ATP TENNIS TOUR FROM MOSCOW , STOCKHOLM & VIENNA , THE RACE TO LONDON REALLY HEATS UP

Written by: Staff on 14th October 2014

ATP TENNIS TOUR FROM MOSCOW , STOCKHOLM & VIENNA , THE RACE TO LONDON REALLY HEATS UP

epa04437817 Ivo Karlovic of Croatia in action during his third round match against Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic at the Shanghai Tennis Masters in Shanghai, China, 09 October 2014. EPA/DIEGO AZUBEL |

TOUR TIDBITS

* Monaco keep up hot year-end form with win over Lorenzi in Moscow

* Kukushkin blunts 18-year-old Khachanov’s big serve to earn three-set win

* Top seeds Dodig/Melo lose to Lorenzi/Seppi; London hopes take slight blow

* Sousa still slumping; loses to Copil in Stockholm

* Leonardo Mayer cruises; Verdasco edges Matosevic; wildcard proves no problem for Chardy

* What hot streak? Mannarino tops Baghdatis, who will probably remain below #100

* Kubot/Lindstedt finally win a match; Rojer/Tecau upset

* Lucky Loser good luck for Melzer; Austrian wins in three sets over Gombos in Vienna

* Qualifier Troicki romps past Estrella Burgos; Becker edges Hanescu to move to within about 75 point of Top Forty

* Karlovic survives marathon, needs more to stay Top Thirty

* #7 seed Garcia-Lopez, #8 Thiem upset; Thiem’s Top Forty ranking in some danger

TODAY’S MEN’S NEWS

Moscow

Evgeny Donskoy of Russia beat Dudi Sela 6-4, 6-0 to line up a second-round opening opponent for second seed Marin Cilic, The US Open champion from Croatia is trying to clinch his spot in the year-end final this week in an event headed by fellow London rival Milos Raonic.

“I take it as a challenge. I will try my best,” said Cilic, who is guaranteed a London finals spot by virtue of his grand slam crown from September. “Everything is possible, but it’s very important to serve well.”

Australian Sam Groth advanced with 20 aces over a 16-year-old Russian as Andrey Rublev went down 7-6(4), 7-5. Groth next plays fifth seed Roberto Bautista Agut. Croatian Ivan Dodig fired a dozen aces to beat Pere Riba of Spain 6-4, 6-2, taking well under an hour.

Ricardas Berankis defeated Russian Aslan Karatsevia 6-3, 6-4 while Argentine Juan Monaco beat Paolo Lorenzi of Italy 6-3, 5-7, 6-3.

Stockholm

Fifth seed Leonardo Mayer made a psychological recovery after missing on five match points last week in Shanghai against Roger Federer in the second round, with the Argentine starting in Scandinavia by beating Donald Young 6-4, 6-4 to spoil the American’s tournament debut.

Spanish seventh seed Fernando Verdasco beat Australian Marinko Matosevic 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 while France’s Adrian Mannarino stopped former Australian open finalist Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 2-6, 6-2, 6-4, who lost despite 11 aces. Mannarino saved 12 of 14 break points.

Vienna

German Jan-Lennard Struff scored the first upset of the week as he beat seventh seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 6-3, 6-4. Struff, ranked 52nd and a September semi-finalist at Metz, led compatriot Benjamin Becker into the second round, with Becker defeating Romanian Victor Hanescu 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.

Struff was helped by nine aces in his win over Garcia-Lopez; the German challenger saved all three break points he faced over 69 minutes. Becker earned his second victory against Hanescu following a 2009 win in Halle, on grass.

Croatian sixth seed Ivo Karlovic spent two and a half hours in defeating Argentine Federico Delbonis 6-7 (1-7), 7-6 (11-9), 7-6 (7-2). Karlovic finished with 29 aces. Serb Viktor Troicki, who served a ban which ended in July for delaying a post-match blood test by 24 hours in 2013, beat Victor Estrella Burgos 6-0, 6-3.

Austrian players split a pair, with Robin Haase beating eighth seed Dominic Thiem 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Jurgen Melzer, playing his home event for the 15th time, beat Norbert Gombos of Slovakia 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.

Dominic Thiem of Austria hits a return to Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic on the ninth day of the 2014 US Open Tennis Championship at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York, USA, 02 September 2014. The US Open runs through 08 September, a 15-day schedule. EPA/ANDREW GOMBERT

Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci got off to a winning start, defeating France’s Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-1, 6-4, with the winner pounding a dozen aces at the Stadthalle.

The tournament could prove to be key for London year-end candidates, top seed David Ferrer and number two Andy Murray, as both of the leading lights prepared to make their wild card starts in the second round.

Murray will play his first match on Thursday against Vasek Pospisil after the Canadian defeated Daniel Brands of Germany 6-3, 6-7 (3-7), 7-6 (7-2).

