Frenchmen Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Jeremy Chardy will contest their Shanghai openers on Monday. They are set for tough matchups against Tommy Robredo and Ivo Karlovic, respectively.
(16) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs. Tommy Robredo
Almost inexplicably, Tsonga and Robredo will be going head-to-head for just the second time in their careers–despite having a combined 30 years of ATP Tour experience between them–when they meet in round one of the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Monday. Their only previous encounter came at the 2008 U.S. Open, where Robredo prevailed 7-6(2), 6-2, 6-3. Fast forward seven seasons and the Spaniard is still going strong at 33 years old. Ranked 29th in the world as of Sunday, Robredo has a quarterfinal in St. Petersburg and a semifinal in Shenzhen to his credit this fall. But he is coming off a surprising first-round Beijing exit at the hands of John Millman this past week.
Tsonga also underwhelmed in Beijing, where he struggled physically in a 7-6(4), 6-2 opening-round loss to Andreas Haider-Maurer. That result came just about out of nowhere, as the 16th-seeded Frenchman had previously reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open and captured a title in Metz. Tsonga’s two most recent trips to Shanghai (2012 and 2013) resulted in quarterfinal and semifinal performances. On this surface, he should ultimately be able to hit Robredo off the court. Robredo’s recent spurts of hopelessness are also a concern; in his last five losses, the scorelines of his dropped sets are 6-0, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1, 6-1, 6-2, 6-1, 6-4, 6-1, and 6-0.
Pick: Tsonga in 3
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Ivo Karlovic vs. Jeremy Chardy
Chardy is wrapping up his 2015 campaign in fine form and hopes to extend his streak of winning at least one match at a tournament to six when he takes the court on Monday. The Frenchman reached the Montreal semifinals and the U.S. Open quarters to turn around what had been a relatively disappointing season. He is, however, coming off successive mediocre performances in Kuala Lumpur and Tokyo (second round of both; lost to Gilles Muller in two tiebreakers last week).
Up first for Chardy in Shanghai is Karlovic, who trails the head-to-head series 2-0. Chardy got the job done 6-4, 6-4 last summer on the grass courts of Eastbourne before scoring a 4-6, 7-6(1), 6-4 victory earlier this year in Montreal. Karlovic has cooled off just a bit since an awesome first half of 2015. The 36-year-old Croat fell to Jiri Vesely in the U.S. Open second round, to Nick Kyrgios in the Kuala Lumpur quarterfinals, and to Pablo Cuevas in the Beijing second round. Based on current form and his past history against the big guy, Chardy should be in for a productive day at the office.
Pick: Chardy in 3
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Tsonga in 2 and Chardy in 3
I’ll take Tsonga in straights and Karlovic in 3.
Karlovic won 6-4, 7-6(6).
Rafa will not play on Tuesday.
OOP for Tuesday:
http://www.protennislive.com/posting/2015/5014/op.pdf
Wu has just taken the 1s set against Cilic. He is a good player as I said.
I got pissed off reading all the negative comments about Rafa after the match against Di Wu. Like the fact he had to work so hard against a player ranked 220 places below him blah, blah. At least he didn’t drop a set to him he,he.
It’s in some people’s DNA to thrash Rafa, no matter what. I think they enjoy it. I try and skip their posts if possible because I can’t stop myself from responding.
Di Wu had a match point at 5-4 in the 3rd set.
Wow that’s tough. That would’ve been biggest win for Wu and his first ATP level win and he was this close. I like Marin so I’m glad he won but if Wu had won that would’ve been pretty cool.
Cilic must be playing terribly to drop a set to Wu
Wu had a BP but Cilic survives, he is making it very difficult for himself.
They thrashed Rafa after losing 62 62 to Djokovic then Djoko himself comes out and says the scoreline doesn’t tell the whole story. Kudos to him for doing that.
Cilic takes the 2nd set
Nobody is thrashing Rafa on this site. I know what I said about the match and my comments could in no way be construed as attacking Rafa in any way. But for some reason I come on here and see the same inaccurate comment. I can only assume that some people enjoy saying these things to either wind up other people here or just say things that are flat out not true.
I guess Novak isn’t such a bad guy after all if he said that the scoreline doesn’t tell the whole story. LOL!
It’s too bad that this has to continue to happen. There’s been so much support here for Rafa, so I don’t understand these kinds of comments.
Agreed. Plus there is a difference between thrashing and trashing, though with a one-sided scoreline it might be hard to make the distinction sometimes. Thrashing is what the players do; trashing is for keyboard warriors (plus occasionally Nick Kyrgios).
