ATP 500: Beijing & Tokyo

TOKYO final, 6AM UK time
Raonic-Nishikori

BEIJING final, 9AM UK time
Djokovic-Tsonga

Its going to be a good test for Rao playing versus the crowd. He should blast Nishi out of the court, imo. Nishi has in his favour his quick hands and could rush the tall player like Murray obviously could not.

I don't think Raonic will have trouble with the crowd. I just hope he keeps his calm when Nishi starts disrupting his service preparation .

He did it very successfully against Berdych and I didn't like it at all. I hope MRaonic levels him properly tomorrow.

noleisthebest wrote:I don't think Raonic will have trouble with the crowd. I just hope he keeps his calm when Nishi starts disrupting his service preparation .

He did it very successfully against Berdych and I didn't like it at all. I hope MRaonic levels him properly tomorrow.

It surprises me from NIshi. He seems quite a nice and fair player.

Tenez wrote:

noleisthebest wrote:I don't think Raonic will have trouble with the crowd. I just hope he keeps his calm when Nishi starts disrupting his service preparation .

He did it very successfully against Berdych and I didn't like it at all. I hope MRaonic levels him properly tomorrow.

It surprises me from NIshi. He seems quite a nice and fair player.

I was surprised as well.

I just watched a 20mn summary from the Rao/Murray match. Yes Rao played quite agressive and could have won in 2. But Also Murray is the one who surrendered a 4/1 lead in the 3rd and got 2MPs first.

I am impressed by the kind of tennis played nowadays. From Rao amazing power to Murray amazing cover of the court as well as the hard hitting. However it's clear that in less than a year Rao will be in the top 4, bar injury.

Murray covering lots of ground at max speed. He is going to be tough to beat in Shanghai. Though I have not seen Nole play yet this week but he seems on form too.

Also the handshake at the hand is not very friendly from Murray!

Tenez wrote:Also the handshake at the hand is not very friendly from Murray!

What did you expect, Murray was so reluctant to give any credit to Lendl himself when directly after the US open final.

raiders_of_the_lost_ark wrote:

Tenez wrote:Also the handshake at the hand is not very friendly from Murray!

What did you expect, Murray was so reluctant to give any credit to Lendl himself when directly after the US open final.

He was right though. He had to credit the wind! Though I don;t think he did either.

Rao losing in the third 6/0. I only saw the last 4 points and did not seem very mobile. I am pretty sure those 3 setters in succession take its toll on tall players. But Nishi probably played very well, rushing him like Murray doesn't.

The BP Djoko had to save in that first game was ridiculous. It probably has killed Tsonga's spirit for the rest of the match. Tsonga played fantastic, hitting the ball in all corners but Djoko was everywhere and finished with a perfect lob.

Expect another 4h match in SHanghai's final v Murray.

Tsonga has had BPs in the first 3 service gmes of Djoko.....and get rewarded in the 3rd! Glad it did not break his spirit.

There is a lung battle going on underneath and I doubt Tsonga will keep that sharp for the length of the match.

Has anyone seen Tokyo final, what happened in the third set for Raonic to be bagelled?

COME ON NOLEEEEEEEEEE

Tenez wrote:Tsonga has had BPs in the first 3 service gmes of Djoko.....and get rewarded in the 3rd! Glad it did not break his spirit.

There is a lung battle going on underneath and I doubt Tsonga will keep that sharp for the length of the match.

It's called the No pasarant! tennis

A classic Nole Tsonga tie-break that shows the importance of a cool head in tennis

Nole's forehand average today, the sooner he breaks Tsonga, the sooner it will be released, quite trench style with just his backhand doing the damage. Nice he's got the luxury of being able to do it

noleisthebest wrote:Has anyone seen Tokyo final, what happened in the third set for Raonic to be bagelled?

I could see the first 2 sets and the first 3 games of the 3rd set. The first 2 sets were close and Raonic narrowly lost it in a TB with an error. By the start of the 3rd set, he looked already spent, more mentally than physically having to fight out many tough games here and also in the tournament. He didn't have the energy itself to fight out another one. His first serve almost disappeared and when they got it, Nishikori was reading those well and broke Rao in the very first service game and went very qucikly 3-0 up. After that I couldn't see till the prize distribution ceremony start ( it got over very quickly then on I guess) , but it was starting to show that Raonic was already done.

When I saw the prize distribution ceremony, I didn't realize the scoreline.

Nole
Look forward to typing the above this time next week

I am glad Kei won. Injuries have slowed down his progress but I do like his game.

Raonic just does not quite do it for me. I have not seen him this week and maybe I have just had the bad luck of watching him when he is not playing well, but he strikes me as just a somewhat better version of Isner. I am glad he is progressing as we have seen too much of the same faces near the top. I can also see him doing all right, including winning a slam here or there. However, there seems to be dearth of true #1 material among the youngsters and I am not sure Raonic fits the bill either.

I'm glad I got Beijing right all the way... Tokyo seems to have been much tougher to predict bu glad I got the side of the winner right