Today’s Men’s News (10/06) – Beijing & Tokyo

Written by: Staff on 6th October 2012

Tennis Japan Open Championships tournament in Tokyo

Today's Men's News (10/06) - Beijing & Tokyo

epa03422092 Andy Murray of Britain reacts after winning a point against Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland during their quarter final match of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships tournament in Tokyo, Japan, 05 October 2012. Murray won 6-2, 3-6 and 6-2. EPA/TOMOYUKI KAYA |

Beijing

Singles – Semifinal: (1) N Djokovic def. F Mayer 6-1 6-4

More pressure applied to Roger Federer in the contest for the year-end #1. Novak Djokovic’s lead in the Race is getting to be pretty substantial. He leaves Florian Mayer just below the Top 25.

Singles – Semifinal: (3) J Tsonga def. F Lopez 6-1 4-1 retired (Left Wrist)

Tough for Feliciano Lopez, who has semifinalist points to defend at Shanghai next week. But a noteworthy win for Jo-Wilfried Tsonga; this takes him past Tomas Berdych to the #6 ranking. And he has nothing to defend at Shanghai, so he has at least a chance to keep climbing there.

Doubles – Semifinal: (Alt) Berlocq/Istomin def. Fleming/Hutchins 6-2 6-3

Maybe Berlocq/Istomin should sign up late for events more often….

Tokyo

Singles – Semifinal: (6) M Raonic def. (1) A Murray 6-3 6-7(5-7) 7-6(7-4)

Andy Murray had two match points in this match. Without taking anything away from Milos Raonic, who played very well, this felt a little bit like the pre-U. S. Open Murray. It certainly isn’t good for his ranking — he didn’t try to defend a 250 point title last week, and here he fails to defend a 500 point title, and next week, he has Shanghai to defend. It doesn’t matter for now; he will remain #3. And with Rafael Nadal effectively done for the year, he will not fall below #3 this year. But he is far below #2; we’d say this effectively ends his hopes of reaching #1, or even #2, this year.

This result does not help Milos Raonic; he is still at #14 in safe points. But a title would take him to #12.

Singles – Semifinal: (8) K Nishikori def. M Baghdatis 6-2 6-2

Obviously this is not the shock that the preceding result was. It has about the same degree of meaning, though: Kei Nishikori still hasn’t moved much (from #17 to #16). Win the title and he will be #15. Marcos Baghdatis appears to be at #36.

Doubles – Semifinal: (1) Paes/Stepanek def. Bracciali/Cermak 6-3 6-1

Paes/Stepanek are going to London — but they haven’t won a title since Miami. In fact, they have only two titles to their credit. It’s just that it’s a very good two: Australian Open and Miami. So this represents a nice opportunity for them to break a jinx.

Doubles – Semifinal: (4) Peya/Soares def. Berdych/Zimonjic 6-4 6-4