Today’s Men’s News (10/22) – Basel & Valencia

Written by: Staff on 22nd October 2012

Today's Men's News (10/22) - Basel & Valencia

epa03442796 Switzerland's Roger Federer returns a ball to Germany's Benjamin Becker during their first round match at the Swiss Indoors tennis tournament at the St. Jakobshalle in Basel, Switzerland, 22 October 2012. EPA/GEORGIOS KEFALAS |

Basel

Singles – First Round: (1) R Federer def. (Q) B Becker 7-5 6-3

Roger Federer was supposed to face Jeremy Chardy, but Chardy is out. That perhaps made things a little easier for Federer. He still has a lot of defending to do, though, and he needs to defend all of it to stay #1.

Singles – First Round: (3) R Gasquet def. R Haase 4-6 6-3 6-2

No points yet for Richard Gasquet, but he keeps alive his faint London hopes. In practice, to be sure, he has no chance.

Singles – First Round: (Q) L Kubot def. L Lacko 6-4 6-4

Lukas Lacko may be in for a tough 2013. He probably won’t add any more points this year, and then he’s going to have everything to defend in the first half of next year. This probably means he won’t make the Top Fifty this year.

Singles – First Round: J Benneteau def. (Q) A Kuznetsov 4-6 6-3 6-3

Not much rankings help for Julien Benneteau yet, but one more win might take him above #35; two more might put him in seeding range for the Australian Open.

Valencia

Singles – First Round: (WC) L Hewitt def. (4) J Monaco 6-3 6-4

It’s interesting that, when the draws for this week’s events came out, all the players in contention for London, except one, were in the draw. The one exception was Tomas Berdych — and, as you probably saw in World News, he was officially declared to have clinched on Monday. He’s now even more thoroughly clinched, since Juan Monaco can’t pass him. This almost eliminates Monaco from the Race; if we assume Rafael Nadal plays (a big if), Monaco’s only chance to qualify is if he wins Paris. He’s still #10 in safe points, but this raises the chances of him losing that spot.

Singles – First Round: (5) J Isner def. F Fognini 6-3 6-7(4-7) 7-5

If Monaco does lose the #10 spot, it will likely be to John Isner. Isner is along way back, but he’s the closest player to Monaco. And the surface should help him, although it obviously didn’t do him any favors in this match! Fabio Fognini remains around #45.

Singles – First Round: A Ramos def. (Q) R Ram 6-3 6-3

A nice start for Albert Ramos, but he needs two more wins to affect his ranking significantly.

Singles – First Round: (Q) I Dodig def. P Kohlschreiber 6-2 7-6(8-6)

Philipp Kohlschreiber was already out of the Race barring withdrawals. With this, he has no hope even if Rafael Nadal (or someone) withdraws. And there is a faint chance he will lose his Top Twenty spot.

Singles – First Round: F Verdasco def. (WC) T Robredo 6-3 6-4

This pretty definitely means that Tommy Robredo will end the year below the Top Hundred. Fernando Verdasco is likely to be Top 25, but it isn’t quite certain yet.

Singles – First Round: D Goffin def. P Andujar 6-2 6-2

Pablo Andujar wasn’t defending anything, so he still has a chance to stay Top Forty, but we’d guess he’ll end up a spot or two lower.