ATP/WTA Previews: Nadal, Women’s Full Slate in Beijing

by Staff | October 4th, 2009, 2:18 pm
  • 28 Comments

China Open
Beijing, China
Surface: hard outdoor

The China Open, a combined men’s and women’s event, began Saturday (!?!) with women’s play and already No. 5 seed Caroline Wozniacki (lost 6-0 in the third to Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez) is out of the event. Other seeds on the women’s side are (in order) Dinara Safina, Serena Williams, Venus Williams, Elena Dementieva, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Vera Zvonareva, Jelena Jankovic, Victoria Azarenka, Flavia Pennetta, Ana Ivanovic (who has withdrawn citing an upper respiratory infection), Aggie Radwanska, Nadia Petrova, Marion Bartoli, Sam Stosur, and Na Li.
ADHEREL
Gilsela Dulko and Virginie Razzano also pulled with injuries.

Azarenka will meet unseeded Maria Sharapova in the second round. The winner of that will likely face Jankovic next, and Serena Williams to meet the victor in the quarterfinals. Serena and big sister Venus are slated for a possible semifinal meeting.

Excluding the ill Ivanovic, 16 of the Top 16 players are in Beijing this week. Jankovic is the defending champ, and Serena Williams is projected to take over the No. 1 ranking if she can progress further in the draw than Safina.


Rafael Nadal heads the 32-draw men’s field. Other seeds are Novak Djokovic, Andy Roddick, Nikolay Davydenko, Fernando “Hot Sauce” Verdasco, Robin Soderling, Fernando “Gonzo” Gonzalez and Marin Cilic.

Nadal will start against wildcard Marcos Baghdatis, with James Blake waiting in the second round. Other tough openers are (7) Gonzalez vs. David Ferrer, (6) Soderling vs. Jeremy Chardy, and (6) Verdasco vs. (Q) Robby Ginepri. Roddick vs. Djokovic looms in the semifinals.

Roddick is the defending champ in Beijing, but Nadal has a perfect 11-0 record at the site, winning the 2005 title and in 2008 winning gold at the Beijing Olympics.

Rakuten Japan Open Championships 2009
Tokyo, Japan
Surface: hard outdoor

The longest-running men’s tournament in Asia, the Japan Open this year features three Top 10 players in US Open champ Juan Martin del Potro and Frenchmen Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gilles Simon.

Other seeds are Frenchman Gael “Force” Monfils, Czechs Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek, Swiss Stan Wawrinka, and former No. 1-ranked Aussie Lleyton “The Lawnmower” Hewitt.

Berdych is the defending champ, and Hewitt won the title in 2001.

Wawrinka will have his hands full in his opener against the big-serving John Isner. Stepanek will start against the explosive (Q) Ernests Gulbis, and Tsonga is looking at a potential second-round meeting against countryman Richard Gasquet.


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28 Comments for ATP/WTA Previews: Nadal, Women’s Full Slate in Beijing

joji Says:

dear staff
please check your facts; federer is not slated to play beijing; he withdraws from tokyo.


Von Says:

Maybe Jankovic will withdraw also considering her wrist is injured. If she continues to play she’ll probably incur more damage to the wrist which could prove to be more problematic in the long term.


Kimmi Says:

“Excluding the ill Ivanovic, 16 of the Top 16 players are in Beijing this week”

Ivanovic has officially ended her 2009 season. It is sad to see what has happened to her since she won the French and reach # 1 ranking. It has been disappointing to say the least, series of injuries/ illness, she is now suffering from the lack of confidence.

She is probably doing the right thing to end her season early, go home..recharge and hope to come back strong next season. But she will have a lot of work to do and I hope she gets herself sorted out.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/tennis/8288310.stm


been there Says:

If what she’s written on her blog is true, then I think Ivanovic is on the right path. She changed her training regime (which may have affected her game)….then the injuries forced her to change her service motion….something that has definitely influenced her poor display. Seems to me like a parallel to Ernests Gulbis who also said that the change in his training regime affected his game because it takes time before it translates to good on court display.

