TENNIS TUESDAYY: Medevedev Beats Djokovic, Goffin to Win First Masters Shield; Keys Wins Biggest Title

Daniil Medvedev is the hottest player in tour this summer. He made his third consecutive final in a row in the U.S. Open series (l. Nick Kyrgios in Washington, DC; l. Rafael Nadal in Montreal). He won the Cincinnati Masters title by defeating David Goffin 7-6(3) 6-4. The 6-foot-6 Russian next generation player has the most wins on tour this year (44!) and jumped from #8 to #5 in the rankings, surpassing his countryman Karen Khachanov at #9. Medvedev beat World #1 Novak Djokovic for the second time this year, coming back from a set down to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the Cincy semifinals.

Madison Keys won her biggest title of her career by beating a resurgent Sveta Kuzetsova 7-5 7-6(5) in Cincinnati. Keys victory will power her back into the Top 10 for the first time since June 2018. Kuznetsova prevented Ash Barty from resuming the World #1 ranking by beating her in the Cincy semifinals, so defending champions Naomi Osaka will be ranked #1 at the 2019 US Open when it starts next Monday. Kuznetsovam returning from injury was languishing in the low 100s and was unable to defend her 2018 Citi Open title due to visa issues. Her finals appearance will get her direct entry into the 2019 US Open with a ranking of #62.

2018 CINCY: Djokovic Beats Federer To Complete Masters Set, Bertens Saves MP To Beat Halep

Novak Djokovic won his first ATP Cincinnati Masters title in his 6th final, beating Roger Federer 6-4 6-4 on Sunday. It means that the 13-time major champion has now won all of the biggest tournaments in tennis (all 4 majors, the World Tour final and all 9 ATP Masters shields) at least once, something Rafael Nadal and Federer have not done. The fact that the 2018 Wimbledon champion won this important US Open series event means that Djokovic is one of the favorites for the 2018 US Open, which starts on Monday August 27. Also, with Djokovic's return to firm and his head-to-head leads (27-25 versus Nadal, 24-22 versus Federer and 25-11 versus Andy Murray) against all his rivals in the Big Four is rekindling the G.O.A.T discussion. Djokovic is back to World #6.

On the women's side Simona Halep was playing for history as well on Sunday, trying to become the first woman to pull off the Canada-Cincinnati double. However, despite having a match point against Kiki Bertens, the World #1 lost 2-6 7-6(6) 6-2. She is still the #1 seed for the upcoming US Open, while Bertens reached her career high ranking of World #13 after the biggest win of her career.

Sadly, I went 0-for-2 in my predictions of the Cincinnati men's and women's finals. Hopefully I have a return to form at the US Open!

2018 CINCY: Finals are Halep-Bertens, Federer-Djokovic XLVI

The finals of the 2018 Western and Southern Financial Open in Cincinnati are set. The ATP Masters  tournament has two players remaining: 2018 Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic and 2018 Australian Open champion Roger Federer. This is an epic showdown that is occurring for the 46th time in their careers (with Djokovic leading their head-to-head 23-22) and for the fourth time in the Cincy final. Federer won the three previous meetings which have occurred like clockwork every 3 years since 2009. Djokovic has won all of the other 8 ATP Masters tournaments and would become the first man to win all 9 ATP Masters shields in his career (Miami, Indian Wells, Monte Carlo, Madrid, Rome, Canada, Cincinnati, Paris, Shanghai). Both Nadal and Federer have only won 7 of the 9. Nadal is 0-5 in Miami finals and Djokovic is 0-5 at Cincinnati finals. Nadal has the record for the most ATP Masters shields with 33 (Djokovic has 32), and won one last week when he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in the finals of Canada's Rogers Cup in Toronto.

On the women's side, Simona Halep is facing Kiki Bertens in the Cincy Open final, one week after she outlasted Sloane Stephens in a thrilling 3-set reprise of the 2018 French Open final. If Halep wins today, then the 2018 French Open champion would become the first woman to win the Canada/Cincinnati double. She is currently on a 9 match winning streak. Bertens is having a remarkable 2018, having already beaten 9 Top 10 players, including Venus Williams at Wimbledon and Petra Kvitova yesterday in Cincinnati and last week in Montreal, Canada. The Dutch player had been known as a "clay court specialist" but has been having remarkable results on grass and hard courts this year.

