Tidbits :
* Djokovic still undefeated in Beijing
* Will face Berdych
* #6 ranking still unsettled as Nishikori wins again in Tokyo; will face Raonic
NEWS :
Beijing
Singles – Semifinal: (1) N Djokovic def. (6) (WC) A Murray 6-3 6-4
23-0. Five finals. Four titles and counting. That’s Novak Djokovic’s record in Beijing. He said after this match that it was a lot of work to win most of the points, but still, he won them. He’ll be going for his fifth title here on Sunday. And he’s improving his chances for the year-end #1, although that isn’t sure yet. He ends Andy Murray’s winning streak with Murray still stuck at #11 in the rankings. Murray is a little higher in the Race, but he needs more than this if he is to qualify for London. Indeed, he’ll need more even to clinch his spot as an alternate..
Singles – Semifinal: (3) T Berdych def. (Q) M Klizan 6-4 6-1
And Murray, as it turns out, is chasing a moving target. Tomas Berdych came here #8 in the Race, and he’s gaining ground faster than Murray. Ironically, even though he has added points from last year, he is still in danger of losing the #6 ranking spot. At least he will not fall below #7.
Doubles – Semifinal: (4) Benneteau/Pospisil def. (Q) Brunstrom/Monroe 6-7(5-7) 6-2 10-5
Doubles – Semifinal: Rojer/Tecau def. Fognini/Mayer 6-4 6-4
We keep telling you that Rojer/Tecau keep moving a little closer to London, which is probably pretty boring. But perhaps it’s worth noting that, on this particular day, they were the only team to move closer to London.
Tokyo
Singles – Semifinal: (3) M Raonic def. G Simon 6-1 6-4
Could this be the year that Milos Raonic, after umtpy-ump finals, at last wins the Japan Open? Given the next result, it seems likely. But it won’t help him; he will be #8 win or lose. He leaves Gilles Simon at #28.
Singles – Semifinal: (4) K Nishikori def. B Becker 4-6 6-0 7-6(7-2)
Eight straight wins for Kei Nishikori — it makes you wonder what he’ll have left for the final. Especially since he needed treatment for his hip again. Still, he’s done well enough that he has clinched a career high; he’ll be at least #7. If he wins the final and Tomas Berdych loses in Beijing, he’s #6. And, no matter what happens, he’s a little closer to qualifying for London.
Doubles – Semifinal: (LL) Herbert/Przysiezny def. (4) Butorac/Klaasen 4-6 7-6(7-2) 10-7
We have the feeling we’ll be seeing more of Herbert/Przysiezny after this… it makes you wonder where they have been hiding. This is a pretty depressing blow to Butorac/Klaasen’s London hopes.
You may recall that we told you in an earlier feature that there are only thirteen serious candidates for the ATP Championships in London, and only eleven of them are strong candidates. That was, and still is, true — especially since all four of this week’s finalists are among the eleven. But there are a lot of lower-ranked players with theoretical chances. Indeed, just about everyone in the Shanghai draw is still theoretically alive. After this week, it’s going to be over for most of them.
At least, if they bow out, they’ll bow out in mighty company. Everyone is here. Every Top Ten player, including Roger Federer. In fact, every possible seed except the injured Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Juan Martin del Potro, and Gael Monfils. It almost seems redundant to list the seeds. Maybe we’ll list them based on which seeds they face along the way.
Novak Djokovic, the defending champion, is of course #1. He naturally would face #2 seed Rafael Nadal in the final. Nadal’s semifinal opponent would be #4 seed Stan Wawrinka, who has been struggling; Djokovic is drawn to face #3 Roger Federer, who hasn’t played since the Swiss made the Davis Cup final. Federer is supposed to face #7 Kei Nishikori in the quarterfinal — although at this point it seems likely that Nishikori will have succumbed to his hip problem by then. Djokovic’s quarterfinal is supposed to be against #5 David Ferrer, who decided to play after all but who doesn’t seem very inspired right now. Wawrinka’s quarterfinal is against Beijing finalist and #6 seed Tomas Berdych; Nadal would face #8 seed and Tokyo finalist Milos Raonic. In the Round of Sixteen, Djokovic would take on #16 Kevin Anderson. Ferrer has drawn #11 Andy Murray — which, these days, looks like an upset waiting to happen, and one that could lead to the second Murray/Djokovic meeting in two weeks. Federer’s first seeded opponent would be #14 Roberto Bautista Agut, who seems to have cooled off a bit after his hot summer. Nishikori has drawn #10 Grigor Dimitrov, trying hard to qualify for his first London championships. Berdych would be up against #9 Marin Cilic, who didn’t quite look like a U. S. Open winner against Andy Murray last week. Wawrinka would take on #15 Fabio Fognini, who has been struggling at least as much as Wawrinka himself — as Davis Cup showed. Raonic has drawn #12 Ernests Gulbis, who was hurting last week. And Nadal is supposed to face #13 John Isner, which doesn’t sound like the best news given the way Nadal seemed to tire out last week.
