Darth Djokovic Feels The Force From Querrey At Paris; Murray, Ferrer, Del Potro Advance
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The Paris tournament lost its third big name as top seed Novak Djokovic was stunned in his opening match by American Sam Querrey 0-6, 7-6, 6-4 today at the Paris Tennis Masters. Djokovic’s loss further damages a tournament that already saw Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer withdraw, and remaining top draw Andy Murray might have an eye or two looking ahead to next week’s finale in London.
Murray, however, showed no signs of disinterest (yet) easily dispatching Paul-Henri Mathieu of France 7-5, 6-3.
“I served well. I didn’t start the match off returning particularly well. I was struggling a bit with the timing on that,” Murray said. “I think towards the end of the first set, we started to have a few more rallies. But the conditions were fast.”
With the field so open Murray has a great opportunity to compile ranking points, but London is definitely calling.
“I’m going to go for it this week and try and play well and have the best finish to the year possible,” Murray told BBC’s 5 Live Monday.
“Paris to London is a one-hour flight or three hours on the train,” he said. “That might change when the Tour Finals move to a different venue. Right now I don’t think it’s too much of an issue.”
Next for Murray is the 6-foot-8 Pole Jerzy Janowicz tomorrow. The Scot is joined in the third round by fellow seeds and recent title winners David Ferrer and Juan Martin Del Potro. Ferrer won his sixth straight match defeating compatriot Marcel Granollers while Del Potro dusted qualifier Alejandro Falla 6-2, 6-2 for his 11th consecutive win.
“I feel tired, but this tournament is so good. It’s a big tournament, and I’m ready to do my best like in Basel and Vienna,” said Del Potro. “I played really well today. Tomorrow, I have a difficult match against a French guy.”
Del Potro was speaking of Michael Llodra who ended the London hopes to John Isner earlier today, and in doing so shut out American men from a Top 10 finish for the very first time in ATP ranking history.
In the final two spots in the London race, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga can lock up a berth by beating Nicolas Almagro. Janko Tipsareivc, the heavy favorite to take the final spot, can eliminate Juan Monaco from the discussion on Thursday. Along with Isner, Richard Gasquet was also a loser today thus ending his chances for London.
Milos Raonic and Almagro are still in the hunt but each will have to at least reach the semifinals. Raonic meets Querrey who’s win over No. 2 Djokovic was his best by ranking of his career. The big-serving American had to overcome a 6-0, 2-0 deficit and the image of Novak walking out wearing a Darth Vader mask before turning the tables and giving the Serb the ultimate Halloween fright.
“Once I got the two games I kind of settled down. I was like, ‘Okay, that’s all I want.’,” said Querrey. “But then I got rolling and got more confidence and started serving better and being a little more aggressive.”
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