more free points on her serve than
Azarenka, who finished this match with no aces to her name. Her forward-moving
strategy was really a strategy of last resort; Azarenka and Sumyk decided that
to have any chance at all, she needed to push her game beyond where it
normally goes, to hit shots she normally doesn’t hit. On many occasions I would
say this was a fool’s plan, that you should stick to your own game until it’s proven that
it can’t work. But while Azarenka paid the price for her aggression with errors and failed forays
to the net, I think it was the right tactic against an in-form Venus.

Still, the match didn’t look like a battle
between the No. 5 and 6 players in the world as much as it did a battle between a woman
and a girl, an all-time talent and a solid citizen of the second tier. I like
Azarenka’s game, but its limits thus far—lack of variety and a point-ending weapon—only point up again how big a leap the
Williams sisters made for the women’s game, both in terms of physical
capability and mental strength. Venus has taken her share of losses over the
years, but her bedrock confidence in herself is rarely shaken. Her losses
always seem random, rather than part of a trend of poor play. What young player
can measure up to that? It’s hard to imagine Azarenka, whose game slowly but inexorably slid last year, ever being that serene about her abilities. It makes me wonder whether the group of
champions in their late 20s on both the men’s and women’s sides—namely, Roger
Federer, Henin, and the Williams sisters—will be remembered as a sort
of Greatest Generation among tennis fans of the future. With their unstoppable weapons and the mental strength that comes with knowing they own those weapons, these players have leapt ahead,
and no one younger has been able to keep up with them for long. They’re a lot to live up to.

Azarenka ran head-on into her own limits at
the end of each set. In the second, at 5-5, 15-30, after fending off her
opponent with hard-hit backhands all match, Vika finally bashed one 10 feet wide.
She dropped her racquet and held her hands to her face. She was broken soon
after, and despite staving off two match points in the next game, she was done
in by the fundamental superiority of Williams’ serve and forehand, both of which Venus hit for winners.

Even more telling was how the first set ended. Down 2-5,
Azarenka called Sumyk onto the court. He reiterated their basic strategy—move
forward at the earliest opportunity and don’t let Williams win the battle of
positioning at the baseline, which in women’s tennis has become the equivalent
of the old tactic of not letting your opponent take the net from you. He also
told her to hit the ball up the middle in rallies and approach to different
sides of the court. Azarenka, absorbing the lesson well, did all of these
things successfully to hold the next game.

At 3-5, though, she stuck to the game plan a little too
well. Given a short forehand, Azarenka went crosscourt with her approach, into
Venus’ forehand. You might think Venus would have been surprised by this. She
wasn’t. She was waiting, ready to rip the ball past a
stumbling Azarenka. It was as if Venus was sending a message to her young
challenger about this match, and to everyone else about the future: You kids still have a lot to learn.