Wk.41- Djokovic Masters Shanghai

Hey Y'all. Galileo here.

The end of the season rapidly approaches. We had our second to last Masters this week and we have our last 250's this coming week, then our final 500 levels at Valencia and Basel. Since 2001, only three men have won this title who weren't Spanish- Murray in 2009, Andreev in 2005 and Gaudio in 2002. The field features Ferrer, the defending champ, looking for title number four here, Haas looking for a return to form, Almagro looking for a third title here but his first on hard courts and Isner looking for a title outside of US soil. Janowicz, Simon, Fognini and Robredo round out the seeds.

In Basel, the draw is absolutely loaded although it may change in the next week. Nadal is looking for a second indoor hard title and his first since 2005 in Madrid. Del Potro is looking to defend and win two 500's in three weeks. Berdych is looking for a title, his first of the year. Federer is looking for an eighth consecutive final, a sixth title and a tenth final overall. Wawrinka, Gasquet, Raonic and Nishikori are seeds five through eight although there may be withdrawals.

This week, Del Potro continued his run of form by smashing Nadal off the court. Serving for the first set at 5-2, just one of his serves was returned. He simply blew Nadal away and very nearly had Djokovic, too. Djokovic won another title this year and he and Nadal look to be about to start a duopoly on the tour. I think it will be interesting to see Nadal and Djokovic next year. Nadal has so many points to defend, that he will struggle to finish at number one. I predict Del Potro to finish 2014 inside the top four, having made four slam quarterfinals. Berdych, Wawrinka, Gasquet, Ferrer and Federer were all pretty disappointing in Shanghai.

In fact, it was not a good week for the seeds in general.



*Week 41 CHAMPIONS*
SHANGHAI, CHINA
S: Novak Djokovic def. Juan Martin del Potro 6-1/3-6/7-6(3)
D: Dodig/Melo d. Marrero/Verdasco


PLAYER OF THE WEEK: NOVAK DJOKOVIC, SRB
...Djokovic opened his campaign by beating Granollers 6-2, 6-0. He was far too good for the Spaniard at the US Open, too. When Djokovic gets into 'the zone,' you know you're in trouble. His serve is really starting to cook in the fall swing. Combine that with the most ruthless baseline game in tennis right now, possibly ever, and you are in real trouble. And he is only the second best player in the world. It's hard to devise a strategy to beat him. I would suggest consistent huge serving and keeping the points short. On return, try not to miss but keep returns deep and low. It is extremely hard to keep using a gameplan that works against Djokovic because he has an extraordinary ability to adapt and change. Anyway, Djokovic beat Fognini 6-3, 6-3 before coming back against Monfils 6-7, 6-2, 6-4 to make it through to the semifinals. He beat Monfils' compatriot Tsonga 6-2, 7-4 to set up a final with the big hitting Argentine JMDP.

He blew past Delpo 6-1 in the first before losing the second 6-3. Poised at a set all, the match could have gone either way but the Djoker eventually prevailed 7-3 in the breaker.
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RISER: JUAN MARTIN DEL POTRO, ARG
...After winning a 500 the previous week, he made the finals of a 1000 this week and guaranteed his place in the season-ending tournament and gave him 1100 ranking points, too, not to mention roughly $500,000 in prize money. The Argentine very nearly failed to make it though. He edged past Kohl 3-6, 6-3, 7-6. He benefited from the withdrawal of Haas (bad back) and then dismissed Almagro 3 and 3 to move through to the quarters to face Nadal. He nearly had Nadal earlier this year and he memorably beat the Spaniard 6-2, 6-2, 6-2 at Flushing Meadows back in 2009. He put Nadal away 6-2, 6-2 in a dominant display of power and ferocity. He was so close to beating Djokovic, but fell at the very final hurdle.

I think that the tower from Tandil does have a couple more slams in him. Almost. Maybe Delpo is that guy to win that next slam outside of the top four.
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SURPRISE: NICOLAS ALMAGRO, ESP
...He backs up his semifinal run last week with a quarterfinal run this week. For a man who has never been to a final off the dirt, not much is expected of him during the fall swing. In a funny twist of fate, he has never been to the quarters of the Monte Carlo masters but he has been to the quarters or better of every other Masters except Bercy. Anyway, he opened with a straightforward win over Soeda 7-6, 6-2 before defeating Chardy 6-3, 6-4. He then edged Almagro 6-7, 6-3, 7-6. The two of them have played a number of exciting matches including, of course, that tense match at the Aussie.
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VETERAN: FLORIAN MAYER, GER
...Mayer has been as high as eighteen in the world and has a pair of Wimbledon quarterfinals to his name in 2004 and '12. He lost to Grosjean and Djokovic in those quarterfinals. He has never been past the third round of a slam apart from those Wimbledon quarterfinals. He is 1-4 in finals, all at 250 level, but he has 11 tour challenger titles. Surprisingly, he has only made two quarters at Masters level before this at Rome and Shanghai in 2011. Despite his subpar record, he has still managed to hit the top twenty but the one thing the ATP and WTA rankings reward above anything else is consistency.

