* Cilic earns fourth title of 2014 at Moscow
* Berdych deals another blow to Dimitrov’s London chances
* Murray beats Ferrer to take #8 Race spot
Moscow
Singles – Final: (2) M Cilic def. (5) R Bautista Agut 6-4 6-4
This was pretty straightforward: Marin Cilic broke once in the middle of the first set, and again at the beginning of the second, and he was never broken. It’s his fourth title of the year — twice as many as he had ever won before even if you ignore the fact that one of them was the U. S. Open.
The bad news? It doesn’t make any difference. #8 he came in; #8 he remains. He picks up a few points, but really, he doesn’t need more 250 point events. Top Ten players rarely do. The good news, of course, is that he can only add points at Paris, and only add at London; he will very likely end the year higher than where he is now.
Roberto Bautista Agut rises to a career high #14, and he’s 400 points behind #13, so he probably can’t go higher this year. But he made it that high despite starting the year with a low ranking. Next year, he’ll be ranked — and seeded — much higher. A top ten spot seems perfectly possible.
Doubles – Final: Cermak/Vesely def. (2) Groth/Guccione 7-6(7-2) 7-5
Talk about an odd couple of a team — Frantisek Cermak is 37, Jiri Vesely 21. (Vesely even said, “I have been watching [my countryman Cermak] since I was a small kid.”) Cermak came here with thirty doubles titles, Vesely with no ATP titles of any kind. For Vesely, of course, it’s a big breakthrough. For Cermak, it’s… another title. His second this year, meaning that in addition to 31 in his career, he has won at least two in one year nine times. It will be interesting to see if Vesely — who has shown himself a promising singles player — will play enough doubles to ever achieve that feat.
Stockholm
Singles – Final: (1) T Berdych def. (2) G Dimitrov 5-7 6-4 6-4
This took two hours and twenty minutes, and in all that time, there were only five breaks. But Tomas Berdych — who had 13 aces — won 75% of first serve points, and 60% of second serve points, and how do you beat a guy who is serving like that?
It is career title #10 for Berdych. It is also his second title of the year, following Rotterdam; this is only the second time in his career that he has won two titles in a season — the other time being 2012. Interestingly, in that year as in this, both of his titles came on indoor hardcourt. Indeed, five of his ten career titles have been on indoor courts (the other was Paris 2005, which was on carpet).
Rankings-wise, he didn’t earn much — he added only 100 points. But that’s enough to move him past Kei Nishikori into the #6 ranking. He remains lower in the Race — only #7 — but at least he strengthens his grip on that spot. He isn’t guaranteed a London spot yet, but it looks quite likely.
Not so for Grigor Dimitrov. He’s still at #11 in the Race, meaning that he is still in the running, but he has a long way to go, and he earned almost nothing that mattered here. He falls from #10 to #11 in the rankings, having failed to defend his title, and he’ll probably have to do something substantial at Paris to qualify for London.
Doubles – Final: (3) Butorac/Klaasen def. Huey/Sock 6-4 6-3
It’s hard to believe — Butorac/Klaasen came here #9 in the ATP Race, but they had only one title, at Memphis. It would seem that they like indoor hardcourts!
It’s an interesting win, because Jack Sock is half of the team Pospisil/Sock that Butorac and Klaasen are chasing in the Race. This will take Butorac/Klaasen past Pospisil/Sock, but the latter pair have the Wimbledon title and have been much better on a per-tournament basis when they have played. So it’s not clear that this will help Butorac/Klaasen much even though they will rise to #8. Still, it’s title #16 for Butorac, and #5 for Klaasen; if they don’t make it to London, at least they have lots of trophies to console them.
Vienna
Singles – Final: (2) A Murray (WC) def. (1) D Ferrer (WC) 5-7 6-2 7-5
We have to wonder if perhaps David Ferrer ran out of gas here. Just as when he played Philipp Kohlschreiber, Ferrer here was pitted against someone who played the same tenacious defense as the Spaniard himself. The Kohlschreiber match had lasted two hours and 26 minutes. This one lasted two hours and 41 minutes. There were twelve breaks. Wouldn’t you have worn out at the end? Murray came back from 5-3 down in the last set to win the last four games.
