Novak Djokovic beats Andy Murray in ATP World Tour Finals

By Ashley Williams

LONDON, England (TheSportsNEXT) November 7, 2012: World number one Novak Djokovic of Serbia lived up to the expectations on Wednesday when he outlasted world number three Andy Murray of Great Britain by 4-6 6-3 7-5 in the Group A match of the ATP World Tour Finals at a packed O2 Arena.

The season-ending ATP World Tour Finals has the world’s top eight players in the ATP Rankings but this year Rafael Nadal of Spain, the world number four, is not part of the tournament owing to an injury which paved the way for Janko Tipsarevic at the London event.

Novak Djokovic found it difficult to cope with the aggression of Andy Murray in the initial part of the match as the British world number three as the local lad took the first set by 6-4.

However, Novak Djokovic stormed back into the contention in second set and claimed it by 6-3.

The third set went to the wire where both players tried their best to overcome each other but it was Novak Djokovic who repeated US Open final victory in London as he clinched the penultimate set by 7-5 after pendulum kept swinging both ways in the final moments of the match.

After this victory, Novak Djokovic, the 2008 champion, is now 2-0 in Group A play at the ATP World Tour Finals and is on course to end the 2012 with yet another title as number one player in the world.

It was one of the most-anticipated matches of the ATP World Tour Finals where finalists of Sony Open Tennis, US Open, and Shanghai Rolex Masters revived the rivalry which is touching new highs as both players looked under pressure for the best part of the match.

Novak Djokovic committed 40 unforced errors but Andy Murray had 44 unforced errors btu the Serb pounced on the point scoring chances as he won 22 of his 30 points at the net in an aggressive fashion as the high quality encounter was relished by an attendance of 17,651 at the O2 Arena.

Novak Djokovic told ATP after his victory, “It was another great match, another great performance from both of us. I hope that people who watched it agree with my opinion? I didn't expect anything less other than a tough match that went down the wire and was decided on the last point. The good thing about this format, it gives you a day to recover. I'm going to need that day tomorrow. I will just try to take it easy, work on some things a little bit on the practice. Then, of course, get on the court and try to win. It was really important obviously for me to win this match today, as it was for Andy. I will try to focus and win every match that I play on”.

The world number one Novak Djokovic will be up against Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic in his final match of the round-robin league on Friday which will decide the other qualifier from Group A.

Andy Murray told reporters, “The last two minutes of the match probably is what decided it. He broke from 15/40, and then I had 15/40 next game and didn't break … I had a chance in the third set. You would hope that one game wouldn't decide the outcome of a whole match."

Djokovic said, “It was important for me after dropping a first set to stay mentally tough and believe that I could get my opportunities, and when they were presented to try to step in and use them. I don't think I played bad in the first set. It was him playing really well, serving extremely well. He lost only [a] couple of points on his first serve throughout the whole set and then he made some unforced errors. He allowed me to get back to the match. Then I think it was quite even up to the last point."

On Tuesday, Djokovic received two 2012 ATP World Tour Awards presented by Moët & Chandon. ATP Executive Chairman and President Brad Drewett presented ATP World Tour No. 1 and Arthur Ashe Humanitarian of the Year awards in a special on-court ceremony.

Andy Murray has now won one out of his two matches of the ATP World Tour Finals 2012 thus far and his chances for last-four qualification will depend largely on his performance against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Friday. Tomas Berdych also stands a good chance of qualification but he will have to defeat Novak Djokovic to get there.

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David Ferrer edges del Potro out at ATP World Tour Finals

By Ashley Williams

LONDON, England (TheSportsNEXT) November 7, 2012: World number five David Ferrer of Spain continued his rich run of form at O2 Arena in London on Tuesday to edge out world number seven Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina in a three-set thriller at the ATP World Tour Finals 2012.

David Ferrer, who is bidding to win his eighth ATP title this season, looked in tremendous form as he continued compiling a career-best 2012 season.

The fourth seeded Spanish player extended his winning streak to 11 matches as he saw off the sixth seeded Argentinean by 6-3 3-6 6-4 to rise to second place in Group B below Roger Federer who recorded an impressive victory over Janko Tipsarevic.

David Ferrer and Juan Martin del Potro both are former runner-ups at the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals where David Ferrer lost final in 2007 but this year the Spaniard is looking ominously good to challenge the very best in the business as he has entered into this tournament with back-to-back title victories in Valencia Open 500 and Paris Masters.

