The History of Men's Tennis (Open Era)

Perhaps it’s my favorite ‘Masters 100’ event because of its specific structure. It’s the only tournament of the series with the 48-draw. It means there aren’t accidental players in the main draw, it’s the most selective ‘Masters 1000’ event with strong field already in qualifying tournament, relatively easy to follow because all matches are played only on two courts. It’s a special tournament for me because 21 years ago it was the first such a big tournament I witnessed.
It was a good day for the Parisian crowd, “wild cards” Julien Benneteau [54], Adrian Mannarino [92] and qualifier Nicolas Mahut [95], all won their matches in good style. Benneteau couldn’t break a powerful Milos Raonic‘s serve through two sets (Raonic fired 22 in total), but held his service games comfortably throughout the match and converted a break point in the first game in which he had the opportunity (at 2:2 in the 3rd set) to win 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 playing three successful dropshots in the last game. Later on, Mahut and Mannarino dismissed their opponents, especially Mahut’s easy win over Juan Carlos Ferrero was surprising – 6-2, 6-3 despite Ferrer* had a break advantage in both sets. Mahut finished the match with 3 consecutive aces (10 in total). In the most interesting match on court No. 1, Andreas Seppi [46] ousted Nikolay Davydenko in two tight sets, the former champion squandered a set point in the 1st set and a mini-set point in the 2nd set, producing two double faults in the last game. Davydenko who played in quarter-finals last year and the final in Doha at the start of this season, will probably drop outside Top 50 in January 2012 for the first time since 2004.

Actually everything is clear in the context of getting the last three spots for ‘Masters’ in London: these three spots are almost guaranteed for Berdych, Fish & Tsonga. The scenario is simple: Almagro & Tipsarevic must get the final to have a chance, the local favorites Simon and Monfils must win the title to have a chance. The strongest contender Del Potro (he needed to advance to the final to have a chance) pulled out due to injury he suffered last week. Del Potro: “My shoulder started bothering me in Valencia and it got worse after each round.” Among the Top 20 guys, earlier withdrew also Robin Soderling (hasn’t played a match since July) and Rafael Nadal, who never won the title in Paris and wants to prepare himself to ‘Masters’ and Davis Cup final.

Seven players to fight for the last three spots:

6. Tomas Berdych – 2,940
7. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga – 2,935
8. Mardy Fish – 2,875
9. Nicolas Almagro – 2,370
10. Juan Martin del Potro – 2,315 (withdrew)
11. Janko Tipsarevic – 2,305
12. Gilles Simon – 2,155
13. Robin Soderling – 2,120 (withdrew)
14. Gael Monfils – 1,925

(2)Andy Murray d. (3)David Ferrer               7-5, 6-4        [1:45 h]

Ferrer in his fourth big final, for the fourth time couldn’t even win a set. He led 5:4 in the 1st set, but Murray held his serve to ’15’ and broke in the following game winning four points in a row from 0/30 (four consecutive errors by ‘Pics’). In the 2nd set Murray early on established his supremacy (breaks in the first three games) and finished the match from 15/30 with two service winners and forehand winner on the line directly after a good 1st serve. “It’s been one of the best runs of my life,” said Murray. “I’ve played very, very well the last few weeks. I was very nervous today because I wanted to win here and defend my title. I’m very happy to come through. Ferrer’s one of the toughest players on the tour and one of the best people; it’s a pleasure to share the court with him. I love playing here; it’s one of my favourite places to play.” Stats of the final
It’s a new peak for him – for the first time in career he has won three tournaments in a row, it means the longest winning streak (15; 19 including doubles) and advances to No. 3 in the world. Admittedly he was No. 2 once, but never finished a season higher than No. 4; with his current form a new highest ranking at the end of the year is very probable, especially that Federer rests and his amazing performance in his last three events (Basel, Paris, London) is doubtful. Murray has now won 21 titles, and repeated his feat from the previous three seasons, collecting two ‘Masters 1000’ shields within a year #. I hope to see the Djokovic-Murray clash in Paris or London – that match would be an answer to a question “Is Murray good enough to dethrone Djokovic next year?”.

Doubles final:
(2)M.Mirnyi/D.Nestor d. (3)M.Llodra/N.Zimonjic 3-6, 6-1, [12-10] – 2 m.p.

# Murray’s ‘Masters 1000’ triumphs year by year:

2008 – Cincinnati, Madrid
2009 – Miami, Montreal
2010 – Toronto, Shanghai
2011 – Cincinnati, Shanghai

Two days in a row, David Ferrer prevailed almost identical battles against big-servers. Just like yesterday against Andy Roddick, lost the 1st set against Feliciano Lopez today, despite an advantage in a crucial stage of a tie-break (yesterday 5:3*, today 5:4* – Lopez played awesome backhand passing-shot then). Both Roddick and Lopez, couldn’t take the momentum after the tie-breaks against the rock-solid “Pics”, who was outplaying them from the baseline throughout, he wasn’t broken once in those matches (6-7, 6-2, 7-6 over Roddick, 6-7, 6-3, 6-3 over Lopez), and what is more interesting, he was an equal opponent in the service department (11-11 in aces vs. Roddick, 11-12 vs. Lopez). “I know the record with him, but I tried to refocus on my game,” Ferrer said about his 1-6 record on hard-courts against the left-handed compatriot, “I had confidence with me, with my game. When I lost the first set, I tried to forget the tiebreak and I tried to focus again. I played better in the second and the third.” Ferrer will play his fourth big final tomorrow (he has lost two ‘Masters 1000’ finals to Nadal, and ‘Masters’ final to Federer, it happened also in Shanghai, four years ago).
In the second semifinal – as expected – Andy Murray dismissed Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-0 in just 56 minutes, winning the last eight games. The Scot has won 24 of his last 25 matches since mid-August, with the only loss coming to Rafael Nadal in the semifinals of the US Open; there’s no doubt it’s the best season in career of the 24-year-old player from Dunblane.