Chardy Drives Off With First Title

While players who have never won a tour title can't really be choosers, it's tough to say it was a bad decision for Jeremy Chardy to make his first tournament win the one that came with a Mercedes.

The 22-year old Frenchman drove away in a E350 CDI by defeating Victor Hanescu in the Mercedes Cup final in Stuttgart, by the score of 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. Hanescu was a two-time loser on Sunday, dropping the doubles final as well. I'm sure someone told him he'd be happy with his accomplishments later on.

Chardy is a real fun player to watch. Think Lleyton Hewitt minus a step, but with a more downhill way of ball striking. With this win he moved up eleven places to a career high of #32 in the world, in position to be seeded at a slam for the first time.

His movement is much better on clay than hard courts, but if he ever gets a handle on moving on the hard stuff, his game should translate real well to the US Open courts. It'll be interesting to see what if anything he can do during the next couple months.