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Murray back with a bang, Djokovic wins in Basel

ATP World Tour

British number one Andy Murray made an emphatic return to the ATP World Tour in Valencia, after six weeks out through injury. The top seed claimed the title by brushing aside unseeded Russian Mikhael Youzhny 6-3 6-2 in the final.

Murray now leads the tour with six ATP World Tour titles in 2009. 

Murray and Youzhny had only met once before with Murray beating the Russian in a final set tie-break in the semi-finals of Petersburg in 2007. Murray now has an impressive 14-6 win/loss record from 20 career tour finals. The 22 year-old has won 63 matches so far in 2009; the most of his career.

Murray won his sixth title of 2009 in Valencia

Murray is undefeated indoors in 2009 with a 12-0 record.

En route to the final Murray had comfortable wins over Spaniards Daniel Gimeno-Traver and Albert Montanes and came through three set matches against Leonardo Mayer and world number 8 Fernando Verdasco. 

Murray is now 12-5 against top ten opponents during 2009.

Youzhny was appearing in his 4th final of 2009, having taken the St Petersburg title two weeks earlier. The 27 year-old overcame top 10 opponents Jo-Wilfred Tsonga and Nikolay Davydenko en route to the final. Tsonga had withdrawn against Youzhny with a left wrist injury putting the Frenchman’s pursuit of a place at the World Tour finals in danger.

Youzhny has won 25 of 74 matches against top ten opponents during his career.

Novak Djokovic disappointed the Swiss fans at the Davidoff Swiss Indoors in Basel as he denied Roger Federer a fourth consecutive title at the event. The Serb defeated the world number one 6-4 4-6 6-2 in the final for his fifth win over the Swiss in fourteen career meetings and his third win from five matches in 2009.  It marked the seventh time on tour in 2009 that the top two seeds have met in a final.

Having saved three match points against Radek Stepanek in the semi-finals, Djokovic becomes the fifth player in 2009 to win a tournament having faced match points.

Djokovic has now reached nine finals in 2009

Djokovic, who was making his debut in Basel, now leads the tour with nine finals in 2009 and 71 match wins. The Serb achieved the first 6-0 6-0 win of his career against Czech Jan Hernych in the second round.

There have been five 6-0 6-0 wins on tour in 2009, the most since 2006. The last ‘double bagel’ in Basel was in 1977 when Jeff Borowiak beat Trey Waltke.

Federer had been aiming for his 62nd career title and fifth of 2009. The 28 year-old was appearing in his sixth final in Basel and saw his 19 match winning streak at the tournament come to an end. He was joined in the quarter finals by compatriots Stanislas Wawrinka and Marco Chiudinelli.

It was the second time that three Swiss players have reached the quarter-finals in an ATP World Tour tournament. It also occurred in Basel in 2001 when Federer, George Bastl and Michel Kratochvil progressed to the last eight.

There was also a blockbuster doubles final in Basel as Wimbledon Champions Nenad Zimonjic and Daniel Nestor beat the Bryan Brothers 6-2 6-3 for their eighth title of 2009. Both pairs are currently involved in a battle to finish the year ranked number one. 

The race to the ATP Tour World Finals

The current state of play in the race for the remaining two spots for the ATP World Tour Finals is that Nikolay Davydenko and Fernando Verdasco are out in front with five players still chasing them.

Davydenko would have sealed his place in London if he had won the title in Valencia. Verdasco strengthened his grip on the eighth spot by reaching the semi-finals in Valencia and in the process knocked Simon, Robredo and Monfils out of contention.

Soderling, Gonzalez and Tsonga each know that they must reach the final in Paris to have a chance of qualifying, while Stepanek and Cilic will both need to take the title in Paris to have any chance. If Verdasco wins one match in Paris then Stepanek and Cilic will be eliminated from the race.

1. Roger Federer            10,140 points QUALIFIED
2. Rafael Nadal               8845 points QUALIFIED
3. Novak Djokovic           6910 points QUALIFIED
4. Andy Murray               6540 points QUALIFIED
5. Juan Martin Del Potro 5815 points QUALIFIED
6. Andy Roddick              4330 points QUALIFIED
-----------------------------------------------------------
7. Nikolay Davydenko     3540 points
8. Fernando Verdasco    3210 points
9. Robin Soderling          2830 points
10. Fernando Gonzalez  2780 points
11. Jo-Wilfred Tsonga      2695 points
12. Radek Stepanek       2265 points
13. Marin Cilic                 2250 points

For more information on the ATP World Tour Finals

WTA Tour

Reggio Calabria on the south coast of Italy played host to the 47th Fed Cup final as the home nation took on the United States. Led by top twenty players Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone; Italy took their second Fed Cup title winning the final 4-0 against a depleted American team.

Italy had never beaten the USA in nine previous Fed Cup meetings.

The Americans were appearing in their 27th Fed Cup final and aiming for their 18th title in the competition. However, without both Williams sisters, the young team of Alexa Glatch and US Open quarter finalist Melanie Oudin struggled against their more experienced opponents on the Italian clay. 

It was the first Fed Cup final to be held on clay and the first to take place in Italy.

Flavia Pennetta - part of the successful Italian Fed Cup team against USA

World number 11 Pennetta and 16th ranked Schiavone opened up a 2-0 lead after day one with straight sets wins. 27 year-old Pennetta then sealed the victory on the second day, beating Oudin 7-5 6-2. The fourth singles rubber was cancelled before Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci won a dead doubles rubber over Liezel Huber and Vania King. 

Italy were appearing in their third Fed Cup final in four years and become the eighth nation to win Multiple Fed Cup titles after USA, Australia, Czech Republic, Spain, Russia, France and Germany.