Talking about his first match of the ATP World Tour Finals, David Ferrer told ATP, “It was a really tough match, [it] was very close [and] we had very good rallies. I'm very happy with my game. Maybe this year, I am playing more aggressive with my shots. I am going to the net more to finish the points.”

Juan Martin del Potro told ATP, “David is playing so well. He won two tournaments in a row and he's playing with a lot of confidence. David was better in the important moments, like at the end of the match. He broke my serve by playing really well. He never missed a return in the last game. So he took his chances in the match. I think that was the key.

David Ferrer, who is featuring in the ATP World Tour Finals for fourth time, looked in no mood of playing it soft as he enjoyed the court conditions and put his opponent under tremendous pressure in the first set eventually winning it in 40 minutes.

On the other hand, Juan Martin del Potro looked faulty of the two as he committed 17 unforced errors, out of which seven came off his forehand, while David Ferror ran across the court with more energy and had ample replies to ferocious shots of his Argentinean opponent.

This was David Ferrer’s 30^th hard-court match victory this season as the 30-year-old Spaniard improved to a 73-14 record. He next faces world number two Roger Federer and he said, “I have lost 12 times, so I will try to do my best. I think I will have to play very aggressively all the time.”

Juan Martin del Potro will play Janko Tipsarevic in his next match and he vowed to better his game when he said, “I will try to play better than today. It is going to be difficult match because Janko is a dangerous player. He moves so fast and he play very, very solid on the baseline. So it's going to be difficult for me.”

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Roger Federer breezes to 40th win at ATP World Tour Finals

By Ashley Williams

LONDON, England (TheSportsNEXT) November 7, 2012: World number two Roger Federer of Switzerland began his quest for seventh season-ending title with comfortable victory over world number nine Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia in his first match of the ATP World Tour Finals at O2 Arena on Tuesday.

Federer saw off Tipsarevic in just 69 minutes with score of 6-3 6-1.

Federer, who is competing at the ATP World Tour Finals for the 11^th consecutive season, is also looking to match John McEnroe in the list of all-time title-leaders with 77 titles.

This was a record 40^th victory for Roger Federer at the ATP World Tour Finals as the Swiss tennis maestro is looking ripe for a seventh season-ending title.

Roger Federer never looked in a spot of bother as he gave away only eight of his service points as eighth seeded Janko Tipsarevic could seldom show up against the legendary player.

Roger Federer’s victory over Janko Tipsarevic also propelled the Swiss world number two to break record of Ivan Lendl of winning most number of matches at the ATP World Tour Finals.

Talking about his game against Janko Tipsarevic, Roger Federer told ATP, “I'm happy with my level of play today against Janko, who is obviously a good player. I think it's nice conditions here. I've had a good year. It's true, I feel like I'm striking the ball well after today. I hope it's a sign for more to come hopefully.”

Janko Tipsarevic has never beaten Roger Federer in his ATP career and the pressure told on his game on Tuesday when he committed as many as 21 unforced errors as he slumped to sixth defeat against the Swiss.

Janko Tipsarevic told ATP, “I think Roger was just too good. I have not been feeling great for the last couple of days, but even in the previous matches that I played Roger, I wasn't having that much success, as you can see. I definitely won't blame the loss today on my medical situation, if you would call it like this. I probably would have lost anyway, but the problem was that he got an early break in both sets. Everybody knows that when Roger starts leading, he is probably the best player in the world when he's a break up early in the set. I gave it my best shot. It just didn't work today.”

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Andy Murray beats Tomas Berdych in ATP World Tour Finals opener

By Ashley Williams

LONDON, England (TheSportsNEXT) November 5, 2012: World number three Andy Murray of Great Britain started his ATP World Tour Finals campaign off to a valiant start on Monday when he defeated Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic in a three-set encounter at O2 Arena in London.

Andy Murray won the first set by 6-3 but his Czech opponent came back strongly in the second set winning it by the identical margin.

However, Andy Murray recomposed himself and clinched third set by 6-4.

In the other match of the World ATP Tour Finals on Monday, world number one Novak Djokovic of Serbia is up against world number eight Jo-Wiflried Tsonga of France.

ATP world Tour Finals is the only ATP event played in a round-robin format where eight players contest for the laurels in two different groups. 

However, under the rules, the player who is ranked number eight in the ATP Champion's Race world rankings does not have a guaranteed spot. 

