Men’s Pro Tour News And More!

Written by: on 10th January 2014
Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis
Men's Pro Tour News And More!

epa03119115 Donald Young of the US hits a return shot to John Isner of the US during second round match play in the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis, Tennessee, USA, 23 February 2012. EPA/TANNEN MAURY  |

****** TODAY’S MEN’S NEWS ******

 

Auckland

 

Singles – Semifinal: Y Lu def. (1) D Ferrer 6-4 7-6(7-4)

David Ferrer had won this title three years in a row. But he is really, really in a funk right now. It won’t affect his ranking for the moment; he stays at #3. But, as our feature reveals, he is in real danger of falling to #4, or even #5, after the Australian Open.

Singles – Semifinal: (3) J Isner def. R Bautista Agut 3-6 7-6(7-2) 6-4

Like David Ferrer, John Isner hasn’t moved in the rankings yet. But he will be the clear favorite in the final, and if he wins it, he’ll rise to #13.

Doubles – Semifinal: (1) Peya/Soares def. Bracciali/Dlouhy 6-4 6-0

Doubles – Semifinal: (2) Knowle/Melo def. Butorac/Klaasen 7-6(7-3) 7-6(7-4)

Sydney

 

Singles – Semifinal: (1) J Del Potro def. (4) D Tursunov 6-4 6-2

No points yet for Juan Martin del Potro; even a title won’t help him in the rankings. But if you look at our Feature, you’ll see he’s #3 in post-Melbourne safe points. So his prospects this month are pretty interesting. Dmitry Tursunov will rise from #32 to probably #26.

Singles – Semifinal: B Tomic def. (Q) S Stakhovsky 6-7(4-7) 7-5 6-3

If Bernard Tomic could only do this somewhere other than Sydney, he might be going places. As it is, he still needs to win the final to stay close to the Top Fifty; if he loses to del Potro, he’ll be around #57.

Doubles – Semifinal: (3) Bopanna/Qureshi def. Rosol/Sousa 6-1 6-2

Doubles – Semifinal: Nestor/Zimonjic def. Benneteau/Roger-Vasselin 4-6 7-6(7-5) 10-5

Seven straight wins to start the year for Daniel Nestor. Let’s hope he isn’t tiring himself out too much before Melbourne.

****** TODAY’S FEATURE ******

 

Men’s Look Forward: Australian Open

 

Forget the Big Four. We’re down to a Big Two. And if Rafael Nadal wins the Australian Open, it’s going to look like a Big One.

Nadal already has the #1 ranking, and he didn’t play in Melbourne last year. Novak Djokovic, the only player who is even in Nadal’s vicinity in terms of points, is the defending champion. Nadal can only add points, Djokovic only lose. If Nadal adds and Djokovic loses enough, the Spaniard will find himself without a serious rival. At least in terms of numbers.

Nadal is naturally enough the #1 seed, and Djokovic #2, with David Ferrer #3, Andy Murray #4, Juan Martin del Potro #5, Roger Federer #6, Tomas Berdych #7, and Stanislas Wawrinka #8.

As the draw stands, it’s supposed to be Nadal versus Murray in the semifinal, and Djokovic versus Ferrer, but given the way Murray and Ferrer have played so far this year, it’s hard to know which of the top pair that favors.

It’s pretty clear who got the worst of it in the quarterfinals, though; it’s Nadal versus del Potro, Murray versus Federer, Ferrer versus Berdych, and Wawrinka versus Djokovic. A very top-heavy draw, obviously.

Djokovic’s luck is almost as good in the earlier rounds. Nadal’s route to the final runs through Bernard Tomic, Igor Sijsling, #25 seed Gael Monfils (who gave him fits in Doha), #16 Kei Nishikori or #24 Andreas Seppi or Lleyton Hewitt, and then Del Potro. Djokovic’s first two rounds are easy, but at least he faces some difficulty in #30 Dmitry Tursunov, then #15 Fabio Fognini or #23 Ernests Gulbis, then Wawrinka.

