The results speak for themselves on the men’s side this weekend. Both Del Potro and Davydenko, out for much of last year with injuries, have set themselves up to be respectable threats at the French Open.

Del Potro, playing his first clay court tournament in nearly two years, beat Fernando Verdasco 6-2, 6-2 for the title in Estoril. Nikolay Davydenko defeated Florian Mayer 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to take the BMW Open title in Munich. Though creeping up in the rankings and likely seeded by Roland Garros – Davy’s back in the top 30 with this win in Munich – both guys will still be ranked low enough to bump into the Rafas and Rogers of the world before the quarterfinals.

I love how Kolya always gets so affectionate after a big win:

After skipping out on the first few weeks of the clay court season, Novak Djokovic picked up where he left off at the Serbia Open, beating Feliciano Lopez, 7-6(4), 6-2, in the final of the Serbia Open this weekend to stretch his winning streak to an obscene 27 matches.

Photo via SerbiaOpen.rs

The French Open is starting to have more intrigue that usual, as is the upcoming Madrid Open, where Nadal and Djokovic could pick up their rivalry where it’s left off, in the finals of Masters events. (Roger is on Rafa’s side of the draw, which is probably the preferable, no pressure side for him to be on.)

Even Rafa’s starting to wonder what’s going to happen:

“Djokovic has a good chance of being No. 1 in the next two or three months,” said Nadal, who is the top seed in Madrid, which begins Sunday. “I could lose the No. 1 ranking even if I win nearly everything and this isn’t normal. He has very little to defend and I am defending a lot of points through to Wimbledon. For me, what is important, is the points at the end of the year.”

So. . .

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The WTA tour continues to illustrate Woody Allen’s quote: “Eighty percent of success if showing up.” World No. 61 Anabel Medina Garrigues won her first WTA title in two years this weekend in Estoril, with a 6-1,6-2 victory over Kristina Barrois in the final.

It’s the ninth career clay court title for the Spaniard, tying her with Venus Williams for most clay court titles by an active WTA player. (Though calling Venus an “active” player is a bit of a stretch at this point. . .sigh. . .)

Roberta Vinci of Italy (wearing a lovely Sergio Tacchini kit) won her second Barcelona title in three years, taking out Lucie Hradecka in Saturday’s final: 4-6, 6-2, 6-2. The trophy’s pretty chic, too:

WTA action is already underway at the combined event in Madrid, with Sam Stosur and Victoria Azarenka winning their first round matches. Wozniacki and Zvonareva are seeded Nos. 1 and 2, respectively.