STARS
Andy Murray beat David Ferrer 7-5 6-4 to win the Shanghai Rolex Masters in Shanghai, China
Marion Bartoli beat Samantha Stosur 6-3 6-1 to win the HP Japan Women’s Open in Osaka, Japan
Petra Kvitova beat Dominika Cibulkova 6-4 6-1 to win the Generali Ladies Linz in Linz, Austria
Ivo Karlovic beat Sam Querrey 6-7 (2) 6-1 6-4 to win the First Republic Bank Tiburon Challenger in Tiburon, California, USA
SAYING
“If you finish in front of (Roger) Federer in a year, then there’s not many people in the last five, six, seven years that have been able to say that.” – Andy Murray, after winning the title in Shanghai and surpassing Federer in the rankings.
“I was fighting for every point this week.” – Petra Kvitova, who won in Linz, Austria, her first title since capturing Wimbledon.
“I played against Sam (Stosur) then Petra (Kvitova) in the same day to win Eastbourne – maybe I should play two matches in one day every time. They are long days but it’s very much mental. We are all very good athletes and practice so much, I don’t think it’s a matter of fitness or stamina. It’s how much you have left mentally.” – Marion Bartoli, who played two matches on the final day to win in Osaka, Japan.
“I don’t feel like I’m that far away. I just have to play better. There’s nothing else to say. I can win against Rafa. I can win against Novak. I just have to play better against them in the five-setters.” – Andy Murray, noting his record against Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
“Today is a disappointing day. I felt that I did everything right. … So that’s sport. He did better than me. I am out. He is going to play tomorrow. That’s all.” – Rafael Nadal, following his loss to Florian Mayer in Shanghai.
“Today I felt I lost an opportunity to have a fantastic tournament here, and that’s the negative part.” – Rafael Nadal, after losing to Florian Mayer.
“I was really happy with the way I stayed focused. It’s hard to explain. It’s almost you’d think the more matches you win, the less pressure you feel. I was hitting the ball well, but there’s still a little bit of tension because you want to try and keep the run going.” – Andy Murray.
“Of course I’m disappointed because I lost. But today I had a good opponent. He was really good. Even if maybe I didn’t play with a lot of energy, I played good tennis. And today my opponent was just better than me.” – Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, after being upset by Japan’s Kei Nishikori in Shanghai.
SHANGHAI MASTER
By winning the Shanghai Rolex Masters for the second straight year, Andy Murray captured his third straight tournament title and vaulted into third place in the ATP rankings, overtaking Roger Federer. Murray’s latest victory was over David Ferrer 7-5 6-4. It capped his three-tournament Asian swing where he won in Bangkok and Tokyo before heading to China. He also has won 25 of 26 matches since mid-August, his only loss coming to Nadal in the semifinals of the US Open. Murray was ranked second in the world briefly in 2009, but has never finished the year higher than number four. Federer, who lost the Shanghai final to Murray last year, decided to skip this year’s tournament, losing valuable points in the rankings race. The 30-year-old Federer will finish 2011 without a Grand Slam tournament title, the first that’s happened since 2002. “I’m still not guaranteed to finish at number three,” Murray said. “I’m still going to have to win some more matches.”
SECOND WIN THE KEY
Marion Bartoli of France won two matches Sunday, the second one giving her the HP Japan Open Tennis title. Because of rain, tournament organizers were forced to hold both the semifinals and final on the same day. Bartoli began her double-duty day by eliminating Angelique Kerber of Germany 6-1 7-6 (5), then captured the crown by flattening US Open champion Samantha Stosur 6-3 6-1. The Australian reached the title match by besting 28-year-old Zheng Jie of China 7-6 (5) 3-6 6-3. The victory was Bartoli’s seventh of her career and second this year. She also had to win two matches on the final day to capture the title at Eastbourne in June. “I’m very happy with the way I played this week,” said Bartoli. “It has been a good season; I felt my level dropped in August, especially at the US Open, but now I’m back playing well again. Obviously to win a title is great. Now I have two titles this year so I’m really happy.”
