Nishikori Overcomes Tsonga In 2011 Shanghai Classic Moment
Nishikori Overcomes Tsonga In 2011 Shanghai Classic Moment
Oct092016
Andy Murray secured his fifth singles title of 2016 – and 40th of his career – by beating Grigor Dimitrov 6-4 7-6 (7-2) in the China Open final.
World number two Murray was seriously tested by his Bulgarian opponent but the Scot ended a near-faultless week in Beijing with the main prize.
The British top seed did not drop a set during the tournament.
Earlier, British number one Johanna Konta was beaten 6-4 6-2 by Agnieszka Radwanska in the women’s final.
“It’s been the most consistent year of my career, getting to the latter stages of most of the events I have played,” Murray told Sky Sports after the match on Sunday.
“It was a great week for me. Today’s match was a very high-level match. Grigor fought right to the end and made it extremely tough to finish it in two sets.
“It’s been an excellent week and I’m very happy with the way that I have played the last couple of matches. I will look forward to Shanghai now.”
Relive finals day at the China Open
World number 20 Dimitrov made it through to the final after his semi-final opponent, Milos Raonic, was forced to withdraw with an ankle injury.
It looked a formality for the Briton who broke his opponent’s serve in the opening game and saved a break point at 3-2 before serving out the set.
Dimitrov rallied in the second set, breaking as Murray served for the match at 5-4.
In the tie-break, Murray gained the mini-break with the first point and although Dimitrov hit back, the Scot won six of the next seven points to earn his maiden China Open title.
Murray has targeted overtaking Novak Djokovic as the world’s top-ranked player and, with the Serb missing the China Open through injury, the Scot has narrowed the gap.
While Murray has triumphed at Wimbledon and the Olympics this year, Djokovic’s form has dipped since beating his rival to the French Open title.
Djokovic was beaten in the early rounds at Wimbledon and Rio 2016, and although he reached the US Open final last month, he lost to Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka.
BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller
By winning the China Open, Murray pocketed a fifth title of the year and 500 precious ranking points, which takes his total to 9,345, but he still trails Novak Djokovic in the No 1 spot on 14,040.
Murray now heads to Shanghai – where he will be reunited with Djokovic – who knows he still has work to do to finish as number one for the fifth time in six years.
Djokovic still has a healthy lead but Murray is within striking distance, should there be too many slips. And the world number two is even better placed to make a run at the top spot in the first three months of 2017, where Djokovic has titles to defend at the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Miami.
Canadian to make second appearance at The O2
Milos Raonic will make his second appearance at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals after becoming the fourth player to qualify for the prestigious season-ending tournament, to be held from 13-20 November at The O2 in London.
The Canadian’s spot in London was confirmed following Saturday’s results in Beijing and Tokyo and the release of the Shanghai Rolex Masters draw.
In 2014, Raonic became the first Canadian and the first player born in the 1990s to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals singles competition.
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“I have had my best ever season so far this year and it is a great reward to be one of the first few players to qualify for London,” said Raonic. “I love playing indoors and I look forward to finishing 2016 hopefully on a high note.”
The 25 year old started his season winning his eighth ATP World Tour title at the Brisbane International, avenging defeat to Roger Federer from the year before. It paved the way for a maiden run to the Australian Open semi-finals, where he defeated former champion Stan Wawrinka en route, before falling to Andy Murray. Three times he finished runner-up in 2016 – at the BNP Paribas Open (l. to Djokovic) and at the Aegon Championships (l. to Murray) before again falling to Murray in his first Grand Slam final at Wimbledon.
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The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals has welcomed more than 1.8 million fans to The O2 arena over the past seven years, establishing itself as the biggest indoor tennis tournament in the world since moving to London in 2009. A record 102 million broadcast viewers also tuned in across the eight days of competition in 2015. The ATP announced last year that the event would remain at The O2 through to 2018. Tickets can be purchased at: www.BarclaysATPWorldTourFinals.com.
British number one Johanna Konta was overpowered 6-4 6-2 by world number three Agnieszka Radwanska in the final of the China Open.
Konta, 25, was chasing the biggest title of her career but unravelled against the Polish number three seed after a battling first-set display.
The 11th seed, who has made the world top 10, fought back from 4-2 but could not make it 5-5 after missing a volley.
“I’m very pleased with this week, it was pretty spectacular,” said Konta.
“I’m really enjoying my journey and looking forward to matches like this against players like Agnieszka,” she added.
Konta became the first British woman for 32 years to make the world top 10 after reaching the final. The last British woman to achieve that before her was Jo Durie in 1984.
Relive finals day at the China Open
After dropping her serve twice in each set, Konta tried to even the scoreline in the second, pushing Radwanska to two break points in the sixth game.
However, Radwanska shot a forehand down the line to save her service game.
Konta held the next with a forehand drop shot, only for her opponent to then serve for the title, firing her only ace of the match.
BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller
Konta was well beaten in the end by the world number three, but will officially be a top-10 player on Monday morning and now has a very good chance of qualifying for the season-ending championships in Singapore.
