By Ros Satar
- ATP – Novak Djokovic dominates in Shanghai and remains at No. 1
- WTA – Serena Williams remains at No. 1 as the Race to Singapore tightens up lower down the rankings
- Andy Murray sits at World No. 2, Johanna Konta moves up one place to 46, and Heather Watson climbs back up to 54.
SHANGHAI, CHINA – Novak Djokovic was once more in devastating form as he swept Andy Murray away in the Masters semi-final, before defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final to win a third Shanghai Rolex Masters title.
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In another glittering week for the Serbian, he surged past the 14,000 ranking point barrier (14,285) winning a ninth title this year, and now has 25 Masters titles in his grasp, putting him just two behind Rafael Nadal’s record haul of 27.
En route, he extracted some measure of revenge for defeats from Murray in Montreal and against Tsonga in Toronto last year to make his Chinese finals tally 10-0.
“Today the key was to get as many serves back into play to Jo because he has one of the biggest serves in the game,” he told ATPWorldTour.com after the match. “He has shown that in the second set, with some break points early in the set. He came up with some aces, some big serves.
“Generally I felt always in control of the match. I felt like I’ve done everything right. I’ve won many of my service games very comfortably. I didn’t allow him to get into the rhythm, get into the match. Today’s match, and overall the tournament, it’s gone incredibly well for me.”
It was a less happy Murray who faced the media at the Shanghai Rolex Masters after struggling to get going against the World No. 1 in the semi-final.
It was tough,” he said, as reported in ATPWorldTour.com. “I’m obviously disappointed with the way I played. I served poorly in the first set especially. You can’t afford to do that against Novak with the way he’s playing just now, the amount of confidence he has in his game, and the conditions over here. You have to do better than that.
“I made it extremely difficult for myself. I just couldn’t get myself in it. Even the second set, got that break at the beginning and was hoping to kick on a little bit. Just didn’t serve well at all tonight. It was tough.”
Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka sit ay World No. 3 and 4 respectively.
ATP Rankings – 19 October
- Novak Djokovic
- Andy Murray
- Roger Federer
- Stan Wawrinka
- Tomas Berdych
- Kei Nishikori
- Rafael Nadal
- David Ferrer
- Milos Raonic
- Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (+5)
- Kevin Anderson (-1)
- Richard Gasquet (-1)
- John Isner
- Marin Cilic (-2)
- Gilles Simon (-1)
- David Goffin
- Feliciano Lopez
- Bernard Tomic (+2)
- Dominic Thiem (-1)
- Ivo Karlovic (+1)
WTA
Agnieszka Radwanska stole the show this week, sealing her place in Singapore as she won her 16th title at the Tianjin Open, and was the fifth player to qualify for the season ending finale. She was in solid form, not conceding a set throughout the tournament as she wrapped up the final against Danke Kovinic 6-1 6-2 in less than an hour.
“Coming to Asia I didn’t really think I had any chance to go to Singapore, and it’s actually been a very good couple of weeks for me,” Radwanska said to WTATennis.com. “Winning Tokyo gave me some chances to go there, and then every match started to matter after that. And I knew if I won here, I would make it there.
“But the pressure didn’t feel too big. I could really play my best tennis in Tianjin this week.”
Although Angelique Kerber missed out on her qualification for the event after being edged by Jelena Jankovic in Hong Kong, she still sits 6th on the leader board. With three places still up for grabs it will be all eyes on Moscow and Luxembourg, with those on the outskirts of the Race to Singapore still in the running for the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai.
There were place rises for Johanna Konta (46) and Heather Watson (54) in this week’s rankings.
WTA Rankings – 19 October
- Serena Williams
- Simona Halep
- Maria Sharapova
- Garbiñe Muguruza
- Petra Kvitova
- Agnieszka Radwanska
- Angelique Kerber (+2)
- Flavia Pennetta
- Lucie Safarova (-2)
- Timea Bacsinszky
- Caroline Wozniacki
- Ana Ivanovic
- Venus Williams (+1)
- Carla Suárez Navarro (-1)
- Karolina Pliskova
- Belinda Bencic
- Roberta Vinci
- Sara Errani
- Madison Keys
- Andrea Petkovic
ATP action continues in Vienna, Moscow and Stockholm, while the WTA continues in Luxembourg and Moscow.
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