If a player who wins one of the year's Grand Slam events finishes the year ranked outside the top eight but still within the top 20, he would have been included in the event instead of the eighth-ranked player. 

If two players outside the top eight won Grand Slam events, the higher placed player in the world rankings would take the final spot in the Tennis Masters Cup.

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Who will win ATP World Tour Finals?

By Jawad Hussain

Top 8 Players in ATP Tour Rankings at River Thames Bridge

KARACHI, Pakistan (TheSportsNEXT) November 4, 2012: Some of the greatest tennis rivals were divided into two groups of four at draws of the ATP World Tour Finals 2012 which begins in O2 Arena of London from November 5.

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Top eight players in the ATP Tour Rankings including world number one Novak Djokovic of Serbia, Roger Federer of Switzerland, Andy Murray of Great Britain, David Ferrer of Spain, Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic, Juan Martin del Potro of Argentine, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, and Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia will fight it out for the year-ending ATP World Tour Finals during the course of eight days.

The major absentee in the tournament is the former world number one Spanish player Rafael Nadal who has been out of action in the past few months due to an injury which has paved the way for Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia in the top eight players in the ATP world.

These top eight players have been divided into two pools of four players where Group A has Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Tomas Berdych, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga while Group B has Roger Federer, Juan Martin del Potro, David Ferrer, and Janko Tipsarevic.

GROUP A

Novak Djokovic (Serbia)

Andy Murray (Great Britain)

Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic)

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France)

GROUP B

Roger Federer (Switzerland)

David Ferrer (Spain)

Juan Martin del Potro (Argentine)

Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia)

The ATP World Tour Finals is one of the best tournaments in the ATP Tour as it gives all of the eight players good bit of time and chance to stay in the hunt, unlike all other tournaments which are based on the knockout matches.

The season-ending ATP World Tour Finals has Barclays as the leading sponsor and the organizers announced the draws on Saturday in London where they pitted some of the best tennis players against each other.

Kirsty Gallacher at
ATP World Tour Finals Preview

As per the draws, Roger Federer and Juan Martin del Potro are the two likely qualifiers from Group B while Group A may see Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic going through to the semi-finals stage.

However, the four players from the bottom half are capable of pulling out a major upset on any given day which makes the tournament even more mouth-watering.

David Ferrer is in prime touch these days and has already qualified into the final of the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris along with Jerzy Janowicz while Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Tomas Berdych, and Janko Tisparevic have also done good in the recent tournaments so it makes the ATP World Tour Finals all more intriguing.

Out of the total 12 round-robin matches there are some matches which will be widely followed across the world by tennis fans which will have Roger Federer vs Juan Martin del Potro and Andy Murray vs Novak Djokovic on top of the list.

Novak Djokovic has already secured the world number one position for the current season for a second successive year and would look to take revenge of his defeats in finals of the London 2012 and US Open where the British Andy Murray secured his maiden titles. On the other hand, Andy Murray would be looking to regain his dominance over the Serb which he broke with Shanghai Rolex Masters title and the two players are pretty much evenly poised in their career head-to-head records where Djokovic has a slim advantage over Murray with 9-7 record.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga may have tasted defeat to the hands of David Ferrer in semi-final of the BNP Paribas Masters the other day but has a good past record at the ATP World Tour Finals where he ended as runner-up last year.

Roger Federer has been a star at the ATP World Tour Finals winning the year-ending title six times, i.e. in 2003 with victory over Andre Agassi, in 2004 with win over Lleyton Hewitt, in 2006 with win over James Blake, in 2007 with triumph over David Ferrer, in 2010 with victory over Rafael Nadal, and in 2011 when he defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. He will be up against Juan Martin del Potro who he has defeated 13 times in 16 meetings between the two.

Juan Martin del Potro is playing the ATP World Tour Finals for the first time since 2009 when he ended as runner-up and his presence at The O2 Arena this year will make a huge difference.

The tournament which starts Monday will have Andy Murray vs Tomas Berdych and Novak Djokovic vs Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on the opening day.

The ATP World Tour Finals will have in store for the tennis fans the Roger Federer vs Janko Tipsarevic and David Ferrer vs Juan Martin del Potro on Tuesday.