TODAY’S FEATURE

Three for One

On Sunday, we said that Roger Federer needed roughly three more wins than Novak Djokovic at the year-end Championships to gain the year-end #1 — assuming their relative positions remained unchanged. The purpose of that caveat was to make it clear that all sorts of other things might happen in that time to change the calculation — but maybe it would be clearer to simply give a more detailed look at the situation.

For starters, Djokovic currently has 9010 points in the ATP Race, while Federer has 8020. In other words, Federer has to gain 990 more points than Djokovic in the remainder of the year to tie for the year-end #1, and 1000 points to be #1 outright.

Since neither Federer nor Djokovic is playing this week, they each have the potential to earn exactly 3000 more points: 500 at Basel or Valencia, 1000 at Paris, 1500 at London. So Federer can do it.

And Federer has at least one minor advantage: He gets to play more. He is signed up for Basel, and Djokovic is skipping that week. And Federer can count all the points he earns at Basel; he has an open slot for a 500 point event. Federer is also in line for the Davis Cup final, which carries some points, although those points are tricky to earn and aren’t entirely under Federer’s control; if he wants to be sure of being #1, he really needs to earn it by London.

That means that Federer could potentially takes the top spot as early as Paris. If he wins Basel, he could gain #1 either by reaching the Paris final, if Djokovic loses by the third round, or by winning Paris, if Djokovic loses in the semifinal. Of course, that would leave them very close together, but that would mean that he would merely need to match Djokovic in London to stay #1.

If Federer doesn’t win Basel, he might still make it to #1 at Paris, but he would certainly need a title, and he’d need Djokovic to lose early — how early depends on what Federer does at Basel.

If Federer fails to take #1 at Paris — and, frankly, he’d need a lot of luck to gain #1 there — then he might have another shot at London. Let’s break out some scenarios for that:

* If the two are 1500 points apart entering London (one way this might happen is if Federer wins Basel but then loses his Paris opener and Djokovic wins Paris), then the only way Federer can take #1 is to win London without loss of a match and hope Djokovic goes 0-3.

* If the two remain 1000 points apart entering London (e.g. if Federer loses his Basel opener and the two produce identical results in Paris, or if Federer wins Basel but loses his third round at Paris and Djokovic makes but loses the Paris final), then Federer needs his “three more wins”: He needs a London title and he needs Djokovic to win no more than two round robin matches and to lose the semifinal. Or he needs a London final with three round robin wins and he needs Djokovic to go 0-3 in London.

* If Federer cuts the gap to 500 points (e.g. if Federer wins Basel and they lose in the same round at Paris), then Federer needs to win roughly two more London matches than Djokovic.

* If they go in roughly tied (e.g. if Federer wins Basel and Paris, beating Djokovic in the Paris final), then Federer needs to do roughly as well as Djokovic. In the case listed here, where Federer beats Djokovic in the Paris final, Federer would need one more round robin win. But if Federer wins Basel and Paris and beats someone other than Djokovic in the final, then he would merely need to match Djokovic’s result. Or even, possibly, win one fewer match.

* If Federer goes in with a 250 point lead (e.g. if Federer wins Basel and Paris and Djokovic loses by the Paris quarterfinal), then Federer can afford to earn one fewer round robin win than Djokovic.

Of course, if Federer still has a chance at #1, Djokovic still has the chance to put the year-end spot away. For instance, if Federer wins Basel but then loses his Paris opener, Djokovic can pretty well settle things by winning Paris. Similarly, if Federer loses early in Basel and then loses the Paris final to Djokovic, Djokovic will need just one or two London wins to clinch the #1 spot no matter what Federer does. And if Federer does badly at both Basel and Paris, and Djokovic does well, it’s effectively over. We should emphasize: although Federer has the chance to earn more points in the next month and a half, Djokovic’s lead is substantial and will be hard to overcome. In practice, Federer surely must win either Paris or London, and hope that Djokovic doesn’t win either. But the contest is close enough that he does not need outside help in the form of having someone else beat Djokovic; if Federer can win their matches, he will be the year-end #1.

THIS WEEK IN TENNIS

RANKINGS

Estimated ATP World Tour Rankings

As of October 14, 2014

Rank &

Prior…Player………..Points

1..(1) Djokovic……….11510

2..(2) Federer…………9080

3..(3) Nadal…………..8105

4..(4) Wawrinka………..5385

5..(5) Ferrer………….4525

6..(6) Nishikori……….4355

7..(7) Berdych…………4325

8..(8) Cilic…………..3945

9..(9) Raonic………….3841

10.(11) Murray………….3635

11.(10) Dimitrov………..3585

12.(12) Tsonga………….2660

13.(13) Gulbis………….2465

14.(14) Lopez…………..2060

15.(15) Isner…………..1970

16.(16) Bautista Agut……1935

17.(17) Anderson………..1875

18.(18) Simon…………..1810

19.(19) Fognini…………1790

20.(20) Monfils…………1735

21.(21) Robredo…………1715

22.(22) Gasquet…………1485

23.(23) Kohlschreiber……1460

24.(24) Dolgopolov………1455

25.(25) Mayer…………..1404

26.(26) Benneteau……….1375

27.(27) Youzhny…………1306

28.(28) Goffin………….1278

29.(29) Del Potro……….1265

30.(31) Rosol…………..1245

DRAWS

Moscow — Week of October 12, 2014

1 Raonic

5 Bautista Agut

3 Gulbis

8 Seppi

7 Youzhny

4 Fognini

6 Robredo

2 Cilic

STATUS OF SEEDS:

1 Raonic

2 Cilic

3 Gulbis

4 Fognini

5 Bautista Agut

6 Robredo

7 Youzhny

8 Seppi

Stockholm — Week of October 12, 2014

1 Berdych

8 Sousa

4 Dolgopolov

5 L Mayer

7 Verdasco

3 Anderson

6 Chardy

2 Dimitrov

STATUS OF SEEDS:

1 Berdych

2 Dimitrov

3 Anderson

4 Dolgopolov

5 L Mayer

6 Chardy

7 Verdasco

8 Sousa……….lot 1R (Copil)

Vienna — Week of October 12, 2014

1 Ferrer (WC)

6 Karlovic

4 Kohlschreiber

8 Thiem

5 Rosol

3 Lopez

7 Garcia-Lopez

2 Murray (WC)

STATUS OF SEEDS:

1 Ferrer (WC)

2 Murray (WC)

3 Lopez

4 Kohlschreiber

5 Rosol

6 Karlovic

7 Garcia-Lopez….lost 1R (Struff)

8 Thiem………..lost 1R (Haase)

SCORES

MONDAY

Moscow

Singles – First Round

[Q] R Berankis (LTU) d [Q] A Karatsev (RUS) 63 64

S Groth (AUS) d [WC] A Rublev (RUS) 76(4) 75

I Dodig (CRO) d P Riba (ESP) 64 62

J Monaco (ARG) d P Lorenzi (ITA) 63 57 63

M Kukushkin (KAZ) d [WC] K Khachanov (RUS) 67(3) 60 62

[WC] E Donskoy (RUS) d D Sela (ISR) 64 60

Doubles – First Round

P Lorenzi (ITA) / A Seppi (ITA) d [1] I Dodig (CRO) / M Melo (BRA) 64 06 10-8

[WC] K Kravchuk (RUS) / A Kuznetsov (RUS) d K Skupski (GBR) / N Skupski (GBR) 63 64

D Lajovic (SRB) / F Skugor (CRO) d A Bury (BLR) / M Jaziri (TUN) 36 63 10-6

Stockholm

Singles – First Round

[5] L Mayer (ARG) d D Young (USA) 64 64

[6] J Chardy (FRA) d [WC] E Ymer (SWE) 63 64

[7] F Verdasco (ESP) d M Matosevic (AUS) 63 36 63

[Q] M Copil (ROU) d [8] J Sousa (POR) 76(4) 46 64

A Mannarino (FRA) d M Baghdatis (CYP) 26 62 64

[Q] M Bachinger (GER) d I Sijsling (NED) 26 76(3) 64

Doubles – First Round

G Dimitrov (BUL) / P Herbert (FRA) d [1] J Rojer (NED) / H Tecau (ROU) 75 46 12-10

[2] L Kubot (POL) / R Lindstedt (SWE) d K Anderson (RSA) / J Erlich (ISR) 64 76(5)

[WC] D Brown (GER) / A Siljestrom (SWE) d A Golubev (KAZ) / A Sitak (NZL) 64 67(5) 10-4

H Kontinen (FIN) / J Nieminen (FIN) d T Gabashvili (RUS) / L Mayer (ARG) 61 36 10-7

Vienna

Singles – First Round

[6] I Karlovic (CRO) d F Delbonis (ARG) 67(1) 76(9) 76(2)

J Struff (GER) d [7] G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) 63 64

R Haase (NED) d [8] D Thiem (AUT) 63 36 63

[PR] J Melzer (AUT) d [LL] N Gombos (SVK) 36 64 63

B Becker (GER) d [Q] V Hanescu (ROU) 46 61 63

[Q] V Troicki (SRB) d V Estrella Burgos (DOM) 60 63

T Bellucci (BRA) d P Mathieu (FRA) 61 64

V Pospisil (CAN) d [Q] D Brands (GER) 63 67(3) 76(2)

Doubles – First Round

[3] M Draganja (CRO) / F Mergea (ROU) d [Alt] F Delbonis (ARG) / S Stakhovsky (UKR) 46 63 10-8

M Pavic (CRO) / A Sa (BRA) d B Becker (GER) / J Struff (GER) 67(4) 64 10-8

Topics: Atp, London, Moscow, Stockholm, Tennis, Tennis News, Vienna

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October 14, 2014 at 9:28 pm

#ATP #TENNIS TOUR FROM #MOSCOW , #STOCKHOLM & #VIENNA , THE RACE TO #LONDON REALLY HEATS UP- http://t.co/A2Ua4pT2vB @ATPWorldTour