Recent rivals Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev remain on a collision course for the semifinals at the Shanghai Masters. But before that they have respective quarterfinal contests on their hands with Stefanos Tsitsipas and Fabio Fognini.
(1) Novak Djokovic vs. (6) Stefanos Tsitsipas
Tsitsipas said this summer at Queen’s Club that Felix Auger-Aliassime was the toughest opponent he has ever faced. The 21-year-old Greek will most likely be reassessing that opinion following the Rolex Shanghai Masters. Tsitsipas ended a five-match losing streak against Auger-Aliassime with a 7-6(3), 7-6(3) second-round victory and now runs into Djokovic in the quarterfinals on Friday. The world No. 7 upset Djokovic 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3 at the 2018 Toronto Masters but lost their second encounter 6-3, 6-4 in the Madrid final this spring.
Based on current form, something along the lines of their more recent meeting is likely in store for Friday. Djokovic has been dominant on the Asian swing so far, with an easy title in Tokyo followed by straight-set wins this week over Denis Shapovalov and John Isner. Tsitsipas struggled this summer before finishing runner-up to Dominic Thiem in Beijing. Shanghai’s sixth seed followed up his defeat of Auger-Aliassime by outlasting Hubert Hurkacz 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(5) on Thursday. With Tsitsipas likely fatigued and Djokovic on fire, this should be one-way traffic.
Pick: Djokovic in 2
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(3) Daniil Medvedev vs. (10) Fabio Fognini
The head-to-head series between Medvedev and Fognini also stands at 1-1 heading into Friday. Fognini prevailed 7-6(5), 6-4 at the 2017 Cincinnati Masters before Medvedev got the job done 2-6, 6-4, 6-1 last season in Sydney. Both men are playing stellar tennis in 2019, with Medvedev having already clinched a debut appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals and Fognini looking to join him in London. The fourth-ranked Russian is bidding for a sixth consecutive final in what has been an amazing stretch that has seen him triumph in Cincinnati and St. Petersburg to go along with a memorable U.S. Open run. Medvedev has remained scorching hot this week with straight-set defeats of Cameron Norrie and Vasek Pospisil.
Fognini took a much more circuitous route to the Shanghai quarterfinals, as he edged Andy Murray 7-6(4), 2-6, 7-6(2) in a contentious second-round thriller. The 12th-ranked Italian Opened with a blowout of Sam Querrey and went on to beat Karen Khachanov 6-3, 7-5 during third-round action on Thursday. Fognini could move to within 20 points of the No. 8 spot in London if he beats Medvedev, but that is a tall order given the third seed’s ruthless form right now.
Pick: Medvedev in 2
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WYG?
Tists beats Djokovic in an impressive performance.
Score:
36 75 63
Tsitsi gave Rafa a good wedding gift..keeps Rafa in contention for no 1 as Novak lost good bunch of points 😀
Had Novak not played Japan..the no 1 was as good as gone…Rafa still 1200 ahead in race..it will all get settled now at wtf..
Yes, Tsitsipas wins!! What a match!
It seems playing at the LC really helps him ( and Thiem, Sasha too). What a feat, to be able to beat Djoko at Shanghai! He has reached final at Beijing and now SF at least at Shanghai, and has now qualified for the WTF for the first time in his career. Well done!
PS. Rafa’s chances of getting the YE no.1 gets better now, thanks to Tsitsipas.
Can zverev get inspired from tsitsi too please..it would be great to see all 4 next gen in semis…Medvedev..zverev..tsitsipas and Thiem
Fed will ‘spoil’ the party I’m afraid
95 percent yes as zverev is out of form..whether fed will win the whole thing..let’s see..has a good chance now..as only one who can stop him is Medvedev
I heard djokovic is not playing Vienna or Basel and his points will drop by then and Nadal will be world number 1 by November 4th and even if djokovic wins Paris, Nadal will still be number 1. Is this true?
As for year end no. 1, that will be decided in the wtf. I hope rafa’s injury is fully healed before Paris.
He did not play basel last year too.so no point drop for novak.However he may play too to lock world no 1 .