ATP World Tour Finals 2012 Schedule

Monday, 5 November 2012  Andy Murray vs Tomas Berdych   1:45pm

Monday, 5 November 2012   Novak Djokovic vs Jo-Wilfried Tsonga  7:45pm

Tuesday, 6 November 2012   Roger Federer vs Janko Tipsarevic 1:45pm

Tuesday, 6 November 2012 Juan Martin del Potro vs David Ferrer   7:45pm

What’s your take? Tell us in comments who do you see winning the ATP World Tour Finals.

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Juan Martin del Potro qualifies for ATP World Tour Finals

By Alexia Krause

Juan Martin del Potro enters quarterfinals in Basel

BASEL, Switzerland (TheSportsNEXT) October 26, 2012: Juan Martin del Potro of Argentine defeated Brian Baker of United States by 7-5 6-1 to storm his way into quarterfinals of the Swiss Indoors Basel on Thursday, which also gave him qualification into the season-ending prestigious event of ATP World Tour Finals.

Juan Martin del Potro became the sixth player to qualify into the ATP World Tour Finals, joining Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, David Ferrer, and Tomas Berdych with Rafael Nadal out of the tournament due to a left knee injury.

The prestigious ATP World Tour Finals will be played at the O2 Arena in London from November 5-12, 2012 where eight top players in the ATP Tour Rankings will try their talent to achieve the pinnacles. The eight players will be divided into two groups where each player will play three matches before semi-finals and final.

Del Potro, who was seeded second in the Basel event, was delighted to be part of the ATP elite but at the same time he also felt for Rafael Nadal who has been kept out of the tennis action since June.

Speaking to reporters after his victory, Juan Martin del Potro talked about Rafael Nadal as he said, “I'm sad for Rafa, he's really trying in his comeback. But it's not easy after such a long time away. I had the same feeling with my wrist. We miss Rafa a lot on the Tour. He is one of the best players in history, he will come back strong. I'm sure it will be very soon. He will be ready to win a big event again, I know that he can play better than me when he makes his comeback, I wish all the best to him."

This is the third time in his career that the big-serving Argentinean ace will feature in the ATP World Tour Finals where his best performance came in 2009 when he lost it in the final.

The Year 2012 has been quite a fruitful one for Del Potro as he won three ATP Tour titles this season at the Open 12 in Marseille, the Estoril Open, and the Erste Bank Open in Vienna last week.

Del Potro told reporters, “For me it’s a gift for my effort during the year. Being in that tournament means a lot. It’s only eight players fighting for one tournament. It’s the best eight players of the year, so it’s very important to me. I’m so glad to be there once again. I will be fighting against the big names in London and maybe I’ll have a chance to make another final.”

Confirming Juan Martin del Potro as the sixth player for the ATP World Tour Finals, ATP Executive Chairman and President, Brad Drewett said, “We’re delighted to welcome Juan Martin back to the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals where he made such a big impact back in 2009 by reaching the final. He has one of the biggest games on tour and is an exciting addition to what will be a fantastic player field in London.”

With two berths still up for grabs at the ATP World Tour Finals, there are four players in the race including Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Janko Tipsarevic, Richard Gasquet and Nicolas Almagro.

Following are the other second round results at the Swiss Indoors Basel.

Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) beat Matthew Ebden (Australia) 6-3, 6-1

Benoit Paire (France) beat Lukasz Kubot (Poland) 6-4, 6-4

Paul-Henri Mathieu (France) beat Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) 6-3, 6-7 (2/7), 6-4

Barclays ATP World Tour Finals - The Contenders

Pos.  Name   YTD Points    Playing

1.  N. Djokovic (SRB) 11,410    Paris, London

2.  R. Federer (SUI)   9,255     Basel, Paris, London

3.  A. Murray (GBR)   7,510 Paris, London

4. R. Nadal (ESP) (withdrawn) 6,840     withdrawn (knee)

5.  D. Ferrer (ESP) 4,780    Valencia, Paris, London

6. T. Berdych (CZE)   4,225     Paris, London

7.  J. M. del Potro (ARG)    3,740    Basel, Paris, London

8. J. Tsonga (FRA)    3,310 Valencia, Paris

9. J. Tipsarevic (SRB)    2,810 Valencia, Paris

10.     N. Almagro (ESP) 2,425     Valencia, Paris

11. R. Gasquet (FRA)  2,415 Basel, Paris

12. J. Monaco (ARG)  2,340     Valencia, Paris

13.     M. Raonic (CAN)   2,290     Valencia, Paris

14.     J. Isner (USA)   2,205     Valencia, Paris

15.     M. Cilic (CRO)   2,200     Valencia, Paris

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Rafael Nadal pulls out of Paris Masters, ATP World Tour Finals

By Magdalena Stanislav

Rafael Nadal won't be seen in action in current ATP season?

