Saturday, October 17, 2015

2015 SHANGHAI: In SFs Tsonga Beats Nadal, Djokovic Beats Murray


Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had not faced Rafael Nadal in more than two years and despite losing a bagel second set, the Frenchman was able to emerge victorious in the semifinals of the 2015 ATP Shanghai Masters 1000 tournament, winning 6-4 0-6 7-5. This result improved his head to head with Nadal to 4-8. Nadal is playing better than he has for most of 2015, having dismissed 2015 French Open champion Stan Wawrinka in straight sets the round before, so this was an impressive win by the Frenchman.

In a reprise of the 2015 Australian Open final, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic faced off in the other semifinal and as has happened in 9 of their last 10 meetings, the Serb came up the winner. This was revenge for Murray's surprising win in the Montreal Masters final this summer. Djokovic now has 20-10 edge over his British rival. The World #1 is having one of the all-time great seasons, having been in all four major finals, winning three of them, and he has actually made the final of thirteen consecutive tournaments he has played this year (he lost in the quarterfinals of the first tournament he played in to Ivo Karlovic), winning 8 titles so far and having only lost 5 times all year. His four other 2015 losses were to Roger Federer (Dubai Duty Free final, Cincinnati Masters final), Stan Wawrinka (Roland Garros final) and Andy Murray (Montreal final).  Can Tsonga join this list?

The Frenchman has a 6-13 record against Djokovic. Djokovic is playing for his 25th Masters shield and 3rd title in Shanghai. Tsonga has only won two Masters titles, both times in French speaking cities.

MadProfessah's pick: Djokovic.

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