Ferrer too has a relatively easy first two rounds, but then comes #29 Jeremy Chardy, then #14 Mikhail Youzhny or #20 Jerzy Janowicz (both of whom, however, have been having problems, so maybe Florian Mayer has a chance), then Berdych. For Murray, the first two rounds are nothing. Then comes a battle of identical hair styles with #26 Feliciano Lopez, .then #13 John Isner or #21 Philipp Kohlschreiber, then Federer.

Frankly, all four top seeds look like good bets to make the quarterfinal.

Unfortunately for Nadal, del Potro seems likely to be around for their meeting, too. His first two rounds are again easy, and his third is against #27 Benoit Paire. Maybe he can be challenged by #11 Milos Raonic or #22 Grigor Dimitrov in the fourth.

Roger Federer wasn’t as lucky. He has to face Radek Stepanek in round two, then #31 Fernando Verdasco, then #10 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or #18 Gilles Simon or maybe Marin Cilic. He is perhaps the high seed in the most danger simply because of his draw.

#7 Tomas Berdych is clearly better off: two easy rounds, then #32 Ivan Dodig, then #12 Tommy Haas or #19 Kevin Anderson, who is struggling. #8 Stanislas Wawrinka has two easy rounds, then #28 Vasek Pospisil, then #9 Richard Gasquet or #17 Tommy Robredo or Lukas Rosol or Julien Benneteau or Nikolay Davydenko.

If we look over the draw for unseeded players who might do damage, the obvious candidate is Lleyton Hewitt, who opens against struggling #24 seed Andreas Seppi. After that would be Robin Haase, #16 Kei Nishikori, and Nadal. Also of note is Marin Cilic, who opens against Marcel Granollers for the right to face #18 Simon, then #10 Tsonga, then Federer. Ivo Karlovic opens against his fellow Croat, #32 seed Ivan Dodig, with the winner likely to face Berdych in round three. Florian Mayer opens against a qualifier, with the chance to face inconsistent Mikhail Youzhny in round two, then maybe Janowicz. Alexandr Dolgopolov could be Jeremy Chardy’s second round opponent. Lukas Rosol and Julien Benneteau will get their chances at #17 Tommy Robredo, who had to bail out of Hopman Cup, in the first and second rounds. And Sam Querrey could face Ernests Gulbis in round two.

The Rankings

In a certain way, the Australian Open stands out more than any other tournament on the calendar. That’s because it’s the first event of the year that really matters. The five tournaments that came before were all 250 point events — chump change. The Australian Open is a Slam. So it’s the first real chance to see how things are likely to turn out in 2014.

It wasn’t a perfect predictor, of course. Novak Djokovic was last year’s champion, and he wasn’t the year-end #1. On the other hand, he was the highest-ranked player among those who actually played the Australian Open. Andy Murray was the finalist; David Ferrer and Roger Federer made the semifinal. Quarterfinalists were Tomas Berdych, Nicolas Almagro, Jeremy Chardy, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Of the other members of the Top Ten, Stanislas Wawrinka and Richard Gasquet made the fourth round, Juan Martin del Potro the third, and of course Nadal did not play.

That means we could be in for a wildly different Top Ten. Nadal will be #1 no matter what (by between 800 and 4800 points, depending on results), and Djokovic will be #2 — but the #3 player in safe points is not David Ferrer, nor Andy Murray, nor Roger Federer; it’s Juan Martin del Potro. Del Potro and Ferrer are pretty close together in the contest for #3. Murray is a weak #5, more than 600 points back. Another 550 points behind him are Berdych, who is #6 in safe points, Wawrinka, #7, and Federer, #8; they’re within 200 points of each other, so the one who lasts longest will likely be #6. Then we have another more-than-600-point gap, to Richard Gasquet, who is 250 points ahead of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. And, yes, that means that we have the same Top Ten in safe points as we had coming in. On the other hand, Milos Raonic is only 25 points behind Tsonga, so he has a good Top Ten shot. Tommy Haas is 250 points behind that, and John Isner and Mikhail Youzhny more than 250 behind that (although Isner can close that gap a little if he wins Auckland), so Raonic is the only player who can really be said to be a strong threat to the Top Ten.

