Bangkok

Canadian Milos Raonic lived up to his potential this week at the Thailand Open as he defeated two top-10 opponents back-to-back to win his second title of the year and fifth overall. In the semifinals, he took out No. 2 seed Richard Gasquet after rallying back from a set down, and followed it up with a straight set win over No. 1 seed Tomas Berdych in the final, 7-6(4), 6-3.

This marks the fourth tournament won on an indoor hard court by the 22-year-old as he's become as sort of specialist on the surface, with his other titles coming at Chennai and three times at San Jose. He is still mariginally in the ATP Race for London as he sits just 180 points behind No. 10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, so he will need to ride his good results into the next couple of weeks.

Meanwhile, Berdych drops to 0-3 on the season in ATP finals, but interestingly, will move up one spot in the rankings to No. 5, pushing Roger Federer back down to No. 6. So turn that frown upside down, Berdman.

Last observation: why is Berdych's signature adorned on his own H&M top during the trophy ceremony? Stumped.

Tokyo

That expression says it all, doesn't it?

Czech Petra Kvitova claimed her eleventh WTA title and second of the season at the Toray Pan Pacific Open as she defeated Angelique Kerber in a flip-flop score in the final. On her fourth match point which consisted of a 20-shot rally, Kvitova finally closed it out 6-2, 0-6, 6-3. 

After a somewhat lackluster year and recent speculation that she was intimately connected with fellow Czech tennis player Radek Stepanek, it wouldn't have surprised anyone if Kvitova quietly slipped through the remainder of the season. But she hasn't. With the title-winning run, the 23-year-old is projected to re-enter the top 10 and move comfortably into the seventh position.

Winning looks good on you Petra, keep it up.

Kuala Lumpur

The big story of the weekend undoubtedly came at the Malaysian Open as Portuguese player Joao Sousa won his maiden title, en route saving one match point against a veteran Julien Benneteau, 2-6, 7-5, 6-4.

The celebration photos of the 24-year-old's win are enough to warm a cold heart, and the world No. 77 will move up 26 spots to No. 51 come Monday. All week, he dominated players ranked higher than him, including world No. 4 David Ferrer and tournament No. 4 seed Jurgen Melzer, and he did it all with a smile and friendly demeanor. He's now the newest ATP champion and it doesn't take much effort to jump on his fun-loving bandwagon.

“I'm so tired mentally and physically but I just feel amazing, it's just a dream come true, winning my first title here in Malaysia,” said Sousa. “I'm really happy to win this title … I hope this helps [my] confidence and to try and do better things.”

Oh, did I mention he's also the first ever ATP title winner from Portugal? Not too shabby, senhor.

Ningbo

Serbian Bojana Jovanovski is off to a blazing start this Fall as she pocketed her second title in three weeks, defeating Zhang Shuai at the Yinzhou Bank International Women's Tennis Open. After being a set and a break down, the 21-year-old stormed back to win 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-1.

Two weeks ago, Jovanovski won the Tashkent Open, and has now won 11 of her last 12 matches. Don't feel bad for finalist Zhang though, as she didn't leave empty-handed winning the doubles title with partner Chan Yung-Jan.

Napa Challenger

This past week kicked off the ATP Challenger series in the US, and in somewhat astouding fashion, former USTA golden child Donald Young scored his first title since April. He defeated Americans Rhyne Williams and Tim Smyczek before coming from behind against Matt Ebden in the final, when the Australian double-faulted giving him the win 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

The world No. 142 will rise 17 spots to No. 125, but that is still far behind his career-high of 38 set in 2012. Naturally-talented but hindered on a few fronts, the American had the tools to continue his ascension in the past but failed. Let's see if he can keep continuing to string wins together in time to get into the main draw of the Australian Open in January.