RICKY’S TENNIS PICKS AND PREVIEW FOR FRIDAY’S ATP CHAMPIONSHIPS IN LONDON: MURRAY VS. WAWRINKA, NADAL VS. FERRER BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 19th November 2015

RICKY'S TENNIS PICKS AND PREVIEW FOR FRIDAY'S ATP CHAMPIONSHIPS IN LONDON: MURRAY VS. WAWRINKA, NADAL VS. FERRER BY RICKY DIMON

epa05028843 Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka returns the ball to Spain's Rafael Nadal during their singles Ilie Nastase group match of the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 16 November 2015. EPA/ANDY RAIN |

The second semifinal spot out of Group Ilie Nastase will all come down to Andy Murray vs. Stan Wawrinka. Both Murray and Wawrinka are 1-1 though two matches at the World Tour Finals and Friday night’s winner will finish second in round-robin competition behind Rafael Nadal. As for Nadal, he is set for a relatively meaningless match against fellow Spaniard David Ferrer.

(2) Andy Murray vs. (4) Stan Wawrinka

Shockingly, this is their first meeting in more than two years. They last faced each other at the 2013 U.S. Open, where Wawrinka rolled 6-4, 6-3, 6-2 to make the head-to-head series a more even 8-6 in Murray’s favor. The Scot has won six of their eight hard-court encounters, but their last four such showdowns have been split 2-2. Their only previous indoor collision came seven years ago in Marseille, where Murray prevailed 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-1.

Each man’s round-robin fate at the O2 will be sealed by the outcome of this match. Both Murray and Wawrinka are 1-1, while Nadal has already wrapped up Group Ilie Nastase at 2-0 (with head-to-head advantages over Murray and Wawrinka), while Ferrer is eliminated at 0-2. Thus the winner of this title will be the No. 2 qualifier from the foursome.

Murray opened in decent enough form, taking care of Ferrer 6-4, 6-4 on Monday afternoon. Two days later, however, the second seed was reduced to little more than an innocent bystander in a 6-4, 6-1 pasting by Nadal.

Britain’s Andy Murray returns the ball to Spain’s Rafael Nadal during their round robin match of the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament in London, Britain, 18 November 2015. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA

Wawrinka is trending in the opposite direction. The third-ranked Swiss seemed lost in just about every way in a 6-3, 6-2 setback against Nadal before recovering to beat Ferrer 7-5, 6-2. Wawrinka continued to struggle early and trailed the Spaniard 5-2 in set one, but he finaThe principal question heading into this one involves how motivated–or not–Murray is to stick around on an indoor hard court in London instead of going back to clay-court practice in advance of next week’s Davis Cup final between Great Britain and Belgium. The British No. 1 spent the previous week honing his game on the slow stuff, made a successful surface transition against Ferrer, but then looked borderline lifeless versus Nadal.

Based on the Davis Cup factor and their respective performances on Wednesday, Wawrinka has to like his chance. And he may do Murray a favor by sending him on his way to Belgium.lly found the range and overpowered his opponent the rest of the way en route to a convincing victory.

Pick: Wawrinka in 3

(5) Rafael Nadal vs. (7) David Ferrer

Nadal and Ferrer will be facing each other for the 30th time in their careers when they wrap up their round-robin campaigns on Friday afternoon.

Spain’s Rafael Nadal returns the ball to Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka during their singles Ilie Nastase group match of the ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 16 November 2015. EPA/ANDY RAIN

Nadal is dominating the head-to-head series 23-6, but it stands at a far more competitive 5-4 in Nadal’s favor on hard courts. The two Spaniards most recently squared off in their only meeting of 2015 on the clay courts of Monte-Carlo, where Nadal survived a quarterfinal test 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.

Fast forward seven months and this is a strikingly different world No. 5. So far this fall, Nadal has finished runner-up in Beijing and Basel, made a run to the Shanghai semifinals, and reached the quarters in Paris. At none of those four events, however, did he perform better than he has through two London matches.

This is the first time since Rome in 2013 that the 14-time major champion has defeated two top-four players in the same tournament.

Ferrer also stormed into the O2 with plenty of momentum, having captured recent titles in Kuala Lumpur and Vienna. But once again a steep step up in competition has proven to be too much for Ferrer to handle.

Ferrer’s baseline game has been solid this week, but his serve has given him no chance so succeed against the best players in the world. In two outings, the 33-year-old has combined for zero aces and 11 double-faults (eight against Murray, three against Wawrinka).

A proverbial “dead” match is not a particularly enthralling proposition for the fans, but if you could pick two players to contest such a match, Nadal and Ferrer would be the two. Their effort levels can never be questioned regardless of circumstances. Unfortunately for Ferrer, Nadal’s best effort vs. his own best effort is a significant mismatch right now.

Pick: Nadal in 2

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Topics: 10sballs.com, Andy Murray, ATP Finals, David Ferrer, London, men tennis update, Rafael Nadal, Ricky Dimon, Sports, Stan Wawrinka, Tennis, World Tour Finals

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10sBalls_com says:

November 19, 2015 at 8:11 am

-@Dimonator’s Picks And Preview For Friday’s #ATPTennis In #London: #Murray vs. #Wawrinka, #Nadal vs. #Ferrer
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