MADPROFESSAH'S PREDICTIONS

Federer d. Djokovic.
Halep d. Bertens.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Rafa Returns to #1; Dimitrov and Zverev Win 1st Masters Titles; Halep Misses #1 Again

NADAL REGAINS ATP #1 RANKING
Thanks to Roger Federer's withdrawal from Cincinnati after injuring himself in the final of Montreal Masters against Sascha Zverev, and the absence of Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic from the tour for the entire hard-court season to date has resulted in Rafael Nadal ascending to the top of the ATP rankings for the 4th time in his career.

#NEXTGEN MASTERS: DIMITROV WINS CINCINNATI, ZVEREV WINS MONTREAL
Grigor Dimitrov wins the Cincinnati Masters by defeating Nick Kyrgios in straight sets. Sascha Zverev won his 2nd Masters title of the year by defeating Roger Federer at the Montreal Masters.

HALEP MISSES (ANOTHER) CHANCE TO REACH WORLD #1
Simona Halep faced off against Garbine Muguruza in the Cincinnati tournament with the #1 WTA ranking on the line. This is the second time this summer Halep has been one match win away from the top spot (previously if she had won the French Open final she would have reached the #1 ranking). This time she did not come close to achieving the result, managing to win only one game against Muguruza. Karolina Pliskova continues her reign at the top for the time being.

AZARENKA OUT OF US OPEN DUE TO CUSTODY BATTLE WITH BABY DADDY
Somehow I missed the announcement that new mother Victoria Azarenka had split with Billy McTeague the father of her son, Leo, a few weeks after Wimbledon. But now the issue is front and center because the custody fight over their son is causing Azarenka to withdraw from the 2017 U.S. Open. McTeague is refusing to give permission for Azarenka to leave the state with their son, even though Azarenka said she would pay for McTeague to stay in a New York City hotel to continue joint custody while she competes in this year's tournament. That was deemed unacceptable by her ex, so forcing the tennis star to choose between her son and playing the last major of the year resulted in the withdrawal.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Cilic Wins Cincy; Serena Will Tie Graf's #1 Record; Stevie Is A Top; #Santina Splits

MARIN CILIC WINS FIRST MASTERS SHIELD BY BEATING ANDY MURRAY IN CINCINNATI
2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic became only the fifth player since 2010 other than the Big Four (Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal) to win an ATP Masters shield event by beating Murray 7-5 6-4. The other four are Robin Soderling (Paris 2010),  David Ferrer (Paris 2012), Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (Toronto 2014), Stan Wawrinka (Monte-Carlo 2014). Murray was hoping to continue his 22-match winning streak after triumphing at the 2016 Wimbledon championships and 2016  Rio Olympics this summer. Not only was this Cilic's first Masters 1000 win, it was the first time he had even reached the semifinal of a masters in 8 previous tries.

SERENA WILLIAMS WILL TIE STEFFI GRAF'S RECORD OF 186 CONSECUTIVE WEEKS AT #1 BUT FOUR PLAYERS WILL VIE FOR #1 IN NEW YORK
By Angelique Kerber losing in straight sets to Karolina Pliskova in the Cincinnati Final, World #1 Serena Williams will remain at #1 for three more weeks and tie Steffi Graf's record of 186 consecutive weeks at #1. However, to break the record Serena will probably need to win the 2016 US Open (which would also simultaneously surpass Graf's major singles title haul of 22) because she is defending semifinal points from the 2015 US Open and none of her rivals: Garbine Muguruza, Agnieska Radwanska or Kerber have very many points to defend. Theoretically any of these four could conceivably be #1 on Monday September 12th. The most exciting scenario would have Serena and Kerber facing off for the #1 ranking in the final.

STEVIE JOHNSON IS THE NEW #1 AMERICAN MALE PLAYER
Fresh off of winning the Men's Doubles Bronze medal with partner Jack Sock (who also won the Mixed Doubles Gold with Bethanie Mattek-Sands) Stevie Johnson is now the highest ranked male American player by reaching the #21 spot on the ATP rankings while John Isner (who had been the top-ranked American since July 2013) fell to #22 with Sock at #28 and Giant-Killer Sam Querrey at #31.  This also means that there i no American male in the Top 20 of the ATP World rankings while on the women's side there are three American women in the Top 10: Serena (#1), Venus Williams (#6), Madison Keys (#9).