STOP AT THE TOP
Novak Djokovic will wrap up 2011 as the number one-ranked player on the men’s tour. He is the 16th different player to final the year number one since the ATP Rankings began in 1973. The Serb was assured of the top spot when Rafael Nadal was eliminated in a third-round match at the Shanghai Rolex Masters. The 24-year-old Djokovic is the first Serbian man to finish number one and marks a record eighth straight year that a European is the number one player on the ATP World Tour. Europeans finished number one for a seven-year stretch from 1985 to 1991. Djokovic will be officially crowned as the year-end number one at a special trophy presentation at the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London, where he will be competing for a fifth straight year. The tournament takes place November 20-27. The Belgrade native took over the top spot in the South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings for the first time on July 4 after winning his first Wimbledon title. He began his season with a 41-match winning streak and has won a career-high 10 titles in 11 finals this year, including his second Australian Open and first US Open.
SET FOR ISTANBUL
Spain’s David Ferrer has qualified for the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals. He clinched a spot in the elite tournament by beating Juan Carlos Ferrero to reach the quarterfinals of the Shanghai Rolex Masters. “It’s very important, I am very happy,” Ferrer said about qualifying for the London tournament. “I am very glad because it is my third time in the finals. I think this season I played really good tennis. I am very consistent. Maybe it is the best year of my career.” Ferrer joins Novak Djokovic of Serbia, fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal, Switzerland’s Roger Federer and Great Britain’s Andy Murray in the eight-man singles field.
SET FOR ISTANBUL
The doubles field for the season-ending TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships has been completed. Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova grabbed the final spot for the elite four-team field. Earlier, the defending champion team of Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta secured its place in the October 25-30 event that will be held in Istanbul, Turkey. Qualifying earlier were the teams of Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond as well as Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik. King and Shvedova return to the year-end Championships for the second successive year. The same is true of Dulko and Pennetta, who beat Peschke and Srebotnik for the title last year. The year-ending tournament will also have the top eight singles players competing. So far Caroline Wozniacki, Maria Sharapova, Petra Kvitova, Victoria Azarenka, Li Na, Vera Zvonareva and Samantha Stosur are in the field.
SIXTEEN CANDLES
The old teenager anthem “Sixteen Candles” was about birthdays. It also describes Kimiko Date-Krumm’s doubles titles. The 41-year-old Japanese player teamed with China’s Zhang Shuai to win the HP Japan Open doubles, defeating Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova 7-5 3-6 11-9 (match tiebreak) in the final. It was only the second doubles title for Date-Krumm. Her first came 16 years ago when she and fellow Japanese Ai Sugiyama won the Japan Open when it was held in Tokyo. Zhang won her first WTA title of any kind.
SET TO PLAY
Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova will lead the Czech Republic when it meets Russia in the Fed Cup final in November. Joining Kvitova will be Lucie Safarova, Lucie Hradecka and Kveta Peschke as the Czech Republic is playing in its first final since 1988 when it was part of Czechoslovakia. Russia is seeking its fifth Fed Cup crown since 2004. Vera Zvonareva, who is ranked fifth in the world, will lead the Russian team as it plays at home in Moscow.
SAMPRAS, AGASSI TRADE WINS
Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi traded titles in their senior exhibition series last week. Sampras beat Agassi 8-6 Friday night to capture the HSBC Tennis Cup, his fifth victory in six Champions Series starts this season. In the semifinals, Sampras beat Jim Courier 7-6 (3) and Agassi stopped John McEnroe 6-3. The next night, playing in Las Vegas, Agassi beat Sampras 8-5 in the Cancer Treatment Centers of America Championships. In the semifinals, it was Agassi over Courier 6-3 while Sampras stopped McEnroe 6-4.
