Autumn 2020 Tournaments and World Tour Final

First topic message reminder :

Thanks to everyone for a terrific response to the 2020 RG topic.

There's tournaments this week in St Petersburg and Cologne. In Russia, Cameron Norrie has recorded two excellent wins but Dan Evans went down to Stan the Man despite having three MPs.

Andy Murray had a disappointing 6-4, 6-4 loss to Verdasco (who obviously did hear the drums) in Cologne. He didn't serve very well and although he fought hard it was not a great display. They are playing again in Cologne next week and Andy is scheduled to appear again.

Six players have qualified for what will be the last London WTF - Djoko, Rafa, Thiem, Medvedev, Tsitsipas and Zverev. So just the two places remain. It's unclear just how much more Rafa will play this season. He sometimes skips the 02.

Great achievement to get 1,000 wins on the main tour. Djoko will also do it and Fed is not that far off the overall record.

If you think that you have to average around 60 wins a season for 14 years to do it, it really is a remarkable feat.

great indeed

tournament is getting interesting... a pitty that novak or thiem arent here, also, Humbert is great to see, but I also miss Tsitsipas in later rounds

Nadal beat Thompson 6-1 7-6 to setup last 8 meeting with PCB.
Zverev beat Mannarino 7-6 6-7 6-4 will face the winner off Rublev vs Wawrinka.

Wawrinka rolls back the years to beat in the form Rublev 1-6 6-4 6-3. Mouthwatering contest with Zverev tomorrow

Daniil Medvedev breezed past Diego Schwartzman 6-3 6-1, the Russian didn’t face a single BP on his serve.

Carreño playing great. This set is not like the one Nadal lost against Feliciano. That was one bad serve game and the set gone. This time Carreño has showed to be the better player of the set

lets see if Nadal can raise his level or carreño drops it, if one of these doesnt occur, its game over for Nadal

Nadal overcame PCB 4-6 7-5 6-1
Raonic beat home hope Humbert 6-3 3-6 7-6, Humbert will be gutted as he blew 5-1 lead in deciding TB.

Zverev beats Wawrinka 6-3 7-6.

Semi finals
Raonic vs Medvedev
Nadal vs Zverev

Medvedev beats Raonic 6-4 7-6 to reach Bercy final

Rafa looked down and out against Zverev at a set and 4-2 down but he's got it back on serve now.

Rafa goes out - beaten 6-4, 7-5 by Zverev. If this was Trump, he'd query that scoreline and claim he'd won.

Don't know what happened to this site this morning but it was down.

Anyway, back to the tennis and Medvedev has come from a set down to lead 3-0 in the final set in the final in Paris.

LATER: Medvedev takes the title. It was a 6-1 final set. Good finish to the year (with WTF to come) for the Russian whose form had been a bit patchy of late.

Excellent performance by Medvedev to fight back from a set down. In the mental capacity stakes Medvedev is streets ahead off Zverev.

Here is the draw for the WTF at the 02.

GROUP 1
Novak Djokovic
Daniil Medvedev
Alexander Zverev
Diego Schwartzman

GROUP 2
Rafael Nadal
Dominic Thiem
Stefanos Tsitsipas
Andrey Rublev

I would say that Rafa has the harder group, although Medvedev's recent revival means that Djoko still has work to do in his group.

This is, of course, the only thing that Rafa has not won in the sport and this is probably his best chance.

Lets see.... I think Nadal prefers Thiem and Tsitsipas better than Medvedev or Zverev in these courts

Thiem draws first blood, beating Tsitisi in three. The Greek led in the first set tiebreak and should have won it.

He then broke at 1-1 in the second - a break that decided the set. Thiem was very solid on serve in the third, broke early and then held on to the break during a tense fifth game before eventually winning 6-3.

Court looks quite fast which may not suit Rafa.

funny in other forum it was said court was dead slow

anyway, good start from Nadal. It was a big step for Rublev being his first time and all

Yes, good win for Rafa who I thought might have some trouble with Rublev.

Thiem reckoned the court was fast and both he and Tsitsipas were often winning easy points with big serves.

It was also good to see both of them coming up to the net quite a bit.

Thiem and Tsitsipas match was very nice to watch

Haven't seen this afternoon's match, but it looks like Djoko made short work of Schwartzman.

It's a while since Djoko won this year-end championship and already you could make a case for the Serb and Rafa battling it out in the final.

He started shaky but its clear that he is in form

Daniil Medvedev beat Sascha Zverev 6-3 6-4, the Russian starting to make inroads in their H2H - Zverev leads 5-3 but Medvedev has won the last two.

Rafa v Thiem about to start. I always think you've got a chance against Rafa on an indoor court, although Thiem will have to play well to win.

In any event, it should be a good match.

5-5 in the first set and not a BP in sight. Some nice rallies and not much in it so far.

Thiem takes first set 7-6 (9-7) after weird, error-strewn tiebreak where practically every point went against serve.

HUge match from Thiem

Rafa saved three MPs in a row at 4-5 in the second set but went down in the ensuing tiebreak (7-4).

There were a couple of excellent BH winners from Thiem in that second set breaker, but Rafa, serving at 5-2 up in the first set tiebreak, really should have wrapped up that first set.