MARTINA HINGIS AND SANIA MIRZA SPLIT UP, FACED EACH OTHER IN CINCY
During the Rio Olympics it was confirmed that despite winning 3 grand slam titles, the 2015 Year-end championships and a 41-match winning streak in the last 18 month, the doubles team of Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza have decided to split up. (They have agreed to play the 2016 year-end championships together, having already qualified!) Awkwardly, the two former partners faced each other in the very first tournament after the Olympics in the Cincinnati finals, and the team of Mirza and Coco Vandeweghe defeated Hingis with Barbora Strycova.

US OPEN SEEDS REVEALED: WILLIAMS, DJOKOVIC SEEDED #1 
The seeds for the U.S. OPEN have been revealed, and the only notable absences are 2015 Champion Flavia Pennetta who retired soon afterwards, Victoria Azarenka who is pregnant. On the men's side Roger Federer (is missing the rest of 2016 with injury) and Tomas Berdych has appendicitis.

2015 CINCY: Federer Claims 87th ATP Title; 7th Here; Reclaims World #2 Ranking

As I predicted yesterday, Roger Federer defeated Novak Djokovic to win the 2015 Cincinnati Masters. Federer won his 87th career ATP title, 7th in Cincinnati and 24th ATP Masters title of his career. Federer won 7-6(1) 6-3, never getting his serve broken for the entire tournament.

2015 CINCY: Federer-Djokovic XLI in the Men's Final Tomorrow

For the fifth time in 2015 Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer are meeting on the ATP Tour, this time in the finals of the ATP Cincinnati Masters, a tournament where Federer is the 6-time (and current) champion and Djokovic has never been ultimately victorious despite reaching four finals.
The two have met 40 times overall and are tied at 20 wins apiece but this year Djokovic has won the last three times the two have played, all of which were in the finals of important tournaments: ATP Indian Wells Masters, ATP Rome Masters and the Wimbledon Men's Championships.

In the semifinals Federer beat Andy Murray in straight sets 6-4 7-6(6)  after Djokovic outlasted Aleksandr Dolgopolov 4-6 7-6(5) 6-2. In the final tomorrow Federer has a good chance to get revenge for his losses to Djokovic earlier in the year. He is 6-0 in Cincinnati finals while Djokovic is 0-4. Last week, Djokovic lost the final of the ATP Canadian Masters to Andy Murray after beat him 8 consecutive times, so despite the fact he has had Federer's number recently does not necessarily mean the World #1 will be successful.

MadProfessah's prediction: Federer.

2014 CINCINNATI: Federer Defeats Ferrer To Win 80th ATP Title

Roger Federer won his 80th ATP career title by defeating David Ferrer 6-3 1-6 6-2 in the finals of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. This match was the first ATP Masters series final to feature two players above the age of 30. It was Federer's 22nd ATP Masters shield, placing him five behind Rafael Nadal's record total at 27 and 3 ahead of Novak Djokovic's 19. It was Federer's first win at this level since his 2012 win (in Cincinnati over Djokovic) and stopped a streak of four losses in a row in ATP masters series finals (l. Tsonga in Toronto 2014, l. Wawrinka in Monte Carlo 2014, l. Djokovic in Indian Wells 2014 and l. Nadal in Rome 2013).

Federer has now won in Cincinnati six times: 2014, 2012, 2010, 2009, 2007 and 2005. His career total of 80 is 3rd on the all-time list. Only Jimmy Connors (109) and Ivan Lendl (97) have won more. Federer is now 80-41 in career finals and 3-4 in finals this year. He has the most wins on tour of any active player: 49 and beat three top 10 players on his way to the title: Milos Raonic, David Ferrer and Andy Murray.

Roger Federer Releases 2014 ATP Tour Schedule

Roger Federer has released his 2014 schedule. Hopefully I will be able to see Roger in person (up close!) sometime in 2014 like I was able to do in 2013. I am thinking of perhaps visiting the Cincinnati and/or Toronto tournaments. I will almost certainly be at the Indian Wells tournament again in 2014.