Our rough cut on the Top Fifteen in safe points is as follows:

1..(1) Nadal………….13140

2..(2) Djokovic……….10270

3..(5) Del Potro……….5175

4..(3) Ferrer………….4930

5..(4) Murray………….4370

6..(7) Berdych…………3830

7..(8) Wawrinka………..3720

8..(6) Federer…………3645

9..(9) Gasquet…………2970

10.(10) Tsonga………….2715

11.(11) Raonic………….2690

12.(12) Haas……………2435

13.(14) Isner…………..2160

14.(15) Youzhny…………2110

15.(13) Almagro…………1940

Nicolas Almagro runs a real risk of falling out of the Top Fifteen. Andreas Seppi, who made the fourth round last year, could well lose his Top Thirty spot. Jeremy Chardy could find himself around #50.

In doubles, the Bryans are in no danger despite being defending champions. Since Peya/Soares lost in the second round, we don’t even have a contest for #3/#4. There will be a contest for #5; we’d say Ivan Dodig has the inside track (he’s a very strong #6 with nothing to defend), but it’s a close race.

KEYWORDS: Preview Australian Open Men

******** THIS WEEK IN TENNIS ********

 

THIS WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:

Sydney (250/Hard). Defending Champion: Bernard Tomic

Auckland (250/Hard). Defending Champion: David Ferrer

NEXT WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:

Australian Open (Slam/Hard). Defending Champion: Novak Djokovic

******** STATS AND FACTS ********

 

RANKINGS

 

Estimated ATP World Tour Rankings

As of January 10, 2014

 

Rank &

Prior…Player………..Points

1..(1) Nadal………….13130

2..(2) Djokovic……….12260

3..(3) Ferrer………….5640

4..(4) Murray………….5560

5..(5) Del Potro……….5255

6..(6) Federer…………4355

7..(7) Berdych…………4180

8..(8) Wawrinka………..3890

9..(9) Gasquet…………3140

10.(10) Tsonga………….3065

11.(11) Raonic………….2860

12.(12) Haas……………2435

13.(13) Almagro…………2290

14.(14) Isner…………..2150

15.(15) Youzhny…………2145

16.(16) Fognini…………1930

17.(17) Nishikori……….1915

18.(18) Robredo…………1810

19.(19) Simon…………..1790

20.(21) Janowicz………..1615

21.(20) Anderson………..1580

22.(23) Dimitrov………..1460

23.(22) Kohlschreiber……1420

24.(24) Gulbis………….1418

25.(25) Seppi…………..1360

26.(32) Tursunov………..1314

27.(27) Lopez…………..1310

28.(28) Paire…………..1300

29.(29) Melzer………….1290

30.(30) Pospisil………..1289

**DRAWS

 

Sydney

 

…………….QF……………SF………..F

1 del Potro…..(1)del Potro…..del Potro….del Potro

[Ramos(LL)]…..Stepanek

4 Tursunov……(4)Tursunov……Tursunov

7 Cilic………Istomin

 

6 Benneteau…..Stakhovsky(Q)….Stakhovsky

3 Seppi………Matosevic(WC)

8 Granollers….Tomic…………Tomic……..Tomic

2 Janowicz……Dolgopolov

 

STATUS OF SEEDS

1 del Potro

2 Janowicz…..lost 2R (Dolgopolov)

3 Seppi……..lost 2R (Matosevic)

4 Tursunov…..lost SF (del Potro)

5 Pospisil…..WITHDREW

6 Benneteau….lost 2R (Stakhovsky)

7 Cilic……..lost 2R (Istomin)

8 Granollers…lost 1R (Tomic)

Auckland

 