Rafa can, of course, still qualify for the semis but may, now, have to play Djoko before the final. This was an excellent win for Thiem who has, commendably, chalked up six wins against Rafa.

Defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas beats Andrey Rublev 6-1 4-6 7-6 in a good old battle. The Russian will be gutted as he has match point at 6-5 in the breaker.

Nadal vs Tsitsipas effectively a quarter final. Rublev eliminated.

Bet Thiem was pleased when Rublev failed to get that MP. He not only goes thru to the semis but, according to the ATP website, also tops the group.

At least this group won't have to rely on maths to decide who advances. Always a bit weird to think that some years you can qualify with just the one win and in other years you can be eliminated with two wins.

Pity that London is getting a crowdless send-off. Ironically, we've so far had much better singles than in some years (players less tired after truncated season?).

Nadal should also be happy with Tstsipas winnning, cos this way if he wins he is in semis

but had Rublev won, Nadal could have been eliminated even beating the greek (in some kind of coincidence, but it could happen)

The permutations in some of these year-end championships can be endless some years.

I recall in the women's tour finals a while back, there needed to be an extraordinary sequence of results to enable two of the players to progress from the group stages.

Sure enough all the results happened and the two women advanced having only won one match each. Then, amazingly, these two ended up contesting the final. Strange, or what?

Zverev keeps his hopes alive with a three-set win over Schwartzman. Not a great match, with the Argentine being one of those players who doesn't have a big game but fights like mad and just won't go away.

Z was a set and 3-1 up and should really have won in straight sets. If Djoko wins all three of his matches and Schwartzman beats Medvedev then someone can still go through with a single win (I think).

Medvedev takes first set against Djokovic 6-3. One of the rare occasions where the Serb failed to create single BP opportunity on an indoor HC.

Medvedev brushes Djokovic aside 6-3 6-3, a trashing in all fairness. Not often you see Djokovic totally outclassed on an indoor HC. Medvedev when he serves 70%+ on his first serve he’s a monster.
Medvedev is trough, Schwartzman is is eliminated.
Djokovic vs Zverev quarterfinal.

almost identical situations in both groups

both Nadal and Novak cruised in their first match but lost in straights in the second
Both Medvedev and Thiem are now group winners
Both newcomers, rublev and diego are still at 0 wins, and well could end 3-0

Seconds of each group will come from death encounters between Nadal and Tsitsipas and Novak with Zverev

Well I certainly didn't see a Medvedev straight sets win coming. Was this a cunning plan by Djoko to avoid playing Rafa in the semis?

sirfredperry wrote:Well I certainly didn't see a Medvedev straight sets win coming. Was this a cunning plan by Djoko to avoid playing Rafa in the semis?

Medvedev is a streaky player at this stage of his career. When he’s on he’s like a machine.

Is it just me or does Djokovic look really disinterested in recent matches. Even on Monday when winning he looked kind of passive. Didn’t see today but losing in straight sets to Medvedev is pretty woeful. Losing to that unknown guy in Vienna too. I think with the record year end ranking wrapped up he is just making up the numbers.

I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he heads home in group stage. These tournaments with no crowds really are grim

Djoko's record in the second of the round-robin matches in the WTF ain't that great. It's invariably a match he can afford to lose yet still progress.

Let's hope there's something of a crowd when the finals are staged in Italy this time next year.

Andrey Rublev gets a consolation win over Dominic Thiem 6-2 7-5. Ends a fantastic season for the Russian.

And this is why it was better for Nadal that Rublev lost the other day with tsitsipas

I dont know if a result like this could have been fatal in case of even winning today, lets say in 3 sets

Difficult for Thiem to get motivated today. He was guaranteed top spot in his group. Rublev at least gets the 200pts at stake.

Precisely for this, had Rublev beat Tsitsipas Nadal would have been in big problem, now as difficult it may be, its still on his raquet

Rafael Nadal beats Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4 4-6 6-2, Nadal will face big serving Russian Daniil Medvedev in the semi finals. Defending champion Tsitsipas is eliminated.

From the stats it looks as if Rafa served very well last night. He somehow managed to lose the second set after dropping only five points on serve.

Despite Rafa's loss to Thiem, I still think the Spaniard has his best-ever chance of winning this year-end thing.

I'm expecting Djoko to follow Rafa into the semis today.

I think Djokovic will lose today

naxroy wrote:I think Djokovic will lose today

Djoko has defied the prediction by coming through 6-3, 7-6, although Zverev, mixing DFs with aces, made a good fist of it in the second set and might have taken it to a third.

Saw all of the second set and thought that Djoko was not quite at his best but still fairly solid.

Novak proved me wrong. Great semifinals ahead!

Yes, the semis are what many would have predicted, only with different winners of the groups.

Expect Medvedev might want a quick match tonight as those who play Monday, Wednesday and Friday in this tournament are at a disadvantage come the semis.

Novaks form looks very patchy. Finding it hard to see him beating Thiem.

Normally you would say it looks like a Nadal vs Djokovic final but I wouldnt be at all surprised if it's a Thiem Vs Medvedev Final. Nadal should beat Medvedev, he has never lost to him but this court gives Medvedev a much better chance. We know how much Nadal has struggled on this surface and at this tournament.