Quite a long & heartfelt explanation:
http://www.anaivanovic.com/?path=diary&detailpage=247

Obviously, confidence issues are also there…but it not as simple as what we see on TV, i.e. not having the will/heart etc…so many factors influencing the downfall.

If Serena was able to pull herself from the #90s circa ’07, (obviously, Serena’s got will like no other but still…) then I fully believe that Ana can also make a good comeback. Sometimes a long break is exactly what’s needed, both for physical & mental purposes. She seems to be very determined & as she says, it can’t get any worse.


i am it Says:

finally atp has provided the year-to-date ranking points for top 15:
1 Roger Federer 9855
2 Rafael Nadal 8145
3 Andy Murray 6040
4 Juan Martin del Potro 5735
5 Novak Djokovic 5550
6 Andy Roddick 4320
7 Fernando Verdasco 2930
8 Fernando Gonzalez 2645
9 Robin Soderling 2475
10 Nikolay Davydenko 2405
11 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 2050
12 Tommy Robredo 1905
13 Gilles Simon 1890
14 Tommy Haas 1780
15 David Ferrer 1750


Kimmi Says:

I am it, I saw the list too and it is waaay different to my list. My list had Novak ahead of delpo but its actually vice versa. Wow, delpotro has a good chance to finish # 3 if he does a little better than both Novak and Murray,

Verdasco has a great chance to qualify, I hope he does it and soderling too..they both never been there.

I also hope ATP can update the list every week and make it available, I love to follow the race during this time of the year.


vared Says:

Wow, delpotro has a good chance to finish # 3 if he does a little better than both Novak and Murray,

Bravo to Delpo! He really deserves it if he can get to #3. Nice kid too.


jane Says:

Well, Delpo is the only one besides Rafa and Fed to win a slam this year, so in some ways he does deserve the number 3 spot! Good year for him indeed.


Kimo Says:

jane said:

“Well, Delpo is the only one besides Rafa and Fed to win a slam this year, so in some ways he does deserve the number 3 spot! Good year for him indeed.”

Isn’t it great how the ATP ranking system is almost always in sync with grand slam performances!! :)

And yes, this is a swipe at the WTA and Safina.


jane Says:

Kimo – quite your swiping. :)


jane Says:

I mean quit.

I am pretty certain Safina will lose her number 1 spot any day now. And it’s worth noting, just one more time, that Safina was in the finals of the AO, the finals of the FO, and the semifinals of Wimbledon; she lost early at only the USO this year. So her slam performances, overall, were not too shabby!


Von Says:

I am it: DelPotro’s match is on live streaming,as i write.


i am it Says:

thank you, thank you so much. i’d have missed it.


i am it Says:

he’s already down a set. and his 1st serve is 48%. i think dePo partied too much after the USO and as a consequence may lose in the 1st round. s*it happens.


i am it Says:

dePo called the physio in the changeovers a couple of times.
he does not look right. he is about to lose in straight sets to some unknown player Roger-Vasselin. just to avoid criticism, hopefully he won’t retire.


Von Says:

Sorry, to be the bearer of bad news, DelPo is out of Tokyo. The young man who beat him looked super happy.


Kimmi Says:

What happened to delPo ? Checking more results in Beijing..I see Roddick also lost in the 1st round. Did not see this one coming.


sensationalsafin Says:

What happened to DelPo? What happened to Roddick? I’m shocked at this. They got rocked by qualifiers. Are they trying to imitate the WTA? Unacceptable and unbelievable! DelPo and Roddick are 2 guys who almost never lose when they’re not supposed to. Ridiculous. Qualifiers!!


i am it Says:

Sorry… Roddick is out of Beijing. The young man who beat him looked super duper happy.
that did not sound quite right, did it?
apparently dePo and Roddick’ve decided to join APPROPRIATELY ranked No. 2 Safina and Venus in Beijing and maybe party with a few other WTA’s falling stars there for a week.
or, use the time wisely: go to Shanghai, acclimatize, practice hard, meditate under some Zen monk in the evening, stay healthy, and get ready for the Shanghai Masters.


jane Says:

lol i am it – they may want to try the zen monk thing. Who knows? It may work. Seriously, these guys are all a little rusty after not playing since the USO. Rafa took 3 sets; Djoko wasn’t totally convincing; and Delpo and Roddick fell. But they’ll get right back up a.s.a.p. Fans, please take heart. :)


Kimo Says:

Almost all GS winners have let-downs after they win their maiden slam. There are very few exceptions to this rule. Is Delpo’s loss an early sign of this or is it just a case of a “bad day at the office”? That remains to be seen, but probably it’s just a “bad day at the office”.

Even Pistol Pete didn’t win a single slam for three years after his first.


Kimmi Says:

Roddick must have been pissed..ATP site has a photo of him holding a good cracked racket…Are we going to have a thread about Roddick breaking a racket ?


Von Says:

I am it: ‘Sorry… Roddick is out of Beijing. The young man who beat him looked super duper happy.
that did not sound quite right, did it?”

Are you offended by my statement wherein I mentioned the guy who beat DelPotro looked super duper happy? I didn’t mean it as a slight against Del Potro, but the guy was jumping up for joy and could hardly talk and contain his excitement because of such a big win. That’s all my statement was meant to infer. If you were offended my apologies, but it was not how I meant it to be conveyed.
_______________
Sensationalsafin: it’s not easy for the guys to play qualis they’ve never faced — it’s venturing into unknown territory. Even Federer does not like to play against opponents he’s with whom he’s unfamiliar. I think both DelPotro and Roddick were suffering from jet lag and having been off the tour for close to a month. That’s a lethal combination. I know Roddick played like an amateur out there but he seemed very uncertain. Maybe, they’ll do better at Shanghai and they won’t be jet lagged going there from Beijing. Pretty much same time zone and continent.


Von Says:

“Roddick must have been pissed..ATP site has a photo of him holding a good cracked racket…Are we going to have a thread about Roddick breaking a racket ?’

Why not request one and while you’re at it, remember to ask for one on EVERY player who breaks a racket. This way you can write and write to your heart’s content while pushing some more fire.


Von Says:

BTW Kimmi, do you think Federer was pissed when his picture appeared on the ATP website. I don’t recall you asking or making such a statement when that happenend — all we got was shhhh, silence, shhhh, don’t talk, lips closed — eye probelems in full focus.

It’s bad enough for the fans of the players when the players lose, but it’s even worse when some over-joyed haters look to reinforce the negatives. Anyway, moving on ……


Kimmi Says:

moving on indeed…


been there Says:

Kimmi, that’s one hell of a racquet smash!….I thought Roger’s smash was one for the ages…he completely dismanled the offending racquet, but looking at this one, I guess I have to revise my ‘smash of the year’…I love raquet smashes…let out some steam! Oh, & Roger’s smash was the talk all over…I remember it made CNN & BBC front-page headline news…along with all the events in Afghanistan, etc! lol

>>In other gossipy news, for Fed & Roddick fans, they’ve apparently made the top49 ‘most influential men of 2009’ by askmen.com Roger comes in at 8th while Roddick at 35.

Quite a silly list considering that the most influential person is Mad Men’s fictional ad man Don Draper (I suppose US TV viewers will know best). Anyhow, I suppose anything that puts most people in the same league as a certain Barack Obama is a good thing….so Roger & Roddick will certainly take this one. lolest
http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2009/10/Federer-Roddick-Most-Influential-List.aspx


Kimmi Says:

been there, I said I was “moving on” but good to see somebody else has seen the photo. When I first saw the photo I was taken back a little then I looked closely..I thought it was a very good smash.

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