Shock is an overused word in sports, but there was certainly one of them this week in Men's Singles at the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.  Ivan Ljubicic beat three top ten players on his way to winning his first ATP 1000 Masters title, finishing off with a straight sets win over Andy Roddick in the final.

As stunning as Ljubicic's title was, perhaps even more stunning was the manner in which he won the last three sets of his run.  He closed out his win in the semifinals by winning seven straight points in a third set tiebreak against Rafael Nadal, a player who is known for being one of the best finishers in the game.  He then beat Andy Roddick in two more tiebreak sets, despite Roddick's near incomparable skill in those deciders.

And I haven't even mentioned his straight sets stunning of #2 Novak Djokovic in the fourth round, an upset few would have seen coming after Djokovic's dismantling of Ljubicic at the US Open last year.

This wasn't a case of a #20 seed coming back from a long layoff or on an extended run of good play who was expected to outperform his seeding.  There were easily at least nineteen players whom would have been expected to outlast Ljubicic at Indian Wells, and probably more (Marcos Baghdatis, David Nalbandian, and James Blake, perhaps).  But Ljubicic defied the odds match after match, and in the end walked away with a title few thought he'd get within miles of.

What does this mean for Ljubicic going forward? My gut says this is a fluke.  He's old and oft injured, so building off this success, especially going into the clay circuit soon, doesn't seem likely.  But even if this is the peak of the rest of his career, it's still an incredible accomplishment and showing of perseverance that few thought would ever come.

As for Roddick, reaching the finals of a 1000 event for the first time since 2006 certainly constitutes a good week.  He definitely didn't seem happy to lose to Ljubicic in fairly listless fashion in the final, but the rest of his play during the tournament was pretty excellent.  Robin Soderling was the only real tough opponent he had to go through on his way, but he beat everyone across the net from him like he was supposed to.

Until he met the big serving Croat who sort of looks like Uncle Fester, that is.

Not all of the big names in the WTA made it out to Indian Wells, and the ones who did (Kim Clijsters, Justine Henin, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Maria Sharapova) all crashed out before the quarterfinals.  It's probably not surprising, then, that on one of the slowest hard courts to be found in the world, two counter-punchers were left standing on the final day of action.

And that battle of counter-punchers was a knockout.  Jelena Jankovic controlled the action from wire to wire, racing out to a 3-0 lead with two breaks before the first changeover and never looking back on her way to the 6-2, 6-4 win.

Jankovic has been struggling to find her ideal condition in the last year or so, at one point bulking up to gain power but losing speed as a result.  She sure seems to have found the happy medium between power and speed at this point, cracking winners at the end of several lengthy rallies.

Wozniacki, on the other hand, again was not impressive in a big match.  She has that 2009 US Open final under her belt, but with how decimated her draw was it should probably carry something of an asterisk.  Wozniacki rises to #2 with her performance this week, a feat that is as much a reflection of the inability of anyone not named Serena Williams to turn in consistent performances at the biggest events consistently.  But Serena doesn't play Indian Wells anymore, and with her withdrawal from Miami this week her grasp on the #1 may be in jeopardy soon.  Could Wozniacki be the next Safina? Let's hope not.

A lot of the talk this week, for whatever reason, was about the massive 22,000 sq. ft. house Jankovic is building for herself in San Diego, which should be done by the end of the year.  If she wins every tournament from here on near which she is building herself a mansion, investing in property in the Melbourne, Paris, London, and New York metropolitan areas may not be a bad idea.

What's not as clear is how much real estate Jankovic's Serbian compatriot Ana Ivanovic would need to buy to turn her own career around.   Ivanovic somehow made the finals of this tournament last year, and was therefore defending the vast majority of her ranking points this week.  But after a loss in her first match at Indian Wells to past TDF-profilee Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia, Ivanovic's ranking crashed down thirty spots from #28 to #58, a number which sadly is far more representative of her quality of play over the last year. 

Ivanovic is now in a part of the rankings where she'd theoretically have to play qualifying to get into most Premier tournaments, but I'd have to think that as a darling of many fans, promoters and tournament directors, she'll get more than her fair share of wild cards.  She was a top flight player for almost a year before her win at the 2008 French Open, so it's unfair to say that her success was a fluke.  But she never recovered from winning that title and reaching #1.  The fight and the will still seems to be there, but the game is nowhere to be found.

