With Roger Federer’s first title of the season at this year’s Estoril Open, “the tennis season has finally begun,” says a hitting partner of mine. Even though this clay win was handed to him after Nikolay Davydenko retired with a leg injury, I’m sure this will feed his confidence as he warms up for Roland Garros.

Roger was up a set before Kolya pulled out at 7-6 (5), 1-2.

The Estoril Open trophy is still one of the best on the tour.

Maria Kirilenko gets shortchanged with a bland crystal cup after she bags her third career title at the Estoril women’s event. The gorgeous Russian, clad in adidas by Stella McCartney, took out the Czech Republic’s Iveta Benesova 6-4, 6-2.

Serena Williams caps her great week at the Family Circle Cup (she blew Masha out of the water in the third set of their quarterfinal match) with a 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 victory over Vera Zvonareva,

This week’s Kevin Anderson (or is it Kei Nishikori?), the barceloneo Marcel Granollers-Pujol, downed James Blake 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 at the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championships in Houston.

Finally, David Ferrer wins the Open de Tenis Comunidad Valenciana. He outlasted two-time defending champion Nicolas Almagro 4-6, 6-2, 7-6.

(photos by Getty Images; Ferrer photo via OTCV)

Congrats to Russian Maria Sharapova for taking her first title on dirt at the green courts of Amelia Island. Her distracting Nike skirt and a pesky opponent didn’t stop her from putting together 7-6 (7), 6-3 win over Dominika Cibulkova at the Bausch & Lomb Championships.

He’s not for the birds: Top Russian Nikolay Davydenko won his second Tennis Masters Series title by handily beating Rafael Nadal 6-4, 6-2 at the 2008 Sony Ericsson Open. This after overcoming Andy Roddick in the semis. Looks like Kolya has finally shaken off the mental insecurities that came with being under investigation for match fixing. Like Mary Carillo said in during CBS‘ coverage of the final, “This is what Davydenko will be known for” even if he’s cleared of allegations. Better leave all that worrying to your lawyers, Nikolay.

Meanwhile, Serena Williams defended her women’s singles title by swatting off a pesky Jelena Jankovic 6-1, 5-7, 6-3. The Serbian put up a fight against Serena but also had to battle the heat.

Who cares if she gets yet another crystal vase? Those big gold earrings are trophy enough!

Katarina Srebotnik and Ai Sugiyama, the second seeds, defeated top seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber 7-5, 4-6, 10-3.

The Bryan Brothers return to the podium after what seemed like a monopoly by the Israelis (Ehrlich and Ram). They won over Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles 6-2, 6-2.

More photos: Serena with Jelena, Nikolay, and Nikolay with Irina, his wife, below.

(photos by Getty Images)

Vroom: Russian Maria Sharapova proved that her Australian Open title was no joke, backing it up with her second title of the year at the $2.5 million Qatar Total Open. The Under Armour of opponent Vera Zvonareva was no match for Masha — she took Vera out 6-1, 2-6, 6-0.

Vera takes home a nice trophy.

The men: Andy Roddick — who looks a little… chubby? weathered? (Does he look different to anyone else? Is it facial hair?) — continued to wow the San Jose crowd with a winning performance, besting Radek Stepanek 6-4, 7-5 in the final. (FYI, Andy’s won this event twice before, and made the semis two other times.)

Meanwhile, David Nalbandian’s back troubles disappeared this week during the Copa Telmex in Buenos Aires. He beat compatriot Jose Acasuso 3-6,7-6 and 6-4. I’m soooo ready for the next Yonex colorway. Yellow and red are too intense for the clay. Unless you’re Guga Kuerten.

In Rotterdam, Michael Llodra and his mouth continue to build on their early-season confidence with a second title in 2008. Llodra beat Robin Soderling 6-7 (3), 6-3, 7-6(4).

And this streaker, who made a statement at the Rotterdam final, is exactly why I am not vegan. Improper nutrition would lead me to do redundant things like writing “Vegan Streaker” on myself — as if the crowd could confuse me as a linesman. When he gets out of jail, can someone get him some beef?

This one’s for you, Mikey: Our Sa Watch 2008 begins with the duo of Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa — locals — winning the Brazil Open doubles trophy over Albert Montanez and Santiago Ventura. Leave it to Andre to wear yellow socks on the court. Cute.

Meanwhile, it was a battle of the lankies as British fourth seed Andy Murray took out Croatian Mario Ancic 6-3, 6-4, at the ATP Open 13 in Marseille, France.

In Delray Beach, Kei Nishikori surprised everyone (including finalist James Blake) with this impressive 6-3, 1-6 and 4-6 upset. Our buddy Ichizo took this video of Kei while playing against Zack Fleishman in Japan last October.

By the way, look out for Ichizo to launch his japanese language tennis blog sometime soon. This is one of the few times I’m sad that I don’t know Japanese. That, and everytime I can’t read anything in Men’s Non-No aka the best magazine in the world.

And we are sure that Mama Murray is proud of her other son, Jamie, who teamed with Max Mirnyi to upset the top seeded Bryan Brothers. (Watch: See Jamie use finger code to communicate with Max.)

A beaut! The Proximus Diamond Games tops itself with a racquet encrusted with 2008 diamonds (get it?) totalling more than $1.5 million. 1,611 of those diamonds are on the ball itself. Unfortunately for Justine Henin, who beat Italy’s Karin Knapp, 6-3, 6-3 in the final match, she has to win the tournament three times in five years before she takes home that puppy. It’s not an impossible feat, though; Amelie Mauresmo did the same last year and took home the first diamond trophy.

Singles: Sorry, guys. I was too crushed by the early loss of Guga Kuerten in singles (and doubles, actually) at the Brasil Open to care about who won. Props to Nicolas Almagro for besting mainstay Carlos Moya 7-6 (4), 3-6, 7-5.

Lastly, Flavia Pennetta wore her multi-collared Sergio Tacchini all the way to a title at the Vina del Mar tourney in Vina del Mar, Chile. Her opponent: Klara Zakopalova.

(Mirnyi/Murray video via ATP; photos by Getty Images)