As usual at a required event, most of the seeds can expect to be pushed. Djokovic will open against either Lukas Rosol or Dominic Thiem. Anderson’s second round may well be against Tommy Robredo. Murray was relatively lucky, but could well face Jerzy Janowicz in round two. Ferrer will likely have to open against Martin Klizan, who just beat Rafael Nadal and is in on a special exemption. Federer will probably open against Leonardo Mayer. Bautista Agut’s opener is against Alexandr Dolgopolov. Dimitrov and Nishikori have relatively easy draws, but Julien Benneteau is in there. Berdych will face either Jeremy Chardy or Richard Gasquet in his opener. Cilic starts against Ivo Karlovic — talk about a big-serving match! Fognini has a soft draw, but Wawrinka may start against Gilles Simon, who is finally showing signs of life. Raonic was another lucky one, but Gulbis opens against Mikhail Youzhny. #1 American Isner could face #2 American Steve Johnson in round two. And Nadal will probably face fellow Spanish lefty Feliciano Lopez.
The Rankings
We may well see the rankings and Race start to look a lot alike after this week. What we can say confidently is that Novak Djokovic will stay #1 in both even though he is defending Shanghai champion. He beat the absent Juan Martin del Potro in the final. The semifinalists were Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (not back) and Rafael Nadal. Quarterfinalists were Gael Monfils (not back), Florian Mayer (not back either), Nicolas Almagro (ditto), and Stan Wawrinka. That’s a lot of Top Ten players with not much to defend, you’ll note: Roger Federer, David Ferrer, Kei Nishikori, Tomas Berdych, and Milos Raonic all lost in the third round; Grigor Dimitrov lost his opener; Marin Cilic of course did not play.
Mayer, already out of the Top Hundred, looks as if he’ll end up below #150. Almagro will fall below #35 — probably well below. Monfils may well lose his Top Twenty spot. Tsonga, surprisingly, is still #12 in safe points, and a fairly strong #12, so he might keep that spot. But del Potro can expect to fall out of the Top 25; there is a chance he’ll end up below #30. Also, Tommy Haas, who is defending third round points, will probably fall below #45.
As we said, Djokovic is safe at #1. But Rafael Nadal is by no means safe at #2. He has only a 15 point lead on Roger Federer, meaning that whichever one lasts longer will be #2, with ties to Nadal. It’s theoretically possible that Wawrinka could lose his #4 spot to Ferrer, but only if he loses his opener and Ferrer wins Shanghai. In other words, Wawrinka isn’t going to lose his #4 spot. It’s much more likely that the ATP will officially qualify him for London.
Ferrer is in much greater danger of losing his #5 spot, although we won’t know how much danger until after the Beijing and Tokyo finals, since those events will determine the size of his lead over his nearest competitors. What seems certain is that the players from #5 to #10 will include Ferrer, Kei Nishikori, and Tomas Berdych. That leaves three spots, currently held by Marin Cilic (almost safe in the Top Ten), Milos Raonic, and Grigor Dimitrov. Amazingly, there is only one player who can possibly displace them in the Top Ten: Andy Murray. And even he needs a quarterfinal to do it, and that’s if Dimitrov loses early. While Murray has a good shot at the quarterfinal, he would face Djokovic there, so chances frankly are good that we will have no new names in the Top Ten.