Brisbane	30. December 2013 - 05. January 2014
Australian Open	13. - 26. January
Dubai	24. February - 02. March
Indian Wells	03. - 16. March
Miami	17. - 30. March
Madrid	05. - 11. May
Rome	12. - 18. May
Roland Garros	26. May - 08. June
Halle	09. - 15. June
Wimbledon	23. June - 06. July
Toronto	04. - 10. August
Cincinnati	11. - 17. August
US Open	25. August - 07. September
Shanghai	06. - 12. October
Basel	18. - 26. October
Paris	27. October - 02. November

Hat/tip to Sports Illustrated 

2013 US OPEN: Men's Semifinals Preview

Last  year I correctly predicted 2 of 2 women's quarterfinals and correctly predicted 2 of 2 men's quarterfinals. This year I also have correctly predicted 4 or 4 women's quarterfinals, 2 of 4 men's quarterfinals and 2 of 2 women's semifinals. Below are my predictions for the men's quarterfinals at the 2013 US Open.

Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] vs Andy Murray (GBR) [3] Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) [9]. Although this is not the reprise of last year's men's final that everyone was expecting when the draw came out and defending champion Andy Murray was placed in World #1's Novak Djokovic's half of the draw, it could still be a barn burner. Wawrinka is playing the best tennis of his career and has won two consecutive matches against Top 5 players for the first time. He is certain to be ensconced in the Top 10 himself for a significant amount of time just by his performance to date in the last slam of the year. It was his performance in the first slam of the year which made people see the #2 player from Switzerland in a new light, and may have given Wawrinka the jolt he needed to raise his game to the next level where he finds it now. In the 4th round of the Australian Open he played what is widely regarded as one of the best matches of the year against eventual champion (Djokovic), only succumbing 12-10 in the 5th (there's no tiebreak in the deciding set in Melbourne). So even though he has pitiful 2-12 head-to-head record against the World #1, in Stan's mind most of those matches were played against a different player, and in this U.S. Open there have been numerous surprising and unexpected results (Lleyton Hewitt's win over Juan Martin del Potro, Mikhail Youzhny's resurrection against Lleyton Hewitt, Richard Gasquet finally beating his nemesis David Ferrer and Tommy Robredo's straight set dismissal of Roger Federer after losing 10 times in a row comes to mind!). So it is possible, but not very probable, that Wawrinka could win this match and reach his first final of the year. However, standing in his way is Djokovic who is trying his best to salvage his year by reaching his 3rd major final of 2013 to give him a chance to win his 2nd US Open and 4th consecutive US Open final. He knows he should have defeated Nadal at Roland Garros, and if he gets the opportunity to play Nadal in New York, he will not falter. Mad Professah's pick: Djokovic.

Richard Gasquet (FRA) [8] vs Rafael Nadal (ESP) [2].   Richard Gasquet surprised most people (including himself, I bet) by beating David Ferrer in the quarterfinal to reach the second major semifinal of his career. He has never beaten Nadal in 10 meetings (4 of those on hard courts) and is probably reasonably pleased with what he has achieved so far in the tournament. Plus, Nadal is undefeated on hard courts in 2013, having won 20 consecutive matches (and 3 ATP hard court Masters Series tournaments: Indian Wells, Montreal and Cincinnati). After his ignominous exit and extended absence from the game for more than half of 2012 the Spaniard has returned with a vigor and energy that is demolishing his opponents. He has a better than even chance of winning his 2nd US Open title as well. Mad Professah's pick: Nadal.

Tennis Tuesday: Rafael Nadal Favorite For 2013 US Open!?

Rafael Nadal won the 2013 Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati on Sunday by defeating John Isner 7-6(8) 7-6(3), extending his hard court winning streak to 15-0 and establishing his status as the favorite to win the 2013 US Open which starts next Monday. Nadal has now won an astonishing five ATP Masters series tournaments this year (Indian Wells, Rome, Madrid, Montreal and Cincinnati.)

Nadal defeated Roger Federer in one of the better hard court tussles in the 31st match in their rivalry on Friday evening 5-7 6-4 6-3. In his run on hard courts this year he has beaten World #1 Novak Djokovic, Federer (twice!), Juan Martin del Potro (in the Indian Wells final) and Tomas Berdych (twice: Indian Wells semifinal and Cincinnati semifinal) but surprisingly, he has not had to face 2012 US Open champion Andy Murray. Murray is the winner of the one ATP Masters Series 1000 that Nadal did not play (and therefor did not win) and has to be considered the second favorite to win the last major tournament of the year.