I don’t read the comments as trashing Nadal for this loss so much as trying to put his week in perspective, particularly in light of remarks to the effect that Nadal’s general level of play yesterday offers reassurance for the future. Sure, it’s always nice to make a final, but he did not register a Top 10 win in order to get there, and he was handled in all departments by Djoker.
I am reminded of an AO quarter-final in 1988 when defending ladies’ champion Hana Mandlikova went down to Steffi Graf by the exact same scoreline, and the commies remarked on how well she was playing. Aged just 26 years and two months then, she never won another slam, nor even featured in a final. I am not saying this is going to be an exact repeat in Nadal’s case. But he needs to be meeting, and beating, the Top 4 if he is to be a force again. Last week offers no new clues as to whether he can bring this about.
Good assessment.
If Nadal can make semis in Shanghai, I will consider that real progress.
forsure.
Sorry, I appreviated your username for convenience. I hope that’s okay with you! I just wanted to say that I think you make some excellent points. I think people are just trying to be realistic in evaluating Rafa’s level at this time. I believe that Rafa will win a slam again. Do I know that for sure? No. But I do like to think that a champion will have another great run in him. It’s worth noting that many wrote off Fed a few years ago. Yet he is now the #2 player in the world and make it to finals in Wimbledon and the USO. Of course, he had the misfortune to bump up against Novak. I think Fed can beat Novak in a best of three set match. That’s why I think he has a shot at Shanghai. But in a best of five set match, I don’t think at this point in his career that he can beat Novak.
I think as a Rafa fan, I am taking encouragement where I can right now. It is progress for Rafa to make it to the final at Beijing. He’s not done well in the fall hard court season in the past, even when he was playing his best. It’s true that he did not face a top ten player. But he can only play the ones who get through and Sock was in great form and Fog has beaten Rafa three times this year. So that’s progress of a sort. The problem is that Rafa wasn’t able to beat the top players this year. He’s lost a few times to Novak, the big one being RG. He’s lost to Murray at Madrid. He’s also lost to Stan. That’s where the challenge lies. Rafa has not played Fed yet this year. Maybe he will have that chance in Shanghai.
Murray is the #2 player in the world.
It definitely told part of the story however. We must keep that in mind.
It was the least number of game in a match against Novak that Nadal has ever won.
Cilic escapes Wu. I’ve been proved right, again, that Wu is not any old WC. He is a good player able to take anyone on.
wow, I saw part of the match and Wu resembled Davidenko at times…I really thought Wu had nothing to offer and he proved me wrong…I wish he emerged victorious in this match…I take back everything I said about him…he is nobody to me but he is not bad player after all…
And then had to fight exceedingly hard to stay in the match before a timely ace got him out of jail in the TB. Brave fight by Wu.
PS: The new short haircut doesn’t do Marin any favours – I’m referring to his looks not his level of tennis 😉
Nadal hasn’t faced Dr. Ivo since 2011.
Their matches have all been extremely tight with plenty of tiebreaks and were all played when Nadal was in his prime.
This will be a very tight match and I can see Nadal making an early exit if he is not near his best.
I’m afraid Nadal’s ROS is not where it needs to be ATM.
As Nadal himself would say, we gonna see, no?
It’s no secret that playing Dr Ivo is a lottery, no one would choose to play him. Hope Rafa wins the lottery.
Yes, this is why I am nervous about Rafa playing Karlovic. It’s never a walk in the park and Rafa does not enjoy playing him. I don’t blame him.
The key for Rafa will be to hold his serve at all costs. If he can’t break Karlovic, then he has to hope to win the TB. I think it’s going to be a tough one and will be tight. I hope that Rafa can get through.
Why no Cilic thrashing? He just lost a set to Wu and was taken to a TB.
Of course Cilic was at times appalling in this match, but Cilic and Nadal are not in the same league, Cilic has never been higher than # 8 in the world.
who won
Cilic won but Wu had match point at 54 in the final set.
what happened on MP
Cilic won in 3 7-6 in the 3rd
What’s that got to do with it…………….
I never feel comfortable seeing Karlovic face Rafa…he is pure serve machine and I really dislike his tennis…it can always go either way and as nadline rightly pointed out it is just damn lottery to play this guy…
I really hope Rafa’s luck serves him well against the giant Croat…he will need it…
Cilic saved the MP at 30-40 with an ace.
typical
I hope there will be no need for the Trashers to take to their keyboard after the match on Wednesday.
Vamos Rafa!