……………..QF……………….SF…………F

1 Ferrer………(1)Ferrer…………Ferrer

8 Haase……….Garcia-Lopez

4 Anderson…….Johnson(LL)

9 Brands………Lu……………….Lu…………Lu

 

5 Kohlschreiber..(5)Kohlschreiber

3 Isner……….(3)Isner………….Isner………Isner

6 Paire……….Bautista Agut……..Bautista Agut

2 Haas………..Sock(WC)

 

STATUS OF SEEDS

1 Ferrer………lost SF (Lu)

2 Haas………..lost 2R (Sock)

3 Isner

4 Anderson…….lost 2R (Johnson)

5 Kohlschreiber..lost QF (Isner)

6 Paire……….lost 2R (Bautista Agut)

7 Monfils……..WITHDREW (replaced by Brands)

8 Haase……….lost 1R (Garcia-Lopez)

9 Brands………lost 1R (Klahn)

Australian Open (Slam — Weeks of January 13-26)

1 Nadal

Tomic

Kokkinakis (WC)

Sijsling

Kamke

Sock

Harrison

25 Monfils

 

24 Seppi

Hewitt

Haase

Young

Qualifier

Pouille (WC)

Matosevic

16 Nishikori

 

11 Raonic

Gimeno-Traver

Qualifier

Hanescu

Qualifier

Lu

Klahn

22 Dimitrov

 

27 Paire

Qualifier

Kyrgios (WC)

Becker

Bautista Agut

Smyczek

Qualifier

5 Del Potro

 

4 Murray

Soeda

Qualifier

Qualifier

Qualifier

Llodra

Devvarman

26 Lopez

 

21 Kohlschreiber

Bedene

Przysiezny

Zeballos

Qualifier

Delbonis

Qualifier

13 Isner

 

10 Tsonga

Volandri

Qualifier

Reister

Cilic

Granollers

Brands

18 Simon

 

31 Verdasco

Qualifier

Gabashvili

Stakhovsky

Stepanek

Kavcic

Duckworth (WC)

6 Federer

 

7 Berdych

Nedovyesov

Wu (WC)

De Schepper

Hajek

Qualifier

Karlovic

32 Dodig

 

19 Anderson

Vesely

Qualifier

Sousa

Berlocq

Roger-Vasselin

Garcia-Lopez

12 Haas

 

14 Youzhny

Struff

Mayer

Qualifier

Ramos

Andujar

Thompson (WC)

20 Janowicz

 

29 Chardy

Huta Galung

Qualifier

Dolgopolov

Johnson (WC)

Mannarino

Gonzalez

3 Ferrer

 

8 Wawrinka

Golubev

Falla

Kukushkin

Mahut

Ebden

Groth (WC)

28 Pospisil

 

17 Robredo

Rosol

Carreno Busta

Benneteau

Davydenko

Kubot

Qualifier

9 Gasquet

 

15 Fognini

Bogomolov

Sela

Nieminen

Giraldo

Querrey

Monaco

23 Gulbis

 

30 Tursunov

Russell

Baghdatis

Istomin

Mayer

Montanes

Lacko

2 Djokovic

******** SCORES ********

 

FRIDAY

Auckland

Singles – Semifinal

Y Lu def. (1) D Ferrer 6-4 7-6(7-4)

(3) J Isner def. R Bautista Agut 3-6 7-6(7-2) 6-4

Doubles – Semifinal

(1) Peya/Soares def. Bracciali/Dlouhy 6-4 6-0

(2) Knowle/Melo def. Butorac/Klaasen 7-6(7-3) 7-6(7-4)

Sydney

Singles – Semifinal

(1) J Del Potro def. (4) D Tursunov 6-4 6-2

B Tomic def. (Q) S Stakhovsky 6-7(4-7) 7-5 6-3

Doubles – Semifinal

(3) Bopanna/Qureshi def. Rosol/Sousa 6-1 6-2

Nestor/Zimonjic def. Benneteau/Roger-Vasselin 4-6 7-6(7-5) 10-5

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