Konta has moved into the eighth and final qualifying position, but has only a 10-point advantage over ninth-placed Slovak Dominika Cibulkova.
There are two qualifying weeks remaining, with Konta now heading to Hong Kong, where she has drawn fellow Britain Naomi Broady in the first round.
BBC Sport takes a look at Johanna Konta’s remarkable rise into the top 10 of the WTA rankings following her run to the China Open final, where she lost to Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska.
Australian Nick Kyrgios claimed his third ATP singles title with a 4-6 6-3 7-5 win over Belgium’s David Goffin in the Japan Open final in Tokyo.
The 21-year-old world number 15 lost the first set and saved five break points to hold for 2-1 in the next before breaking to level the match.
Kyrgios, seeded six, claimed the key break in the 11th game of the deciding set against the fifth seed.
He completed victory in two hours.
New team finds immediate success
For Marcel Granollers and Marcin Matkowski, the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2016 titlists, a winning run started with a text massage.
“I was at home in Spain during the US Open and sent Marcin a text, because I was looking for a partner in Tokyo,” said Granollers, who teamed with the big-hitting Pole to defeat Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram 6-2, 7-6(4) on Sunday. “He was still playing in New York and I was already out. I knew he is a great player and I’m happy he accepted.”
The duo found instant chemistry in their first tournament together, upsetting the No. 3 seeds Dominic Inglot and Jean-Julien Rojer in a Match Tie-break before sweeping their final two matches in straight sets. Despite playing mostly with Polish and Spanish-speaking partners respectively, Matkowski and Granollers did not find the adjustment difficult to make.
“We both speak good English, so it was not a problem to communicate on the court,” Matkowski said. “I’ve always played the ad court on returns and Marcel likes to play on the deuce side, so that was easy to sort out as well.”
The final loss was a setback for Klaasen and Ram, but the pair, currently No. 6 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London, is still well-positioned to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
“We could have started better,” Ram said. “I lost my serve right out of the gates, and if you give them a head start, they’re going to be tough to beat.”
“If we had a little bit more energy at the start of the match and kept it close, the outcome could have been different,” Klaasen added. “It took us a while to figure out how to make the match competitive. We took care of our serve and executed much better in the second set.”
Granollers/Matkowski will share 500 Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings points and $91,470, while Klaasen/Ram will split 300 points and $43,220.
With only four weeks remaining in the Emirates ATP Race To London, the Shanghai Rolex Masters is shaping to be a critical battleground for remaining contenders.
Asia’s signature ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event has traditionally played a pivotal role in deciding the elite eight that will appear at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. This year is no exception. Less than 1,000 points separate Gael Monfils, currently in sixth place, from Marin Cilic at No. 10, with Rafael Nadal, Dominic Thiem and Tomas Berdych sandwiched in between. Sunday’s Tokyo finalists David Goffin and Nick Kyrgios, in 11th and 12th respectively, are also in hot pursuit.
Runner-up in 2009, Nadal is back in Shanghai and eager to confirm his place at the season finale for the ninth time. “After Beijing, I add 90 points,” Nadal said. “That’s something that can help for the [Barclays ATP] World Tour Finals.”
Seeded fourth, the Spaniard will face either Viktor Troicki or a qualifier in the second round, as the top-eight seeds receive opening byes. A blockbuster quarter-final clash against Cilic is in the cards, laden with significant London implications. The Croatian is poised to face a gauntlet, with either surging #NextGen star Alexander Zverev or big-serving John Isner awaiting in the second round. Ninth seed and 2015 finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is another threat in their quarter of the draw.
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A mere 320 points ahead of Cilic is Tomas Berdych, who is eyeing a strong performance in the Chinese metropolis to bolster his quest of qualifying for a seventh straight year. The Czech will be made to work in Shanghai, with Tokyo finalist and fellow contender Kyrgios a potential third round opponent and longtime rival Novak Djokovic looming large in the quarter-finals.
Another early-round match-up that could decide season finale berths features Monfils and Goffin. The Frenchman, currently in sixth position with 3,535 points, boosted his chances with a semi-final showing in Tokyo, but could face a hungry Goffin in the third round, as the Belgian will look to carry the momentum from a run to the final in the Japanese capital. He is at No. 11 in the Emirates ATP Race To London.
Meanwhile, eighth-placed Thiem will look to punch his ticket for the first time upon his return at the Erste Bank Open 500 in Vienna in two weeks, having withdrawn from Shanghai due to illness. Also out of action is No. 5 Kei Nishikori with a left leg injury.
Top seed Novak Djokovic and second seed Andy Murray, who sit comfortably atop the Emirates ATP Race To London standings, are the lone former champions in the draw. Djokovic is seeking a record fourth title after prevailing in 2012-13 & 2015, while Murray lifted the trophy in both 2010 & ’11. No. 3 Stan Wawrinka has also qualified, with No. 4 Milos Raonic opening against either Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Paolo Lorenzi.
The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals has established itself as the biggest indoor tennis tournament in the world since moving to London in 2009. Tickets to the tournament, which takes place from 13-20 November, can be purchased at: www.BarclaysATPWorldTourFinals.com.