Youzhny takes home crown; Baghdatis wins Stockholm title

Mikhail Youzhny became the 14th Russian in the tournament's 20 year history to lift the trophy at the Kremlin, and is also the sixth consecutive Russian to win the tournament in Moscow.

He defeated Janko Tipsarevic in the final after enduring a first set loss in a tiebreak but winning the next two sets to take the title with a score of 67(5) 60 64 to win his fifth ATP title.

While in Stockholm, former Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis gave the Swedish crowd a surprise after he defeated Olivier Rochus to win his first title since February 2007 and his third ATP title of his career. The score was 61 75 and he became the 10th unseeded winner this year.

Davydenko stomped all over Nadal to win fourth title of season

Nikolay Davydenko showed an amazing performance against world number two Rafael Nadal and even surprised himself by taking the Shanghai Masters title in straight sets.

The Russian admitted that he was tired after his long encounter against Djokovic in the semis, and felt like he had no chances of winning the match against Nadal when it was 4-4. But in the first set tiebreak he made three beautiful backhand winners to take it 7-3, and then he was all over Nadal after that, as he took the second set 63. This win gets Davydenko closer to qualifying for the year-ending championships as he is now number seven in the race and marks his fourth title win of the year and his third Masters title of his career.

Great effort from Davydenko!

Bravo!

Results for October 15, 2009

Singles - Third Round
[1] R Nadal (ESP) d [14] T Robredo (ESP) 61 64
[2] N Djokovic (SRB) d [Q] R Schuettler (GER) 64 62
[9] R Soderling (SWE) d [5] J Tsonga (FRA) 63 63
[8] G Simon (FRA) d T Berdych (CZE) 63 64
[6] N Davydenko (RUS) d [10] F Gonzalez (CHI) 63 75
I Ljubicic (CRO) d [11] G Monfils (FRA) 62 30 ret. (back)
[13] R Stepanek (CZE) d S Wawrinka (SUI) 36 76(5) 42 ret. (abdominal strain)
F Lopez (ESP) d J Melzer (AUT) 57 76(3) 61

Singles - Quarter-finals
[6] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL) d [2] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA) 61 57 10-8
[3] M Bhupathi (IND) / M Knowles (BAH) d [8] L Kubot (POL) / O Marach (AUT) 46 63 10-5
J Benneteau (FRA) / J Tsonga (FRA) d F Cermak (CZE) / M Mertinak (SVK) 36 64 10-7

Nadal and Djokovic getting closer to final

The top two seeds showed solid performances yesterday with both Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic securing their place in the quarterfinals after both winning in straight sets. Nadal will play Ivan Ljubicic, and Djokovic wil play Gilles Simon.

Ljubicic made it through after 11th seeded Gael Monfils had to retire from a back injury. Another retirement saw Stanislas Wawrinka lose to 13th seeded Radek Stepanek after he retired with an abdominal strain.

Results for October 13, 2009

Singles - First Round [9] R Soderling (SWE) d V Hanescu (ROU) 63 64 [11] G Monfils (FRA) d P Mathieu (FRA) 62 62 T Berdych (CZE) d [12] M Cilic (CRO) 76(8) 36 64 [15] T Haas (GER) d B Becker (GER) 76(5) 64 J Melzer (AUT) d J Chardy (FRA) 64 64 L Hewitt (AUS) d J Isner (USA) 62 64 I Ljubicic (CRO) d J Benneteau (FRA) 63 36 61 N Almagro (ESP) d P Kohlschreiber (GER) 67(2) 61 76(6) V Troicki (SRB) d J Monaco (ARG) 61 62 Singles - Second Round S Wawrinka (SUI) d [4] A Roddick (USA) 34 ret. (left knee) [6] N Davydenko (RUS) d I Kunitsyn (RUS) 64 62 [10] F Gonzalez (CHI) d [Q] T Bellucci (BRA) 63 64 [13] R Stepanek (CZE) d A Beck (GER) 75 64 Doubles - First Round J Knowle (AUT) / J Melzer (AUT) d [WC] W Gao (CHN) / X Yu (CHN) 63 63 L Dlouhy (CZE) / P Petzschner (GER) d T Berdych (CZE) / P Kohlschreiber (GER) w/o (Kohlschreiber - right shoulder) T Parrott (USA) / F Polasek (SVK) d J Blake (USA) / J Isner (USA) 75 62 J Benneteau (FRA) / J Tsonga (FRA) d M Llodra (FRA) / R Stepanek (CZE) 75 75

Injured Roddick out of Shanghai

Just after a day of declaring that the ATP season is too long and that the top players deserve a longer break, Andy Roddick has opted out of his second round encounter over Stanislas Wawrinka.

