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Nishikori's court coverage was amazing. If he can take care of his injury issues, he surely has the best chance of the emerging players - i.e. Raonic, Dimitrov, Nishikori himself - to win a slam. Djoko was clinical. Actually the tournament was won once he beat Murray.
US Open champion Marin Cilic out in the first round of the Shanghai Masters; beaten by fellow Croatian Ivo Karlovic (5-7, 6-2, 6-7)
Only Cilic fossible. Geez, how does the US Open champion manage to lose to Karlovic! *facepalm* Cilic has been in absolutely horrendous form since winning USO. Meanwhile Tomic inexplicably managed to lose to Jack Sock after leading in the third set.
^ Guess these are some of the vagaries associated with Tennis or for that matter any sport. Hope the guy doesn't turn out to be a one slam wonder.
Yeah, hope so. But DP has drawn a blank so far after 2009. Hasn't even made a slam final since then. Cilic's game is somewhat similar to DP except he is better at moving forward. Let's see.
It looked like Rafa had injured all possible areas and parts of his body already, but here it is... :rotfl:
http://www.thehindu.com/sport/tennis...?homepage=true
Don't know why he would want to play with appendicitis. I can only imagine that it would be unbearable.
Another early exit for Wawrinka .. lost to Simon in Shanghai second round ... Davis cup :shaking: ...
Dimitrov also lost his second round to Benneteau ... Unpredictable year of the game continues ...
Nishikori out too ... Four players in top ten (Stan,Kei,Cilic and Dimitrov) are out of tournament in second round. Ferrer somehow managed to win today ...
...and add Rafa Nadal to the list of players out of the Shanghai Open! Feliciano Lopez beats him 6-3, 7-6!
Aanalum neer remba fast ya ...
Players crumbling in the season end. Evidently exhausted and out of gas. Again, it is a point worth repeating, that ATP should simply ignore their selfish pleas for slow courts and speed up the courts as well as balls again. Because not having enough of the top guys making it to the business end of tournaments will hurt viewership even more than fast courts ever did.
Fed scrapes through to the next after a very unconvincing performance against Leonardo Mayer. Fortunately for him, he was up against a guy who was so brainy as to serve volley on match point in the third set tiebreak. And allowed Fed to pass him and get back on even terms, eventually winning the tiebreak and with it the match. Time for Nadal fans to whine about his luck again but they need hardly worry because in this kind of form Fed looks like a walking bye. Would much rather he loses in a 'tough' match against some journeyman than getting brutalised by Djoko in the final who is playing very well at the moment.
Feel sorry for Mayer. He was on the verge of tears. A very underwhelming performance from Federer though. On current form he is sure to get bumped off by Djokovic in the semis if they meet
Murray lost to Ferrer ...
Djoko made to work hard to get past Kushkushin. Fed had an easy outing against Batistuta Agut. But the next one against Benneteau could be tricky, esp since the conditions could favour a big hitter like Benneteau. Still, 'Olderer' to use the nickname given by some tennis forum is back to no.2 yet again. Is it time to call the bluff on the weak era-strong era argument often made to discredit Fed's achievements? Esp because, Agassi in 2005 was the last player of age 33 or more to be ranked no.2. Fed has played brilliantly in patches and has been horrendous at other times. To still get to no.2 (and probably in a good position to finish the year on that ranking) doesn't say much for the quality of competition, I am afraid. At least he had to play far better, used to commit far fewer errors in the 2004-2007 dream years.
It's Lopez vs Simon and Novak vs Roger in semi finals
Great first set. Benneteau was playing very well till he derailed in the second. It would have been a lot more interesting if he had converted the mini break chances he had in the tie break.
From the highlights, looks like Fed has found some form again. But Djoko also played some unbelievable shots against Ferrer. And while Shanghai is fast, it's not quite Dubai/Cincy fast so the conditions should favour Djoko. Betting on Djoko but this is always a tricky match up, maybe it's the best serve v/s best return contrast.
^ Will be a good match. Just bundled out a statistic. Of Novak's 17 wins against Federer, only 6 have been straight set victories. Mind you, 11 out of the 17 wins came after the year 2010. So will be very interesting to see as to how this one pans out. Djokovic's defense has been great this week. Will see how it holds up against Federer.
Have a good feeling about Fed's chances against Nole. Offcourse he has to bring his game from last couple of rounds.
Both have met in 2 SF & 2Finals this year. Fed has won both their SF matches (Dubai & Monte Carlo) and Novak has won their F matches (IW & Wim) however both were taken to the deciders. 3/4 matches they have played this year has been very close. Very interesting match & hope it is competitive..
A washed out 33 year old weak era champion will become No. 2 in couple of days. Gee Whiz!!
Roger takes the first set and got early break in set 2 ..
^^^ Who would have thunk, right? Fed in simply amazing form. Seems to have rolled back the years all over again. Hope he gets past the finish line without choking from hereon.
Very cunning hold there by Djoko. Fought tooth and nail to hold it. After all the effort, Fed still with only one break. Did Djoko just manage to wear him down a bit? Next few games will make it clear either which way.
Not watching it live but from the score looks like Novak is fighting hard and coming back strongly.. Roger shud get thru the line asap... Hold the serves Roger
Fed prevails. In straight sets. Unbelievable but then so was the tennis he produced. Djoko really pushed him to his limits in the last few games but this time he was up to the task and held his nerve. Brava!
Federer wins...
