Today’s Men’s News (11/10) – London

Written by: Staff on 10th November 2012

Today's Men's News (11/10) - London

epa03466053 Juan Martin Del Potro of Argentina returns the ball to Roger Federer of Switzerland during their match at the ATP World Tour Finals in London, Britain, 10 November 2012. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA |

London

Singles – Group B: (6) J del Potro def. (2) R Federer 7-6(7-3) 4-6 6-3

Two in a row for Juan Martin del Potro over Roger Federer, and in just the way Federer doesn’t need: A long match (two hours and one minute), with no payoff in points. Federer will still reach the semifinal, but this raised the real possibility that he could come in second in his group and have to face Novak Djokovic in the semifinal. Of course, the alternative is Andy Murray….

The odd thing about this format is that it rendered the next match meaningless to the players, but not to Federer and del Potro. If David Ferrer won, then we would have three players at 2-1 and the sets tiebreak would decide who won the group. But if Ferrer lost, then Federer and del Potro would both be 2-1 and Ferrer would be 1-2, and the head-to-head tiebreak, which del Potro won, would make del Potro #1 in the group. But if they played it the other way around, then Ferrer might have been eliminated before Federer and del Potro played. In other words, whichever of the two matches was played first, it could render the second more significant for the players of the first match than for the players who were actually playing.

And if that didn’t make sense…. Oh, never mind; pretend we didn’t say anything….

Singles – Group B: (4) D Ferrer def. (8) J Tipsarevic 4-6 6-3 6-1

Did we say above that David Ferrer had nothing to play for? Well, that’s true — this week. Because he can’t make the final, he cannot end the year at #4; he will remain #5. But the more points he earned here, the better his chances of making it to #4 — or even, just possibly, #3 — at the Australian Open. So this is at least some help. And he gets a few days to rest before Davis Cup. Janko Tipsarevic ends up 0-3, last in his group, but he is one of those guys who will probably get only one chance to play three matches here. It could be worse….

Doubles – Group B: (3) Paes/Stepanek def. (1) Bryan/Bryan 6-4 6-7(6-8) 10-7 (Match TB)

The year-end surge continues for Paes/Stepanek, who are 3-0 and win their group. The Bryans fall to 1-2. The other teams in the group were Granollers/Lopez, who came into Saturday’s action 1-1, and Qureshi/Rojer, 0-2. So the only hope for the Bryans to advance was for Qureshi/Rojer to beat Granollers/Lopez and hope that their 4-4 sets record would win the tiebreak. The good news for them was that it would win the tiebreak. The bad news was, they had to wait….

Doubles – Group B: (6) Granollers/Lopez def. (7) Qureshi/Rojer 6-4 6-2

And, of course, the news for the Bryans is bad. They end up third in the group, with Granollers/Lopez second. Still, the Bryans will be the year-end #1 team, and individually co-#1. Qureshi/Rojer end up 0-3, but at least they got to play here….