The Italians had overcome two time defending Champions Russia in the semi-finals. The victory crowned a terrific year for Italian women’s tennis after Pennetta became the first Italian woman to reach the top 10 in August and Schiavone moved back into the top 20 by winning the Premier title at the Kremlin Cup. Both women reached Grand Slam quarter finals during the year – Schiavone at Wimbledon and Pennetta in New York.

Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions

Ten 2009 International series title holders, and two wildcards, competed in the inaugural Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali and at the end of the week it was Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai who won the biggest title of her career.

Bali had previously been home to a Tier II tournament with former Champions including Lindsay Davenport, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Patty Schnyder. 

Rezai took the title when her higher ranked compatriot Marion Bartoli retired with a leg injury after losing the first set 7-5. Rezai saved set points trailing 3-5 before winning the last four games against the top seed. The 22 year-old had won the International series title in Strasbourg just before Roland Garros for her first career title.

Aravane Rezai won the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions in Bali

Rezai, who is of Iranian descent, won Gold medals at the Women’s Islamic Olympic Games in Iran in 2001 and 2005.
 
25 year-old Bartoli did not drop a set in reaching the final and was aiming to finish in the top 10 for the second time in her career. Doha doubles champion Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez also progressed to the semi-finals after beating second seed Sam Stosur to win group B.

3rd seeded Belgian Yanina Wickmayer withdrew after her first match after The Vlaams Doping Tribunal (VDT) in Belgium suspended her for a year after not declaring her whereabouts for testing time three times in 2009.   The beneficiary was 39 year-old wildcard Kimiko Date-Krumm who moved through to the semi-finals from Group C after beating Anabel Medina Garrigues.

ITF / Challenger circuit

Jonathan Marray and Jamie Murray claimed the doubles title at the $125k ATP Challenger event in Astana, Kazhakstan. In the final the second seeded pairing overcame top seeds David Martin and Rogier Wassen 4-6 6-3 (10-5). It was Marray’s first tournament since breaking into the top 100 doubles rankings.

28 year-old Marray has a doubles win/loss ratio of 39-14 in 2009.

At the women’s $50k ITF event in Ismaning, Germany, British number four Mel South defeated the Swiss top seed Stefanie Voegele 6-1 5-7 6-4 in the first round before falling to Elena Chalova. Katie O’Brien was seeded 4th but fell in the second round to former top 50 player Mariya Koryttseva.

Dominic Inglot reached the doubles final at the $50k ATP Challenger in Charlottesville, Virginia on the USTA Pro Circuit. The 23 year-old and American partner Rylan Rizza were wild card entrants but dropped only one set en route to the final where they narrowly fell 6-4 3-6 (11-9) to the German/Swedish combination of Martin Emmrich and Andreas Siljestrom. Inglot also impressed in the singles by taking out seventh seeded Croat Roko Karanusic en route to the quarter finals.   

The Ren sisters - Jennifer and Jessica - won the doubles title at the $10k AEGON Pro-Series event in Sunderland. In the final the teenagers defeated the Dutch partnership of Danielle Harmsen and Joanne Van Bennekom 3-6 6-4 (10-8) for their first senior doubles title together.

This week on Tour

The stars of the ATP World Tour descend on Paris’s Bercy arena for the final Masters 1000 tournament of 2009.  All of the top 10, aside from Andy Roddick, are in action.   

Paris is the only Masters 1000 event where Roger Federer has not reached the final.

The tournament marks the end of both Marat Safin and Fabrice Santoro’s careers as both players will retire from the professional game at the end of the week.

Safin is a three time Paris Masters 1000 Champion having taken the title in 2000, 2002 and 2004.

Movers and Shakers

There are no changes in either top ten this week. Federer is now in his 256th total week at number one. Serena Williams will hold the number one ranking at least through to the beginning of the 2010 season.

Bali champion Rezai has moved up 18 places to a career high of 26 while semi-finalists Martinez Sanchez and Date Krumm make considerable moves to up 27 and 82 respectively.

Anne Keothavong loses her ranking points from her 2008 tournament ITF victory at the $100k tournament in Krakow, Poland, and falls behind both O’Brien and Elena Baltacha in the new rankings. O’Brien reclaims the British number one ranking and inches up to a career best ranking of 88.

ATP rankings 09/11/2009

  • 1. Roger Federer (SUI)
  • 2. Rafael Nadal (ESP)
  • 3. Novak Djokovic (SER)
  • 4. Andy Murray (GB)
  • 5. Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG)
  • 6. Andy Roddick (US)
  • 7. Nikolay Davydenko (RUS)
  • 8. Fernando Verdasco (ESP)
  • 9. Jo-Wilfred Tsonga (FRA)
  • 10. Robin Soderling (SWE)
Top Brits
  • 4.      Andy Murray
  • 176. Alex Bogdanovic
  • 239. James Ward
  • 281. Josh Goodall
  • 291. Dan Evans

WTA rankings 09/11/2009

  • 1. Serena Williams (US)
  • 2. Dinara Safina (RUS)
  • 3. Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)
  • 4. Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)
  • 5. Elena Dementieva (RUS)
  • 6. Venus Williams (US)
  • 7. Victoria Azarenka (BLR)
  • 8. Jelena Jankovic (SER)
  • 9. Vera Zvonareva (SER)
  • 10. Agnieszka Radwanska (POL)
Top Brits
  • 88. Katie O’Brien
  • 89. Elena Baltacha
  • 100. Anne Keothavong 
  • 159. Mel South
  • 203. Naomi Cavaday