ATP 500 China Open - Beijing, China - 2016.10.03 - 2016.10.09

[helterskelter]

Looks like Djokovic has withdrawn, as he's no longer listed amongst the entrants. So, no seven-time winner there. Who will step into the breach?

 

[amorys90]

Grigor to win it. Young Painter can't be stopped.

 

[JonnyMac]

Absolutely GREEEEEEEgor. Has it in the bag. Just give him the trophy.

It's his ....

 

[JonnyMac]

One thing - If I was stupid Murray - the last thing I'd want to do right now is fly to bloody China. And I like travel !

Any of them, all of them - They must be Knackered !

I'm exhausted just watching them ..

 

[I Am Finnish]

I think Nadal

 

[tennisaddict]

Looks like Murray in straights

 

[octobrina10]

The draw:
http://www.protennislive.com/posting/2016/747/mds.pdf

 

[The Green Mile]

Possible Nadal vs Pouille rematch to look forward to. Sucks for Dimitrov. Difficult looking draw.

 

[stringertom]

Zebra Bros face each other 1R...a weary Thiem should be wary!

 

[Pagoo]

Possible Nadal vs Pouille rematch to look forward to. Sucks for Dimitrov. Difficult looking draw.

He best try and win Chengdu. He can't seem to get away from Johnson Lol.

 

[Sysyphus]

Grigolo–Mury final definitely on the cards for this one.

Redemption everywhere!

 

[Red Rick]

Zvrv-Muzziah is in the cards. He should really do his Zebra bro a favour and give him some rest

 

[falstaff78]

Daaaayum Thiem vs Zverev

Always heartbreaking early in the draw

@Meles

 

[Meles]

Daaaayum Thiem vs Zverev

Always heartbreaking early in the draw

@Meles

Wow. Thiem likely to go down in that one given their recent form. Reminds me of Queens where Kyrgios got Raonic first round. Too many top players at Queens and opposing ATP 500 had a weaker draw where Kyrgios would have been seeded. Sure enough, Zverev would have been seeded at Japan Open.

 

[Meles]

Zvrv-Muzziah is in the cards. He should really do his Zebra bro a favour and give him some rest

Zverev hasn't had Murray's number lately, so hopefully Thiem wins that match. Zverev went down 6-0, 6-1 to Ferrer at Hamburg millions of years ago. Not sure that declined Ferrer will not be trouble for Z. Sock will be no joke for winner of Thiem/Zverev.

 

[Meles]

Gasquet may be vulnerable after Chengdu run so chances for Querrey and Tomic and even PCB to get a shot at RaoBot. Pouille has quite the draw. Would like to see in form Gasquet come through to SF with Pouille. Dimitrov vs Pouille 2nd round would be nice. I'd rather see Nadal get his Pouille rematch in QF. Wonder what Nadal will do with a rested Pouille?

 

[Gytha]

Ooh, Thiem-Zverev 1R. Zverev has played into good form after a slump whereas Domi is looking to be running out of gas.

Nadal-Pouille rematch? I'll have some of that pls

 

[Mainad]

Zverev hasn't had Murray's number lately, so hopefully Thiem wins that match.

Lately? When did he ever have it (given that Murray destroyed him in their only encounter)?

 

[Meles]

Lately? When did he ever have it (given that Murray destroyed him in their only encounter)?

Haha. Agree 100%; only you would find the error of my ways.

I doubt Thiem will make it, but I'd love to see him round into form for a nice match with Murray.

 

[NaBUru38]

Ferrer - Cuevas in first round??? That makes absolutely no sense.

 

[Meles]

Ooh, Thiem-Zverev 1R. Zverev has played into good form after a slump whereas Domi is looking to be running out of gas.

Nadal-Pouille rematch? I'll have some of that pls

Stamina has been an issue in the Thiem vs Z matches this year to Zverev's detriment. That won't be an issue this time. Zverev has taken sets in every match and looks good to take 2 this time.

 

[Meles]

Ferrer - Cuevas in first round??? That makes absolutely no sense.

Heck of a first match for the tournament. Cuevas (like Zverev) would have been seeded at Japan Open. China Open's purse is twice the size so they get some good opening matches.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Interesting to look at the ranking and see how close they are between number 19 and 26 in the world.

19: Cuevas- 1745 pts
20: Dimitrov- 1735 pts
21: Karlovic- 1705 pts
22: Tomic- 1680 pts
23: Johnson- 1670 pts
24: Zverev- 1655 pts
25: Sock- 1585 pts
26: Isner- 1555 pts

Just 190 points between 8 players. Insane.

Additonally this week of those players, the following are defending some points
Cuevas: 90 points
Johnson: 45 points
Sock: 90 points
Isner: 90 points (he's not playing this week so his non countable tournament moves up meaning he loses just 45 points)

So that'll cause some movement amongst those players and of course all of them (except Isner) are playing this week in Beijing except Karlovic who's in Tokyo.

For fun lets take a look at the race to London rankings. This gives us an idea of which player has more points to defend by the end of the year.

17: Cuevas- 1680 pts
18: Dimitrov- 1645 pts
20: Zverev- 1475 pts
21: Karlovic- 1470 pts
22: Tomic- 1455 pts
28: Johnson- 1230 pts
31: Isner- 1150 pts
32: Sock- 1110 pts

So we can see that Cuevas has just 65 pts to defend for the rest of the year (1745 - 1680) meanwhile Jack Sock has over 445 pts to defend! (1555 - 1110).

It'll be interesting to see where the players land at the end of the year. Imagine Isner being outside the top 30 and maybe not being seeded for the Australian Open! Crazy.

