Nishikori Excited For Basel 2016 Final
Nishikori Excited For Basel 2016 Final
Oct292016
Scot will play Tsonga for Vienna title
Andy Murray is now six wins and a Novak Djokovic loss away from achieving a lifelong dream of reaching No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.
The Scot reached the Erste Bank Open 500 final on Saturday in Vienna because of a walkover from David Ferrer, who didn’t play due to a muscle injury in his left leg. The 34-year-old Spaniard had spent two hours and 33 minutes beating Viktor Troicki on Friday.
“It was impossible,” Ferrer said of playing on Saturday. “I am disappointed but I have to be positive and will be ready for next season.”
Ferrer had conceded a walkover only one other time in an ATP World Tour tournament. In 2009, the Spaniard withdrew from his second-round match in Valencia. He’s played 1,024 career matches.
Murray said: “Now I just try to get ready for the final, use today as a bit of rest day, practise a little bit on the centre court and then see what happens tomorrow.”
Sunday will mark Murray’s 11th final of the season and a chance for his seventh title, which would be a career high and tie Djokovic for most in 2016.
The Scot will meet Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat Ivo Karlovic 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(6). Murray leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 13-2 and has won their past four contests.
Should Murray win the Vienna final, he’d move to within 415 points of Djokovic in the Emirates ATP Race To London. If that scenario plays out, to reach No. 1, Murray would need to win the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris next week and have Djokovic lose before the Paris final. If Djokovic reaches the final, he’ll remain No. 1.
View The Emirates ATP Race To London
The 29-year-old Murray is trying to become the oldest first-time No. 1 since John Newcombe, at 30 years of age, on 3 June 1974.
Any shift in the order of the Top Two would be a dramatic change for both players. Djokovic has claimed the top spot consecutively since 7 July 2014. Murray first reached No. 2 in the Emirates ATP Rankings more than seven years ago, on 17 August 2009. On Monday, Murray will have spent 76 weeks altogether at No. 2.
Murray’s Time As No. 2 In The Emirates ATP Rankings
| Dates | Duration |
| 16 May 2016 – present | 24 weeks |
| 9 Nov. 2015 – 2 May 2016 | 26 weeks |
| 12 Oct. 2015 – 26 Oct. 2015 | Three weeks |
| 17 Aug 2015 | One week |
| 13 May 2013 – 12 Aug. 2013 | 14 weeks |
| 1 April 2013 – 15 April 2013 | Three weeks |
| 17 Aug. 2009 – 7 Sept. 2009 | Four weeks |
The Scot has won 14 consecutive matches and leads the ATP World Tour with 69 match wins this season.
“Looking forward to it. It will be a tough match. Both Ivo and Jo are big servers and like playing indoors,” Murray said. “But I’m obviously motivated to try and finish the season as strong as I can and being in another final is obviously good. It’s been a tough week. First couple of matches were really tricky but now I get the chance to play for the title and hopefully play my best match in the final.”
World number two Andy Murray is through to the final of the Erste Bank Open in Vienna after Spain’s David Ferrer pulled out with a leg injury.
The Briton, 29, will face France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat Croatian Ivo Karlovic 5-7 7-5 7-6 (8-6), on Sunday.
Murray will usurp Novak Djokovic as number one with titles in Vienna and at next week’s Paris Masters, if Djokovic does not reach the final in Paris.
The Scot has never been top of the world rankings.
Murray has won 13 of his 15 matches against Tsonga, including a last-16 victory in their most recent meeting at Wimbledon in July.
Tsonga came from a set and 4-2 down in the second set to beat Karlovic, saving a match point in the tie-break as he reached his first World Tour final of the year.
Debutante Dominika Cibulkova beat Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 1-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 to reach the final at the WTA Finals in Singapore.
The Slovak will face world number one Angelique Kerber or defending champion Agnieszka Radwanska on Sunday.
The Russian controlled the opening set but Cibulkova, 27, stepped it up in the second to level the match.
Cibulkova won the opening two games of the third and held off a Kuznetsova fightback to claim victory.
After a disappointing first set, where she trailed 4-1 after being broken twice in her first three service games, world number eight Cibulkova showed far more intensity in the second set.
She improved her serve percentage dramatically from 42% to 79% with Kuznetsova, who was in superb form in the opening set, happy to sit back and wait for any opportunities.
Cibulkova, making her first appearance at the elite eight-player event, squandered chances to secure the second set while serving at 5-4 and 6-5 but in the tie-break she recovered to quickly set up four set points and level the match.
The 31-year-old Russian took a 10-minute break at the end of the second set to change her kit but while it initially did not appear to unsettle Cibulkova, who broke to go 2-0 up, she again was unable to take advantage of the break.
Two-time Grand Slam tournament winner Kuznetsova won the next three games and led 4-2 only for a gutsy Cibulkova to roar back into contention and her determination helped see her through.