Happy – I don’t think what you saying is true ..I think Novak stays no 1 till Paris
Someone on Twitter said on the 4th of November, nole drops 1600 points and Rafa 0 and Rafa is number 1. So even if Nole wins Paris, Rafa stays number 1. I don’t think it’s true either but anyway I am not conversant with the points system and distrbution in the atp. Also, nole will probably play Basel to lock number 1.
Yes true, because after Paris Masters, last year’s WTF points will drop off. As Djoko has 1000 points from WTF last year and Rafa has 0, so even if Djoko wins Paris, thus getting another 400 points (over his runner up points of last year), he still will be at 8945 points, so Rafa with 9225 now will be no.1, and Rafa will gain points too playing at Paris.
I doubt Djoko is playing Basel or Vienna before Paris, as that may jeopardise his chances of winning at Paris.
Djoker is pretty desperate to retain the #1 ranking so he may play Basel or Vienna since he’s out of Shanghai so soon. Neither will be a gimme though with Fed in Basel and Thiem in Vienna and maybe some others as well.
Big grats to Tsitsi! I never thought he could beat Djoker.
I was forgetting about that silly exho that Rafa/Djoker are supposed to play in Khazakstan on Oct 24! Guess that will keep Djoker out of Basel or Vienna. Oh the irony!
Kind of strange that Medvedev and Tsitsipas could beat Djoko on the HCs but Fed and Rafa couldn’t these days.
Luckystar, you know Rafa said he wasn’t physically fit to play Djokovic in Australia. He said he didn’t have time to practise his defensive game after his ankle surgery in November last year. He was still recovering his game when the clay season started and even considered taking some time off.
I notice Djoko is not able to win B2B week tournaments these days, his best performance this season was at Madrid/Rome where he won one title and reached the final of the other. I think age does catch up with him too.
I wonder if the heat affected Djoker. I haven’t seen the match – the Shanghai day matches are played in the small hours here – but conditions were pretty brutal yesterday – they were using ice towels and Pospisil was clearly having some issues.
Don’t think it’s the heat, Djoko was playing well in the first set, was ok in the second but once Tsitsipas won second set and raised his level in the third, Djoko began to have problems with his own and also Tsitsipas’ serve. Tsitsipas served very well in the final set, he beat Djoko more than Djoko lost it imo.
I watched the match. Tsits was just in the zone.
Yes Tsistipas was serving amazing esp in the third, Novak could hardly read it not being able to get any bps in last two sets, incredible stat playing Novak!!
I’m watching these guys play and i’m telling you it really seems like its the changing of the guard. Next year the big 3/4 will surely be hard pressed to win a slam except perhaps for Rafa at FO! These guys are truly playing phenomenal, thanks to LC, lol!
Maybe he just lost because the other player was better ….
These young guns are really gaining momentum, Tsitsipas beats Djoko and now Sasha is about to beat Fed, leading in the third set; he choked when serving for the match in set two.
I’m just glad that Rafa didn’t choke while serving for his USO title against Medvedev! These youngsters are getting very hard to beat!
Ha ha Fed gets a warning for ball abuse, hitting the ball into the crowd!!
Sasha didn’t choke the 2nd set away. Fed stepped up his game for the end of the set – looked like the old, er, *young* Fed again for a brief time.
Rafa didn’t choke in the USO final? Lessee, lost the 3rd set after being a break up. Got broken in the 4th while serving to stay in the set. Played a poor game serving for the match at 5-2 up in the 5th, failed to win 2 mp’s on Medvedev’s serve at 5-3. Shanked a forehand at 5-4 to give Med a break point…but nahhh, he didn’t choke! If you win the match you didn’t choke, case closed.
Go Thiem go…Medvedev, tsitsipas,Thiem and zverev in semis will be blockbuster popcorn of next gen…
Afraid we’ll have to settle for Medvedev, Tsitsi, Sasha and Berrettini. I can live with that.
I think next year the transition to next gen will happen..one by one the big 3 will start fading out…there is no way the big 3 will win all the slams next year n frankly it’s high time the transition should happen.
Medvedev, tsitsipas,Thiem and zverev – This is a top line-up at the moment. Probably the four best guys of the next-gen competing in.