RANKINGS
Estimated ATP World Tour Rankings
As of October 4, 2014
Rank &
Prior…Player………..Points
1..(1) Djokovic……….11950
2..(2) Nadal…………..8455
3..(3) Federer…………8170
4..(4) Wawrinka………..5555
5..(5) Ferrer………….4495
6..(7) Nishikori……….4235
6..(6) Berdych…………4235
8..(8) Raonic………….3965
9..(9) Cilic…………..3935
10.(10) Dimitrov………..3710
11.(11) Murray………….3545
12.(12) Tsonga………….3065
13.(13) Gulbis………….2455
14.(15) Isner…………..1925
15.(16) Monfils…………1915
16.(18) Fognini…………1870
17.(14) Del Potro……….1865
17.(17) Bautista Agut……1865
17.(19) Anderson………..1865
20.(21) Robredo…………1750
21.(20) Lopez…………..1745
22.(22) Gasquet…………1655
23.(24) Kohlschreiber……1505
24.(23) Dolgopolov………1490
25.(25) Mayer…………..1339
26.(26) Rosol…………..1290
27.(28) Giraldo…………1225
28.(37) Simon…………..1220
29.(29) Benneteau……….1205
30.(30) Karlovic………..1195
DRAWS
Beijing — Week of September 29, 2014
…………….QF………….SF……..F
1 Djokovic……(1)Djokovic….Djokovic..Djokovic
5 Dimitrov……(5)Dimitrov
4 Cilic………(4)Cilic
6 Murray (WC)…(6)Murray(WC)..Murray
8 Isner………(8)Isner
3 Berdych…….(3)Berdych…..Berdych…Berdych
7 Gulbis……..Klizan(Q)……Klizan
2 Nadal………(2)Nadal
STATUS OF SEEDS:
1 Djokovic
2 Nadal………..lost QF (Klizan)
3 Berdych
4 Cilic………..lost QF (Murray)
5 Dimitrov……..lost QF (Dimitrov)
6 Murray (WC)…..lost SF (Djokovic)
7 Gulbis……….lost 2R (Klizan)
8 Isner………..lost QF (Berdych)
Tokyo — Week of September 29, 2014
……………….QF………….SF……….F
1 Wawrinka………Becker………Becker
8 Dolgopolov…….Sock
4 Nishikori……..(4)Nishikori…Nishikori..Nishikori
7 Anderson………Chardy
5 Tsonga………..Istomin
3 Raonic………..(3)Raonic……Raonic…..Raonic
6 Bautista Agut….Simon……….Simon
2 Ferrer………..Johnson
STATUS OF SEEDS:
1 Wawrinka……..lost 1R (Ito)
2 Ferrer……….lost 1R (Granollers)
3 Raonic
4 Nishikori
5 Tsonga……….lost 1R (Przysiezny)
6 Bautista Agut…lost 1R (Simon)
7 Anderson……..lost 2R (Chardy)
8 Dolgopolov……lost 1R (Sock)
Shanghai — Week of October 5, 2014
1 Djokovic
–bye
Rosol
Thiem
Robredo
Kukushkin
Qualifier
16 Anderson
11 Murray
Qualifier
Roger-Vasselin
Janowicz
Qualifier
Klizan (SE)
–bye
5 Ferrer
3 Federer
–bye
L Mayer
Wu (WC)
Pospisil
Giraldo
Dolgopolov
14 Bautista Agut
10 Dimitrov
Istomin
Benneteau
Zhang (WC)
Sock
Qualifier
–bye
7 Nishikori
6 Berdych
–bye
Chardy
Gasquet
Granollers
Lu
Karlovic
9 Cilic
15 Fognini
Wang (WC)
Young
Qualifier
Simon
Garcia-Lopez
–bye
4 Wawrinka
8 Raonic
–bye
Sousa
Monaco (WC)
Cuevas
Dodig
Youzhny
12 Gulbis
13 Isner
Andujar
Johnson
Qualifier
Qualifier
Lopez
–bye
2 Nadal
Attached below are the draws and schedule for the ATP tournament in Shanghai, China.
Singles – click here
Doubles – click here
Qualifying singles – click here
Order of play – click here
SATURDAY
Beijing
Singles – Semifinal
(1) N Djokovic def. (6) (WC) A Murray 6-3 6-4
(3) T Berdych def. (Q) M Klizan 6-4 6-1
Doubles – Semifinal
(4) Benneteau/Pospisil def. (Q) Brunstrom/Monroe 6-7(5-7) 6-2 10-5
Rojer/Tecau def. Fognini/Mayer 6-4 6-4
Tokyo
Singles – Semifinal
(3) M Raonic def. G Simon 6-1 6-4
(4) K Nishikori def. B Becker 4-6 6-0 7-6(7-2)
Doubles – Semifinal
(LL) Herbert/Przysiezny def. (4) Butorac/Klaasen 4-6 7-6(7-2) 10-7
***
Content via Bob LARSON
Topics: Andy Murray, Atp, Beijing, China Open, Federer, Japan Open, Kei Nishikori, milos raonic, Novak Djokovic, Rafa, Rafael Nadal, Shanghai, Tennis Results, Tokyo
MEN’S #TENNIS RESULTS FROM #BEIJING, #TOKYO, & LOOK FORWARD TO #SHANGHAI, @rogerfederer, @RafaelNadal, @DjokerNole… http://t.co/z263OdBhDZ
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