Game, Set, Match News
Definitely not the sort of match Roger Federer wanted as he tries to take the #1 ranking. Even though Jeremy Chardy has been fighting a foot injury, this took more than two and a half hours, and Federer blew two match points in the second set, and he hasn't yet gained any ground on Novak Djokovic, who made the third round the previous day. Jeremy Chardy will almost certainly end the year at #29 or #30.
Ivo Karlovic's serve was humming -- you don't hit 33 aces against Roger Federer otherwise! Federer's serve was pretty good, too -- he faced only two break points, whereas Karlovic faced four. But Karlovic managed to convert on one chance, and in the second set, Karlovic's serve was untouchable -- 13 aces in the set, 78% of first serves in, 88% of points won on first serve.
Not only did Rafael Nadal lose his match in Basel, he also announced that he was pulling out of Paris for were originally called "personal reasons." Which turns out to be appendix surgery (scheduled for November 3); he is through for the year. He'll have to rest for more than a month before resuming training.
What is it about Maria Sharapova and three hour matches? She had led 5-1 in the second set, had three match points, and failed to convert. She lost the set on a double-fault. It meant that she had to stay out there for three hours and nine minutes -- and all of it effectively for nothing.
One race ends, another begins. Maria Sharapova can surely forget about the year-end #1. The question now is, can she manage to hold off Petra Kvitova and Simona Halep in the contest for #2? Maybe Sharapova was still tired after her opening match, but this wasn't really competitive. It took only an hour and fifteen minutes, and Sharapova won a feeble 40% of the points.
We wondered, after this was over, if Serena was having trouble with her knee. But she said otherwise, simply attributing the result to playing poorly. In term of scoreline, one of the poorest results of her career. And it means that, yes, the #1 ranking is still in play, although Maria Sharapova will have to step things up.
We keep crossing Ernests Gulbis out of London, and it's never quite officially true. But this makes it incredibly close (more in the Feature). Roberto Bautista Agut can't quite make London, but with this, he's up to #14. That's as high as he can go this week, and probably this year, but still, what a breakthrough season!
What in the world has gotten into Irina-Camelia Begu? She has one WTA title (Tashkent 2012) and a couple of other finals (Marbella 2011, Budapest 2011) -- but those were bottom-tier events. And, here, she has beaten two Top Twenty players, Ekaterina Makarova and now Lucie Safarova.
Andy Murray secured an efficient 6-1, 7-5 start as Scot tries to improve his status in the race for a spot in next month's ATP season-ending finals in London. Murray stands outside the sweet spot in the chase for the eight-man competition from November 9, currently ninth.
Click here to see the ladies' preview and order of play from Osaka & Tiajin.
Sharapova’s fourth WTA title of the year ties her with Ana Ivanovic for second-most behind Serena Williams’ six. It is also the most WTA titles she has won in a season since she won five in 2006.
If Petra Kvitova feels like she's spinning her wheels, who can blame her? She's won eight straight matches, has a title and a final -- and she's still in danger of falling in the rankings! That sort of uncertainty is perhaps fitting after a very unpredictable contest on the court: "It's tough to say something about the match. I mean, it was really up and down.
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.
Seeds had it sweet with run of victories for favored players with No. 1 Serena Williams leading off with a defeat of Tsvetana Pironkova 6-2, 6-3, It was a similar outcome for second seed Simona Halep, whose game has gone off the boil since her surprise French Open final. The Romanian won her second-round contest over Zhu Lin of China 7-5 6-4.
Click here to see the latest ladies' draws and tomorrow's schedule from the China Open.
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