 

[stringertom]

Very close match between Ferrer and his South American cousin Cuevas. Only one BP in 18 games and Ferrer converted it for the 6-4 4-4 lead.

 

[stringertom]

Ferrer wins 6-4 7-6(3) with just the one BP conversion.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Cuevas falls 2 spots out of the top 20 to 21st. Many more can overtake him. Luckily he has minimal points to defend by year end so should get back to top 20.

 

[ArcspacE]

Young GOAT Dimitrov for R1 glory

 

[stringertom]

Young GOAT Dimitrov for R1 glory

If he can keep his Johnson in check elsewhere.

#WomenWeakenLegs

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Defending doubles champ were Pospisil/Sock.
Pospisil not playing whilst Sock plays with Tomic. Odd combination considering Sock is 22nd in the world and if he chose a high ranked player he could've been seeded here, instead went with Tomic and due to Tomic being ranked 230th in the world, they weren't seeded.

Tomic/Sock won their 1R match over Begemann/Paes. Next face qualifiers Lorenzi/Pella who upset 4th seeds Huey/Mirnyi.

Good chance for Tomic to get his double rankings up. @Meles Or imagine Tomic with a doubles title Haha as if

 

[clayqueen]

Nadal/Careno-Busta def Bopana/Busta 76 64

Nadal is now ranked #10 in the doubles rankings.

 

[Russeljones]

Possible Nadal vs Pouille rematch to look forward to. Sucks for Dimitrov. Difficult looking draw.

If Grigor wants to be taken seriously, he needs to start dealing with players like Johnson.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Nadal/Careno-Busta def Bopana/Busta 76 64

Nadal is now ranked #10 in the doubles rankings.

????

Nadal is 358th in current ATP doubles rankings, live rankings have him at 262nd...

????

 

[The Green Mile]

????

Nadal is 358th in current ATP doubles rankings, live rankings have him at 262nd...

????

Yeah, I don't understand what she is on about either...

 

[Meles]

Defending doubles champ were Pospisil/Sock.
Pospisil not playing whilst Sock plays with Tomic. Odd combination considering Sock is 22nd in the world and if he chose a high ranked player he could've been seeded here, instead went with Tomic and due to Tomic being ranked 230th in the world, they weren't seeded.

Tomic/Sock won their 1R match over Begemann/Paes. Next face qualifiers Lorenzi/Pella who upset 4th seeds Huey/Mirnyi.

Good chance for Tomic to get his double rankings up. @Meles Or imagine Tomic with a doubles title Haha as if

It seems Sock is looking for new doubles partner. Tomic could be the one!

 

[Meles]

????

Nadal is 358th in current ATP doubles rankings, live rankings have him at 262nd...

????

Do they use singles rankings some of the time?

 

[ArcspacE]

Nadal is now ranked #10 in the doubles rankings.

What a champion

 

[Meles]

Pouille in form; bakery open for business, 6-1, 4-1

 

[Meles]

Pouille with a Graf like demolition of Lu in 49 minutes.

 

[ArcspacE]

Pouille with a Graf like demolition of Lu in 49 minutes.

Dimitrov would be a great match in R2 - hopefully he can take care of Johnson tomorrow

 

[ArcspacE]

If Grigor wants to be taken seriously, he needs to start dealing with players like Johnson.

He already dealt with him at Cinci you massive ingnoramus

 

[Meles]

Dimitrov would be a great match in R2 - hopefully he can take care of Johnson tomorrow

Luca vs Greegor

 

[Meles]

????

Nadal is 358th in current ATP doubles rankings, live rankings have him at 262nd...

????

PCB is a fairly highly ranked doubles player. Wouldn't mind seeing Atomic Sock play a PCB'd Nadal final or Luca and Reechard.

 

[Meles]

For the record I think Pouille wins China Open.

 

[octobrina10]

The Player Party on Monday:

 

[jaggy]

Pouille getting past Dimitov/Johnson could be a task, he must be knackered too with all his play.

 

[Sela]

For the record I think Pouille wins China Open.

He said he still thinks he has a chance to qualify for the WTF. That'd help him mightily. That'd be great but I'm not so sure he's ready to take on an in-form Andy quite yet.

 

[Meles]

He said he still thinks he has a chance to qualify for the WTF. That'd help him mightily. That'd be great but I'm not so sure he's ready to take on an in-form Andy quite yet.

Its good that he is thinking about making WTF. A tried and true way of beating Murray is blowing his doors off. I didn't think Pouille could light up Nadal like he did at the US Open, but that backhand. Pouille will find a way. He's improving by leaps and bounds atm. Nadal QF will be quite tasty. If Luca takes Nadal, Raonic, and Murray out this place will erupt.

Dimitrov has been in fine form lately, so that match should be a cracker too. Please Pouille this week.

 

[Mainad]

For the record I think Pouille wins China Open.

Will be interesting to see if he can keep up the form.

 

[Meles]

Pouille getting past Dimitov/Johnson could be a task, he must be knackered too with all his play.

Had the week off. He was knackered when he played Nadal at US Open after back to back 5 set matches. He's playing better now to my eyes which makes sense as he's similar level without the fatigue issues. Pouille has won his last three sets. 6-2, 6-1, 6-2. Thiem took him to TB in their first set at the Metz final, but other than that Pouille has been on a major roll. Goffin went won 7-6, 6-1 and that easily could have been 1 and 1 as Pouille was up 4-1 with triple break point on Goffin in the first.

 

[Mainad]

He said he still thinks he has a chance to qualify for the WTF. That'd help him mightily. That'd be great but I'm not so sure he's ready to take on an in-form Andy quite yet.

Big question is how in-form will Andy be? He's been very erratic since Rio. Has he recovered sufficiently yet?