The scoreline, 7-6(3), 6-4, was fairly close.  But the widening gap between young Americans John Isner and Sam Querrey was clear during Isner's win over his friend and compatriot in their third round match at the

Isner's rise to the upper echelon of the sport has been meteoric.  He needed a wild card to get into this tournament last year and was a lowly #147 in the ATP rankings.  Since that time he made the fourth rounds at both the US and Australian Opens, won his first ATP title, and was the top American on his Davis Cup debut last week.  He is now ranked inside the top twenty for the first time in his career, and was deservedly named ATP Most Improved Player of 2009 this week.

Isner's rise is especially messianic since it has come at the same time that most other Americans have stalled.  While American #1 Andy Roddick continues to be a consistent and formidable presence in the top ten, the rest of the top Americans have disappointed recently.  James Blake has played fairly well so far this year, but he had an atrocious 2009, as his ranking fell from inside the top ten to outside the top fifty.  Mardy Fish, who made the finals of Indian Wells only two years ago, has completely fallen off the radar, falling from the top twenty to outside the top 100 within the last year.  Sam Querrey has been putting up some decent results and has won a couple titles, but the big wins at the big events just aren't coming the way many thought they would be by now.  And peripheral American hopes like Wayne Odesnik, Rajeev Ram, and Jesse Levine haven't been terrible, but none is emerging as a potential breakout star.

The obvious discrepancy in Isner's dominance over the rest is his choking loss to Querrey in the finals of Memphis a few weeks ago, a result that really can't be explained.  But even in defeat, Isner was clearly the better player throughout the match.  He was two points from winning the match in straight sets, but couldn't close the deal.  It would be a more alarming collapse if Isner wasn't so known for being clutch in nearly other instance that it's easy to write off this one loss as an anomaly.

I can't help but make Isner, the #15 seed at this tournament, the favorite in my mind against his next opponent.  It may seem ridiculous once you realize that said opponent is none other than #3 Rafael Nadal, but I really think that everything is stacking in Isner's favor.  Isner is healthier, and a hard court in the United States should help his cause as much as any surface could.  The Indian Wells courts are significantly slower than the faster courts of the US Open, but I still think that Isner has the edge when he clashes with Nadal on Wednesday.

Alisa Kleybanova delivered what is, in my mind, the most impressive performance of the year so far Monday night, upsetting US Open champion Kim Clijsters 6-4, 1-6, 7-6(4) in the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.

The match appeared completely out of Kleybanova's reach several times.  Clijsters sailed through the second set with considerable ease, and raced out to a 3-0 lead in the final set, making her stranglehold look fairly routine.  But Kleybanova dug in and fought, as she does like few others, fighting for every point and leveling the match at 3-3. 

Six tight holds later, the match headed into a deciding third set tiebreak.  Clijsters raced out to a 4-0 lead in the tiebreak, with the match again looking to be completely locked up.  But Kleybanova again rallied, winning an incredible seven consecutive points to stun Clijsters and seal the shocking win in 2 hours and 36 minutes (which is a little on the short side for a Kleybanova match).

The way Kleybanova shook off her second set drubbing to comeback twice against a player who is frankly her superior in most every category is incredibly impressive, and shows a self-belief and willpower that is scarce in her generation.  Clijsters didn't choke the match away at all, but was simply bested by an opponent who raised her game to its highest level when it mattered most.

Kleybanova's matches are always longer than your average epic film not because of the stall tactics that slow down so many modern WTA matches, but because she plays longer rallies than any other aggressive player I've ever seen.  Her relatively lumpy build makes her speed deceptive, and opponents are clearly bewildered as ball after ball comes back with interest on point after point, from the farthest flung corners of the court.  Kleybanova also has a pretty respectable amount of variety to keep her opponents off balance, mixing deep flat shots with short scoops effectively.

Clijsters is by no means Kleybanova's first big scalp.  She has previous wins over Ana Ivanovic (when she was better), Elena Dementieva (whom she beat for her first title last week in Kuala Lumpur) and has pushed Justine Henin and Maria Sharapova to the brink at big tournaments (the Australian Open and Toronto, respectively).  Kleybanova is on the verge of the top twenty, and has a very decent shot at the top ten in the next couple years.

So good on ya, Alisa.  You're the scrappiest player in the WTA today, you rarely fail to impress, you work so hard that you literally have to wring the sweat out of your ponytail, and you sort of resemble John Isner.  What's not to love?

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Clijsters' exit only added to the decimation of the women's field at this event.  Top seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, third-seed Victoria Azarenka, Maria Sharapova, and Justine Henin were all ousted well before their expected departure dates, leaving the draw totally wide open.  Fourth-seed Elena Dementieva should have this one in the bag, but defending champion Vera Zvonareva and fast-rising Yanina Wickmayer could prove to make things interesting.