Well, I hope he doesn't lose to Simon after this string of amazing matches. That would truly be anti climactic.
^You just dont know. And its a day match. Federer's played all his matches in this tourney at night. We have seen him struggle for balance with a change in conditions. Toronto finals for example. Will not be surprised if that's the case tomorrow as well.
Yup, nailed it. On the flipside, it doesn't look like the wind is that bad at Shanghai vis a vis the North American courts. So let's see. He did win Cincy so maybe he can do a repeat tomorrow. Has not been troubled much by Simon in the past, even beat him at RG last year.
Fed gets his second ATP 1000 title of the year. Much more scrappy affair, this one, with a lot of attritional tennis. Fed looked a shadow of the player from yesterday but nevertheless got the job done. Simon kind of choked on the big points, again underlining the difference between the Big Four and the rest of the field.
I thought this was an excellent win from Federer.
Contrary to the SF where both were hitting clean the conditions today was a touch slow inspite of closed roof.
With Simon not giving any pace during baseline exchanges, Fed found it very difficult to rip his ground strokes which is his strength.
Simon is the type of player who can shake off the free flowing tennis from Fed. He has done so on most of their meetings.
However Fed quickly adapted to both the conditions and Simon's style of play and was more patient in the back court..
These are the type of matches he would lose pretty easily when things are not going his way. Now he is showing lot of fight.
Truly remarkable & well deserved.
Congratulations to Roger, the #2 ranked player in the world!
This week's "Race to London" rankings:
#1 Novak Djokovic 8650
#2 Roger Federer 7020
#3 Rafael Nadal 6735
#4 Stan Wawrinka 4795
#5 Kei Nishikori 4255
#6 Marin Cilic 3980
#7 Tomas Berdych 3765
#8 Milos Raonic 3740
#9 Andy Murray 3565
#10 David Ferrer 3535
True that Simon was not giving Fed any pace. He was very patient and stuck resolutely to his gameplan. Still, Fed shanked some forehands early on, I think right in the first game, which probably shook his confidence. He didn't seem to trust either DTL drive, forehand or backhand, though he did rip a brilliant backhand pass to win the first set tiebreak. It was his slice that worked for him today. Yes, do agree that it was great how he adjusted his tactics and settled for a more ugly style of play to wear out Simon, realizing he was not going to be able to out hit him today.
Fed didn't do too well in the year ending indoor season last year. So he has a chance to leapfrog to no.1 in the rankings should Djoko have a below par outing in these last few tournaments....and..should he able to hold onto his rhythm that long. It will be very interesting if he actually winds up to no.1 so late in his career. He would be the oldest ATP no.1, older than Agassi by a few months then. Let's see.
Good win for Federer. Simon can be tricky. Little by little he chips you away and then he can hit winners if the ball is sitting up. I really don't get it as to people call this guy a pusher as seen in many a forum. It's not the case I would have to say. He can be very infuriating for his opponent across the net. And CK, with regards to the wind, they had closed the roof 30 minutes before the start of the match fearing it.
I can see why he gets called a pusher. Like Murray, he often hits regulation rally shots over and over, placed decently enough that it won't come back with interest but not nearly powerful/fast enough to be a winner. Fed or Djoko (even Nadal in top form for that matter) are more offensive and hit every baseline shot with the intent to go for a winner or at least build up to a winner rather than waiting for an error. Of course, Simon is a very smart player with great depth in his game. Even the so called pushers in men's tennis tend to be very interesting and technically accomplished players so we're definitely not thinking of WTA-style pushers when the label is applied here. I do think it is used derisively when there's no need to as it's just another style of play. I would put it down to the North American obsession with first strike tennis so anybody who doesn't come up with a winner within 5 shots is branded "pusher" and "boring".
^ True. Also its gonna be interesting to watch as to how the race for the Year End Championships plays out. Will Federer play all the remaining tourneys considering what's in the line? Or will he opt against it with hopes of clinching the elusive Davis cup ? And what of Djokovic and his wife's imminent delivery?
Latest ATP Rankings:
#1 Novak Djokovic 11,510
#2 Roger Federer 9,020
#3 Rafael Nadal 8,105
#4 Stan Wawrinka 5,385
#5 David Ferrer 4,585
#6 Kei Nishikori 4,355
#7 Tomas Berdych 4,325
#8 Marin Cilic 3,945
#9 Milos Raonic 3,88
#10 Grigor Dimitrov 3,745
#11 Andy Murray 3635
#12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 2,705
__________________________
Latest "Race to London" list:
#1 Novak Djokovic 9,010
#2 Roger Federer 8,020
#3 Rafael Nadal 6,745
#4 Stan Wawrinka 4,805
#5 Kei Nishikori 4,265
#6 Marin Cilic 3,990
#7 Tomas Berdych 3,945
#8 Milos Raonic 3,750
#9 David Ferrer 3,715
#10 Andy Murray 3,655
The top 8 will qualify.
Making up 2400 points is a long shot. But the thing is Fed did not win any of those last three tournaments (will he play Basel by the way?) and only got to semis at London. Djoko on the other hand won both Paris and London and if he performs poorly at both, will LOSE a lot of points. In other words, Fed doesn't have to earn 2400 more points to get there. But Djoko will have to play well and defend enough points to keep Fed at bay.
The odds favour Djoko finishing no.1. But the fact that Fed should even figure in that discussion at all is itself amazing, considering how badly 2013 ended for him.