Berdych has just three finals this year, and only two slam quarters, but he has been consistent in the Masters this year and so he has hit his best ranking of five this year. Ditto for Wozniacki when she was number one except she won a lot of events but, unfortunately, not the slams. It is the reason players with a lot of talent but sometimes lacking in consistency can't maintain a stay in the top ten or twenty. Mayer, Dolgopolov, Lopez, Cibulkova, Li Na and Giraldo to name but a few are all very talented but sometimes the consistency isn't there. Although, actually, Li is capable of putting together very consistent swings like the American summer swing or the Australian swing where she always does well.

Anyway, Mayer is very talented but now he is aged thirty and where he was once the German number one, he is now the German number four behind Haas, Kohl and Brands. He is still very dangerous and may yet have another title left in him but he does seem to be nearer the end of his career than the beginning.
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COMEBACK: JO-WILFRIED TSONGA, FRA
...The injury that sidelined Tsonga seems to be fully healed now. Tsonga finds himself in a three-way fight for the last spot open in the WTF. Federer and Wawrinka should be safe. Raonic is likely to just miss out and become an alternate but it may still come down to Paris. Gasquet and Tsonga are in a dogfight to get that last spot. This week, Wawrinka is not playing but the Frenchmen are. Gasquet is the huge favourite in Moscow where the rest of the top four seeds are Seppi, Tipsarevic and Dolgopolov. He should win that and he should do it without losing a set. Tsonga has a much trickier tournament. He has Haas, Fognini, Kohl and Monfils in his draw. He should still win but should he trip, Gasquet will overtake him in the race. Tsonga has also opted out of the 500's coming up but Gasquet is in a loaded Basel draw where he is unlikely to make the semifinals. Tsonga may yet take a wildcard into either Valencia or Basel, though. Raonic is the second seed in the Stockholm Open and is also in Basel. If Tsonga has a bad couple of weeks, he could be in trouble although Raonic is some way back from the Frenchmen.

Anyway, Tsonga put together a very strong week as he didn't lose a set on his way to the semifinals. He beat Andujar 6-3, 6-2 in his opener before beat Nishikori 7-6, 6-0. He then dismissed Mayer 6-2, 6-3 before being dismissed by Djokovic. It may be the tide-turner that starts him on the road to qualification.
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DOWN: JANKO TIPSAREVIC, SRB
...I know Gasquet was dreadful, and so was Federer, but until Tipsarevic shows signs of improvements he owns this award.
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1. SHANGHAI FINAL - DJOKOVIC d. DEL POTRO
...6-1/3-6/7-6. This was a cracking match much like the New Orleans/Patriots match last night. Djokovic was in complete control for a set but then Del Potro came storming back. I think he might have the most raw firepower on tour. Djokovic had to play the perfect set to finally sneak through. Noticeably, the Argentine's backhand has really improved and is now a major weapon.
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2. SHANGHAI 3rd RD. - MONFILS d. FEDERER
...6-4/6-7/6-3. Monfy led 5-3 in the breaker but lost it 7-5. Instead of going away quietly, he came back and took the third set in this engaging match.
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3. SHANGHAI SF - DEL POTRO d. NADAL
...6-2/6-4. Nadal was blown away. He was completely dominated and completely outplayed, too. At one point Nadal looked up at his box and just laughed. It was pretty bad from Spanish eyes, but Del Potro played an awesome match.
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*VIENNA*
=SF=
Tsonga [1] d. [3] Fognini
Haas [2] d. [4] Kohl
=FINAL=
Tsonga [1] d. [2] Haas

*STOCKHOLM*
=SF=
Ferrer [1] d. [3] Janowicz
Raonic [2] d. [7] Dimitrov
=FINAL=
Ferrer [1] d. [2] Raonic

*MOSCOW*
=SF=
Gasquet [1] d. [5] Istomin
Seppi [2] d. [6] Zeballos
=FINAL=
Gasquet [1] d. [2] Seppi


I apologise for the boring picks, but they are seeded that way for a reason I suppose.

Thanks all and visit WTA BACKSPIN.

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