SEEKING APPEAL
Daniel Koellerer will go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) next month in his bid to appeal his lifetime ban from tennis for match-fixing. Koellerer was the first player to receive a lifetime ban for corruption after he was found guilty of three violations between October 2009 and July 2010. The 28-year-old Austrian was ranked as high as 55th in the world in October 2009. Last year, Koellerer was accused of racism by Brazil’s Julio Silva, who filed charges against the Austrian following a Challenger match in Reggio Emilia, Italy. Fellow Austrian Stefan Koubek was disqualified from an Austrian league match after he grabbed Koellerer by the throat during a changeover. “I’m man enough not to le myself be insulted, especially not by him,” Koubek said.
SYBILLE’S FAREWELL
Sybille Bammer’s career was celebrated by the Generali Ladies in Linz, Austria, and many of her fellow players. The 31-year-old Austrian left-hander retired in July after playing the Nürnberger Gastein Ladies in Bad Gastein, Austria. That ended a career that saw Bammer win two WTA titles and reach 19th in the world. Her best Grand Slam tournament showing came at the US Open in 2008 when she reached the quarterfinals. At Linz, she was joined in a mixed doubles exhibition match by former world number one Thomas Muster, former Austrian number one Barbara Schett and retired ski-jumper Andreas Goldberger. Bammer’s career was remarkable in that she played her best tennis after giving birth to a daughter. In 2007 when she won the tournament in Pattaya, she became the first mother to win a title since Laura Arraya in 1989. Other mothers who have won tournaments include Lindsay Davenport, Kim Clijsters and 1980 Wimbledon champion Evonne Goolagong Cawley. “I knew it was my last chance to try to get to be a professional player, and I tried everything to get better and better, and it worked good,” Bammer said in explaining the motivation for her ‘second career’. “It was difficult traveling with a baby but it was a very nice time because she was at every tournament with me and I could spend every day with my daughter and my boyfriend and we were all day together.” Her two greatest victories came against Serena Williams, in 2007 and 2009.
SENIOR FOR JUNIORS
Tennis great Gardnar Mulloy will be the honorary chairperson at this year’s Junior Orange Bowl International Tennis Championships kickoff reception. The 50th edition of the tournament will be held December 14-23 at various locations across Coral Gables and Miami in southern Florida, USA. Mulloy won 122 national and 27 international championships, including four US Championships (US Open) in 1942, 1945, 1946 and 1948, and a Wimbledon championship in 1957. He was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1972. Mulloy served as the first coach of the University of Miami tennis team beginning in 1935, and was a Junior Orange Bowl chair referee for the tournament in 1982. Some of the game’s most recognizable players have competed in the international junior event, including Juan Martin del Potro, Andy Murray, Caroline Wozniacki, Andy Roddick, Justine Henin, Jim Courier, Mary Joe Fernandez, Jimmy Connors and Monica Seles.
SAYS TAXES TO BLAME
Spain’s Rafael Nadal says high British taxes are the reason he will skip Queen’s Club next year and instead prepare for Wimbledon by playing in the ATP grass-court tournament in Halle, Germany. Nadal, who won the London tournament in his first appearance in 2008, said the fiscal problems are not the only reason he’s making the switch, but conceded they are a huge factor. “It is true. The UK tax regime is complicating a lot of things,” Nadal said. “If I play Queen’s, the problem is not to win, the problem is that I can lose money if I go there. If I go there for one week, they take out money from my sponsors, that’s a lot.” Despite the tax burden, Nadal said he still will play Wimbledon and next month’s season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London. “That’s a lot of weeks, a lot of tax. It’s more and more complicated to play in the UK in these moments,” he said. Under British tax legislation, individual athletes must pay a portion of tax on their worldwide endorsements, the proportion determined by how much time they compete in a year in Britain. They are also taxed around 50 percent of their appearance fee. Wimbledon officials have been lobbying for a change in the law, but so far without success.
