OK OK OK, time to get into the last event of the ATP tour season, yep the big finish, its the ATP world tour finals, which is from the o2 arena in London this year, as it has been since 2009. It started there on Monday so here is quick catch up on how its been going so far....
Right to start with we had the British No.1, Andy Murray on court first against the world no.6, Tomas Berdych, who promised to be a stern test for Andy as he came into the match with the leading head to head record 4-3. And the match itself proved to be just that for Andy as he did battle with Berdy, and he had to come from a set down to defeat the big Czeck fella, and despite having various break point chances in the 1st set, he was unable to take them, but in the 2nd he finally converted and managed to level the match. And in the 3rd set, Andy got they key break, and he thankfully managed to dispel any fear of him not being able to serve it out, like he has in his last three defeats, most notably in the Shanghai final against Novak Djokovic, as Andy sealed his first win of the tournament with a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win. This was a pretty scrappy match, and it was a bit of an uneven start from the World No.3, but Andy managed to get done what he needed to do and that win gives him a comfy head start for what follows.
In the other match on day 1, Novak Djokovic played Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the world no.7, in what looked to be like quite a tough encounter. And it was definitely that for the first set, as both men held serve, and Tsonga looked pretty good with plenty of firepower, and he even went 0-30 up on Djoko's serve at 6-5, which could have seen him take the opening set. However it wasn't to be as Nole, held serve and went on to win the tiebreak, and after that in the 2nd set, Tsonga had no answer for Djokovic's superb service games, as he rattled his way to a relatively comfortable 7-6, 6-3 victory. This win puts Djokovic at the top of the Group A, since he hasn't dropped a set, and with Andy just below, this win will definitely go more in his favour.
And next up we will have yet another showdown between Nole and Andy, and it will be their 7th meeting of the year together, which hopefully should make for another really exciting match. And it has to be said their growing rivalry throughout the season has definitely proven to be one of the real highlights of 2012. In fact it has the potential to be an even better rivlary than Rafa and Djoko's has been in the last year or so, and it also has helped bring something fresh and new to the proceedings after so many years of Roger and Rafa, who have without doubt one of the best rivalries in the game, but its great to see a fledgling new one come up. This year alone we already have had some really great matches from Andy and Novak, particularly their matches from the Australian Open, the Olympics, US Open and Shanghai have all been exciting and fascinating in equal measure, so hopefully tomorrow their next meeting will be another cracker. So who will win it????? Well, I would be inclined to go with Djokovic, because having regained the world no.1 ranking from Federer, will have given him a real boost of confidence, and he will be determined to finish off the year in the best way possible. However I do think there is nothing really between these two, and I also think that Andy has a strong shout of winning this one aswell, and he will also have the home advantage with the crowd behind him, so he will surely feel inspired out there and ready to go. Whichever way it goes, it promises to be quite a match.
Which brings me to day 2, and so far we have had Roger Federer who took on Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, who made it into the draw after Rafa had confirmed his withdrawal, and after Tipsy made the Paris quarter finals last week. However Tipsy was no match whatsoever for Roger in this match, who played his part as the clinical surgeon, and proceeded to carve up Tipsy on the court, taking the first set with a break 6-3, and going on to hammer the Serb 6-1 in the 2nd, this puts him comfortably in the lead in his group. And I think it will be very tough to stop Roger if he carries on in this form, and the form he has shown at the o2 in the last two years, and if he does, then there can only be one winner, but we shall see. Also in action tonight is David Ferrer, who has just come off his victory at the Paris Masters, and he has taken the lead on the titles board this year, with a record 7 titles won in 2012, it has been the most successful season of his career by far. And Ferrer managed to defeat Del Potro after a tense 3 set battle against the big fella, with the inform little beast, beating Delpo 6-3, 3-6, 6-4. This will set up a match with Roger Federer for Ferrer, which is not a good thing for David because he has never beaten Federer, but I guess somewhere down the line there must be a first time for everything! ;-)
Oh and quickly on the men's doubles at the ATP world tour finals, the Wimbledon champions, Johnathan Marray and Freddie Nielsen have made another surprise win today, as they beat the 5th seeds, the Indian players, Mahesh Bhupathi and Rohan Bopanna, after a 6-4, 6-7, 12-10 victory. And it would make for a nice symmetrical finish if they won the year end title in London as well as their Wimbledon crown, but they have alot of work ahead of them yet, before they can get anywhere near that!
So that's it for my ATP WTF coverage the now, more to follow soon, once Day 3's thrilling set up is complete, and once I know the winner of Andy and Nole and Berdy and Tsonga.
Bye the now!
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