Around The Corner: Shanghai Hosts Masters 1000 Event

By Mike McIntyre

The best men's tennis players in the world are once again assembled as the ATP World Tour showcases their talent in Shanghai. The Masters 1000 event boasts all top twenty players in the world.

In the first quarter we have world number one Rafael Nadal who recently completed his career Grand Slam at the U.S. Open. Since then Nadal has lost a semi-final match in Thailand and is currently set to play Gael Monfils in the finals in Beijing.

Nadal gets a first round bye this coming week and will play the winner of the Gilles Simon vs. Stan Wawrinka match.

While Nadal seemed to pace himself this year by playing fewer tournaments, he has been going full throttle during the Asian tennis swing and is perhaps due for an early round upset. Either of Simon or Wawrinka could trouble him. After his opening match Nadal could face the likes of Mardy Fish and Fernando Verdasco in the third and fourth rounds. I feel it is time for Nadal to come back down to earth with a humbling loss to one of the above players.

Andy Murray leads the next quarter and has had a less than successful 2010 season on tour. While he did finally grab his first tournament victory in Toronto in August, he failed to advance past the third round at the U.S. Open. Murray also bombed out early this past week in Beijing where veteran Ivan Ljubicic thrashed him 6-3, 6-2.

Murray could be challenged by the likes of Marcos Baghdatis, Sam Querrey or Mikhail Youzhny in his section. His recent results do not inspire confidence in his chances here this week.

On the other side of the draw Novak Djokovic has regained the number two position on the tour and likely will open in the second round against Ivan Ljubicic who has had a terrific week in Beijing making the semi-finals. Djokovic will have Gael Monfils and potentially Tomas Berdych to deal with in his quarter as well.

Finally, world number three Roger Federer will play in his first tournament since New York. It is hard to tell what we can expect from Federer after his month-long layoff, although he has played strongly since Wimbledon where he unexpectedly lost in the quarter finals.

Federer has the best draw of the top four and should get a couple of wins under his belt before having to face Robin Soderling in the quarter-finals.  

I expect a strong showing from Federer who will certainly be well rested. I foresee a Federer vs. Djokovic semi-final on one side with more of an upset on the other between Verdasco and Youzhny.

Any way it ends up, it's another great opportunity to see all of the best players in the world show us their skills. Tennis fans in Asia and those willing and able to watch at odd hours around the globe will enjoy this late season competition. 

Comments

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