PARIS, France (TheSportsNEXT) October 25, 2012: The ATP said Thursday that world number four Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the upcoming Paris Masters and the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London as he was still nursing his left knee injury.

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The Spaniard Rafael Nadal, who has won 11 Grand Slam titles in an illustrious ATP career, has been out of world tennis action since June when he crashed out of the Wimbledon in second round loss to Lukas Rosol of Czech Republic.

The ATP issued a statement on its website on Thursday quoting the 26-year-old Spaniard as saying, “It's disappointing for me to miss the last two tournaments of the season in Paris and London but it doesn't come as a surprise.

The statement further stated, “I will hopefully resume my tennis practice soon since I am making good progress with my recovery from injury. I am not ready to compete in time for these events so I will continue my recovery in Mallorca and work hard to be back as soon as possible”.

The Paris Masters 2012 will commence from Monday at French capital while the ATP World Tour Finals will start from November 5 in London.

The year-ending ATP World Tour Finals features the world’s top eight players in the ATP Tour Rankings and if Rafael Nadal doesn’t play the tournament then the world number nine Janko Tipsarevic will replace him.

Still nursing his knee injury, Rafael Nadal is also likely to miss the Davis Cup Final between Spain and Czech Republic in Prague from November 16-18, 2012.

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Djokovic catches up on Federer in ATP Rankings

By Ashley Williams

Novak Djokovic scored 1,000 ATP rankings points with Shanghai Masters triumph.

LONDON, England (TheSportsNEXT) October 15, 2012: Novak Djokovic scored 1,000 ranking points with the Shanghai Masters title Sunday which took him just 195 points below world number one Roger Federer in the latest ATP Rankings published on Monday.

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Roger Federer, who lost to Andy Murray in the semis, has 12,165 points as he is now number one for a total of 300 weeks.

Djokovic is 195 points away with three championships yet to be decided in 2012 ATP calendar.

Novak Djokovic defeated Andy Murray in three sets by 5-7 7-6 (13-11) 6-3 in final of the Shanghai Rolex Masters which spanned for over three hours on Sunday which showed him in great form and shape to challenge Roger Federer on top of the ATP Tour Rankings.

As per the ATP rules, the Masters tournament has worth of 1,000 rankings points and with three Masters left this season there are a maximum of 3,000 rankings points up for grab and with Roger Federer enjoying a pretty slim lead of 195 points over Novak Djokovic, the battle has just heated up tremendously right towards the end of the season.

Roger Federer could have had a bigger lead on his Serbian opponent had he defeated Olympic and US Open title holder Andy Murray in Semi-Final of the Shanghai Rolex Masters.

Interestingly, all the three ATP Masters events will have Roger Federer as the defending champion after the Swiss tennis maestro revved up his game right at the end of the last year to came back into contention.

Andy Murray trails Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic as world number three while out-of-action Rafael Nadal is ranked fourth. All of these four players have qualified for the World Tour Finals and David Ferrer also joined them as fifth qualifier on Monday, which means the battle for the top spot will get to the wire. It also means that the battle will also have some means left for the players down the rankings as well.

As per the latest ATP Tour Rankings released Monday, the only change in the Top 10 was Tomas Berdych who improved his position by a place as he moved to sixth from seventh after losing to Novak Djokovic in the Shanghai Semi-Finals. He has replaced Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at sixth and has a slender 30 points lead over the Frenchman.

There are three ATP tournaments this week where four top 10 players are in the draws. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Tomas Berdych will be seen in action in Stockholm in Sweden while Juan Martin del Potro and Janko Tipsarevic will be vying for the laurels at Vienna, Austria.

Tomas Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Juan Martin del Potro are the leaders for the last three invitations to the World Tour Finals.

Following are the latest ATP Tour Rankings.

01-Roger Federer              12,165

02-Novak Djokovic            11,970

03-Andy Murray                 7,690

04-Rafael Nadal                6,995

05-David Ferrer                 5,360

06-Tomas Berdych             4,840

07-Jo-Wilfried Tsonga        4,810

08-Juan Martin del Potro     3,670

09-Janko Tipsarevic           3,265

10-Juan Monaco                2,775

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