SERENA TO PLAY
Her injuries and subsequent long layoffs between tournaments have caused Serena Williams to change her schedule. Normally she hasn’t played warm-up events before a major, but because she was out of action for almost a year, she played Eastbourne before Wimbledon this past summer. And now, having been sidelined since losing the final of the US Open to Samantha Stosur, Serena will play the Brisbane International to prepare for the Australian Open in January. “I never played been to Brisbane (but I’ve) heard great things about it,” Williams said in a statement. “It’s brand new so all that is going to be really exciting and it will help me with my seeding going into the Australian Open.” Also entered in the event are Stosur, Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic and Kim Clijsters.
SHOULDERING HOPES
Instead of Lleyton Hewitt, it will be Bernard Tomic who will shoulder Australia’s hopes for success at the pre-Australian Open exhibition event at the Kooyong Classic. Tomic will join an impressive field that includes Tomas Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Andy Roddick and Jurgen Melzer. Tournament director Colin Stubs said he is also hoping to get Australian Open runner-up Andy Murray to play in the event, but like the other three players ranked at the top of the game the Scot has yet to announce his pre-Australian Open plans.
SHOWING WIMBLEDON
A multi-year agreement means the Tennis Channel will continue to televise Wimbledon Primetime, the cable network’s nightly program showing the day’s best tennis, encore matches, original features and coverage from in and around Wimbledon Village. Ken Solomon, Tennis Channel chairman and CEO, and Ian Ritchie, chief executive of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club (AELTC) announced the extension, which runs through 2023. Beginning next year, Wimbledon Primetime will air each evening of the two-week tournament, plus Tennis Channel will also produce a 30-minute preview edition of the program that will run during the two weeks leading up to the grass-court Grand Slam tournament.
SANIA UNDERGOES KNIFE
India’s top female player, Sania Mirza, has undergone arthroscopic surgery on her left knee. Mirza’s father Imran confirmed his daughter had torn her meniscus tendon during the US Open. Now 24 years old, Mirza had arthroscopic surgery for the third time, having damaged the cruciate ligament of her right knee in 2006 and undergoing right wrist surgery to repair a torn lunate capsule in 2007. Ranked as high as 27th in the world four years ago, Mirza is currently ranked around 90th.
SHARED PERFORMANCE
Linz:
Marina Erakovic and Elena Vesnina beat Julia Goerges and Anna-Lena Groenefeld 7-5 6-1
Osaka:
Kimiko Date-Krum and Zhang Shuai beat Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova 7-5 3-6 11-9 (match tiebreak)
Shanghai:
Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor beat Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic 3-6 6-1 12-10 (match tiebreak)
Tiburon:
Carsten Ball and Chris Guccione beat Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey 6-1 5-7 10-6 (match tiebreak)
SURFING
Stockholm:
www.ifstockholmopen.se/en/default.aspx
Moscow:
www.kremlincup.ru/index-eng.html
Luxembourg:
www.bglbnpparibas-open.lu/fr/home.php
Orleans:
Seoul:
Vienna:
St. Petersburg:
Istanbul:
Poitiers:
TOURNAMENTS THIS WEEK
(All money in USD)
MEN
$1,000,000 Kremlin Cup, Moscow, Russia, hard
$713,000 If Stockholm Open, Stockholm, Sweden, hard
$143,000 Open d’Orleans, Orleans, France, hard
$100,000 Hansol Open, Seoul, Korea, hard
WOMEN
$721,000 Kremlin Cup, Moscow, Russia, hard
$220,000 BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open, Luxembourg, hard
TOURNAMENTS NEXT WEEK
MEN
$795,000 Erste Bank Open, Vienna, Austria, hard
$663,750 St. Petersburg Open, St. Petersburg, Russia, hard
WOMEN
$4,900,000 TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships, Istanbul, Turkey, hard
$100,000 Internationaux Féminins de la Vienne, Poitiers, France, hard