It’s bad timing for Ferrer, though, with his Valencia title about to come off. Ferrer is still #5 in the rankings, but he’s likely to fall several spots next week. And he remains below the London qualification cutoff.
Andy Murray will still need more to get to London, too, but since he won and Dimitrov lost in Stockholm, his chances of being at least an alternate look pretty good. He is up to #10 in the rankings — and #8 in the Race. And he wins his thirtieth career title. It’s his second of 2014, meaning that he has now won at least two titles every year for eight years straight.
Doubles – Final: Melzer/Petzschner def. Begemann/Knowle 7-6(8-6) 4-6 10-7
Talk about a long time coming! The last time Jurgen Melzer and Philipp Petzschner won a title together was the 2011 U. S. Open. In fact, that’s the last time either one of them won a doubles title (although Melzer has a couple of singles titles since). It’s doubles title #13 for Melzer, #6 for Petzschner (all with Melzer). Definitely a team that is better than the sum of its parts. It really does seem as if their layoff was good for them; they seem nicely recharged. Petzschner commented, “This is like a new beginning. My breakthrough [his one singles title] came here in Vienna six years ago. To be back here after one and a half years away from the tour feels like a revival. Winning a trophy again together with my best friend really is like a dream. I also want to thank Tournament Director Herwig Straka who gave us the wild card. We wouldn’t be here without him.”
THIS WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:
Basel (500/Indoor Hard). Defending Champion: Juan Martin del Potro
Valencia (500/Indoor Hard). Defending Champion: Mikhail Youzhny
NEXT WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:
Paris (1000/Indoor Hard). Defending Champion: Novak Djokovic
Estimated ATP World Tour Rankings
As of October 19, 2014
Rank &
Prior…Player………..Points
1..(1) Djokovic……….11510
2..(2) Federer…………9080
1..(1) Djokovic……….11510
2..(2) Federer…………9080
3..(3) Nadal…………..8105
4..(4) Wawrinka………..5385
5..(5) Ferrer………….4585
6..(7) Berdych…………4425
7..(6) Nishikori……….4355
8..(8) Cilic…………..4105
9..(9) Raonic………….3930
10.(11) Murray………….3795
11.(10) Dimitrov………..3645
12.(12) Tsonga………….2660
13.(13) Gulbis………….2465
14.(16) Bautista Agut……2065
15.(14) Lopez…………..2060
16.(15) Isner…………..1970
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…………1350
28.(28) Goffin………….1278
29.(29) Del Potro……….1265
30.(31) Rosol…………..1245
Moscow — Week of October 12, 2014
WINNER: Marin Cilic
……………..QF…………….SF………….F
1 Raonic………Berankis(Q)
5 Bautista Agut..(5)Bautista Agut..Bautista Agut..Bautista
3 Gulbis………(3)Gulbis………Gulbis
8 Seppi……….(8)Seppi
7 Youzhny……..(7)Youzhny
4 Fognini……..Kukushkin………Kukushkin
6 Robredo……..(6)Robredo
2 Cilic……….(2)Cilic……….Cilic……….Cilic
STATUS OF SEEDS:
1 Raonic…………lost 2R (Berankis)
2 Cilic………….WON TOURNAMENT
3 Gulbis…………lost SF (Bautista Agut)
4 Fognini………..lost 2R (Kukushkin)
5 Bautista Agut…..lost F (Cilic)
6 Robredo………..lost QF (Cilic)
7 Youzhny………..lost QF (Kukushkin)
8 Seppi………….lost QF (Gulbis)
Stockholm — Week of October 12, 2014
WINNER: Tomas Berdych
……………QF………….SF………..F
1 Berdych……(1)Berdych…..Berdych……Berdych
8 Sousa……..Copil(Q)
4 Dolgopolov…Mannarino
5 L Mayer……Bachinger(Q)…Bachinger
7 Verdasco…..(7)Verdasco
3 Anderson…..Tomic……….Tomic
6 Chardy…….Sock
2 Dimitrov…..(2)Dimitrov….Dimitrov…..Dimitrov
STATUS OF SEEDS:
1 Berdych……..WON TOURNAMENT
2 Dimitrov…….lost F (Berdych)
3 Anderson…….lost 2R (Tomic)
4 Dolgopolov…..lost 2R (Mannarino)
5 L Mayer……..lost 2R (Bachinger)
6 Chardy………lost 2R (Sock)
7 Verdasco…….lost QF (Tomic)
8 Sousa……….lost 1R (Copil)
Vienna — Week of October 12, 2014
WINNER: Andy Murray
………………QF……………..SF…………F
1 Ferrer (WC)…..(1)Ferrer(WC)……Ferrer……..Ferrer
6 Karlovic……..(6)Karlovic
4 Kohlschreiber…(4)Kohlschreiber…Kohlschreiber
8 Thiem………..Becker
5 Rosol………..Troicki(Q)………Troicki
3 Lopez………..Bellucci
7 Garcia-Lopez….Struff
2 Murray (WC)…..(2)Murray(WC)……Murray……..Murray
STATUS OF SEEDS:
1 Ferrer (WC)…..lost F (Murray)
2 Murray (WC)…..WON TOURNAMENT
3 Lopez………..lost 2R (Bellucci)
4 Kohlschreiber…lost SF (Ferrer)
5 Rosol………..lost 2R (Troicki)
6 Karlovic……..lost QF (Ferrer)
7 Garcia-Lopez….lost 1R (Struff)
8 Thiem………..lost 1R (Haase)
Basel — Week of October 19, 2014
1 Federer
Muller
Janowicz
Istomin
Nieminen
Pospisil
A Zverev (WC)
5 Dimitrov
3 Wawrinka
Kukushkin
Qualifier
Becker
Qualifier
Delbonis
Rosol
8 Karlovic
7 Goffin
Thiem
Dodig
Chiudinelli (WC)
Berlocq
Young
Johnson
4 Raonic
6 Gulbis
Coric (WC)
Golubev
Gabashvili
Qualifier
Roger-Vasselin
Qualifier
2 Nadal
Valencia — Week of October 19, 2014
1 Ferrer
Seppi
Verdasco
L Mayer
Qualifier
Youzhny
Giraldo
6 Bautista Agut
3 Murray (WC)
Melzer
Qualifier
Fognini
Kozlov (WC)
Klizan
Kohlschreiber
7 Anderson
8 Simon
Dolgopolov
Chardy
Qualifier
Granollers
Carreno Busta (WC)
Qualifier
4 Lopez
5 Isner
Robredo
Lu
Garcia-Lopez
Lajovic
Sousa
Andujar
2 Berdych (WC)
SUNDAY
Moscow
Singles – Final
(2) M Cilic def. (5) R Bautista Agut 6-4 6-4
Doubles – Final
Cermak/Vesely def. (2) Groth/Guccione 7-6(7-2) 7-5
Stockholm
Singles – Final
(1) T Berdych def. (2) G Dimitrov 5-7 6-4 6-4
Doubles – Final
(3) Butorac/Klaasen def. Huey/Sock 6-4 6-3
Vienna
Singles – Final
(2) (WC) A Murray def. (1) (WC) D Ferrer 5-7 6-2 7-5
Doubles – Final
(WC) Melzer/Petzschner def. Begemann/Knowle 7-6(8-6) 4-6 10-7
***
CONTENT VIA Bob LARSON TENNIS NEWS.
Topics: Andy Murray, Atp, Basel, David Ferrer, GRIGOR DIMITROV, Marin Cilic, Moscow, Roberto Bautista Agut, Stockholm, Tennis Results, Tomas Berdych, Valencia, Vienna
MEN’S #ATP #TENNIS RESULTS FROM #MOSCOW , #STOCKHOLM , #VIENNA & #BASEL & #VALENCIA DRAWS- http://t.co/QoWFOeqEj9 #tennis