The American was leading the Swiss 4-3 when he injured his knee and called it quits. Roddick has not yet qualified for the year-ending Finals.

Marin Cilic was knocked out by Tomas Berdych in three sets and Lleyton Hewitt advanced over John Isner in straight sets.

Djokovic triumphs; Tsonga closes in on Finals spot

Novak Djokovic has successfully fended off Marin Cilic to win his third ATP title of the season in Beijing. Cilic, who absolutely shell-shocked world number two Rafael Nadal in the semis looked flat in the first set against Novak, but picked up his game in the second to get it to a tiebreak. Djokovic was too strong for him though and took the set and match with a score of 62 76(4). Djokovic has already secured his place at the year-ending Finals and is the defending champion there, and has returned to the number three ranking after this win.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also has won his third title of the season and has boosted his chances of qualifying for the Finals, after he cruised to a 63 63 victory over Mikhail Youzhny in Japan.

Davydenko and Simon win first titles in the Asian series

Nikolay Davydenko is getting closer to solidifying his spot in the year-ending finals by capturing his third title of the year in Kuala Lumpur. He defeated Fernando Verdasco of Spain in two close sets in which both players kept edging each other and grinding till the end, but eventually Davydenko was the better of the two. The score was 64 75.

While in Thailand, Gilles Simon stopped the hopes of Viktor Troicki by beating him in straight sets as well. Troicki had a dream win against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga the other day and was on his second attempt of capturing his first ATP title. Simon was however to good for him and won the match with a score of 75 63 to capture his first title of the year.

Results for October 1, 2009

Thailand Open

Singles - Second Round
[1] J Tsonga (FRA) d E Gulbis (LAT) 67(3) 76(4) 76(2)
[2] G Simon (FRA) d K Kim (USA) 62 62
[8] J Isner (USA) d M Zverev (GER) 76(5) 64
A Beck (GER) d [LL] D Young (USA) 61 67(3) 64
[Q] M Chiudinelli (SUI) d M Safin (RUS) 63 76(4)
E Korolev (RUS) d R Ginepri (USA) 61 61

Doubles - Quarter-finals
[3] J Knowle (AUT) / J Melzer (AUT) d M Kohlmann (GER) / A Peya (AUT) 62 46 10-3
E Butorac (USA) / R Ram (USA) d R Hutchins (GBR) / H Tecau (ROU) 26 64 10-6
G Garcia-Lopez (ESP) / M Zverev (GER) d M Safin (RUS) / G Simon (FRA) 62 63
F Santoro (FRA) / J Tsonga (FRA) d B Becker (GER) / L Mayer (ARG) 57 61 10-6

Malaysian Open

Singles - Second Round
[2] F Verdasco (ESP) d K Beck (SVK) 64 60
[4] F Gonzalez (CHI) d [Q] R Bopanna (IND) 64 36 64
[5] G Monfils (FRA) d M Vassallo Arguello (ARG) 64 62
[6] T Berdych (CZE) d S Greul (GER) 63 46 63
R Gasquet (FRA) d [WC] J Johansson (SWE) 46 76(1) 62

Doubles - Quarter-finals
[1] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL) d A Golubev (KAZ) / D Istomin (UZB) 57 64 10-1
[3] M Damm (CZE) / R Lindstedt (SWE) d M Melo (BRA) / A Sa (BRA) 64 62
S Huss (AUS) / S Lipsky (USA) d M Elgin (RUS) / F Moser (GER) 63 62

Tsonga survives Gulbis scare

Top seed and world number seven Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was taken to the limit by Ernests Gulbis of Latvia in a 2 hour-12 minute marathon which saw Tsonga have only one break-point chance, only to lose it in the first set. Tsonga won just one point more than Gulbis and handed the Latvian his sixth defeat by a top 10 player this season. The score was 67(3) 76(4) 76(2) and Tsonga lives to play another day. The Thai crowd also saw the defeat of Marat Safin by Marco Chiudinelli with a score of 63 76(4). Chiudinelli will play Tsonga in the next round.

While in Malaysia, Richard Gasquet is getting back to his impressive form as he beat Joachim Johansson who was in his first ATP tournament back after retiring in early 2008 because of injuries. Johansson has won against Lleyton Hewitt in his previous match.