Murray and Nadal have not played each other since 2011 so it will be very interesting to see this year's draw and where they could potentially meet. With his amazing 50-3 record for the year Nadal has now risen to World #2 and will almost certainly become the year end #1 and would grab the top spot  from Djokovic if he does significantly better in the US Open than last year's finalist. With Murray seeded at #3 the two could only either meet in the semifinal or final. Nadal has beaten Murray in the semifinals of majors four times (including three times in 2011!) but the one time Murray won was in the semifinals of the US Open (way back in 2008) and although Nadal leads their overall head-to-head 13-5, all five of Murray's wins over Nadal have come on hard courts.

There is no question that Nadal is the most successful hard court player of the year so far. He has won the US Open series and is eligible for a $1 million bonus prize if he wins the 2013 US Open. The only player who has done that since the US Open series has been in existence is Federer (in 2007). Additionally, Nadal has achieved the rare double ATP Canadian Masters-ATP Cincinnati Masters. The last person who did that (Andy Roddick in 2003) went on to win the Open, and every one who has done so has reached the final of the US hard court major (Andre Agassi and Patrick Rafter), so history is also on Nadal's side as the favorite to win his 2nd US Open title this year.

2013 CINCY1/4-FINAL: Federer-Nadal XXXI, Djokovic-Isner, Berdych-Murray

 

Exciting times at the last big tennis tournament before the final Grand Slam of the year starts on August 26th in New York City. At the 2013 Western & Southern Financial Open in Cincinnati the quarterfinals are set and they feature the world's top 4 players and five major champions! These clashes are led by meeting number 31 between 17-time major champion Roger Federer and 12-time major champion Rafael Nadal. Nadal famously leads their head-to-head 20-10, including two relatively easy wins at two ATP Masters 1000 tournaments this year (the Rome final and the Indian Wells quarterfinals).

Nadal is currently having some of the best results of his career, and is at 50-3 for the year, having reached 10 finals so far and won 8 of them, including last week in Montreal. In fact, Nadal is 13-0 on hard courts which is usually his least successful surface. Unfortunately, Federer is having one of his worst years on tour having won only one title and has a relatively pedestrian 32-10 win-loss record for the year. Unless Federer has an incredibly serving day I don't see how he wins this match with his arch-nemesis who knows he has a winning game plan; it is simply a bad match-up of playing styles. However, at least on hard courts Federer has a chance of winning, since they have split their previous dozen hard court meetings 6-all. However, Nadal is undefeated on hard courts for the year and last week outplayed World #1 Novak Djokovic to win a final set tiebreaker in the Rogers Cup semifinals. MadProfessah's prediction: Nadal in 2 sets.

The other quarterfinals feature other marquee showdowns, such as Djokovic versus 6'10" John Isner. Isner has played every single week of the US Open Series summer hardcourt season and has been getting good results. However, Djokovic has reached the final of the Cincinnati ATP Masters four of the last five years (losing every time) and would really like to set up another clash with the winner of the Federer-Nadal match to keep his quest to win every single ATP Masters shield alive. MadProfessah's prediction: Djokovic in 3 sets.

Andy Murray is playing in his second tournament after winning Wimbledon earlier this summer and faces Tomas Berdych, an excellent hard court player who also happens to be the only resident of the ATP Top 10 not to have won a title in 2013. Berdych leads his head-to-head with Murray 5 to 4 and has 39 wins on the year. I think the tall Czech wants this one a bit more than the Brit. MadProfessah's prediction: Berdych in 3 sets.

The last quarterfinal is between Juan Martin del Potro and Dmitry Tursunov. Tursunov took out David Ferrer the round before and is playing in his first quarterfinal at an ATP Masters 1000 tournament while del Potro is a grand slam champion who won a hard court tournament just two weeks ago. MadProfessah's prediction: del Potro in 2 sets.

CINCY 2013: Sloane Stephens(17) Beats Sharapova(3)

Sloane Stephens came back from a set down to earn her first win against 4-time major champion Maria Sharapova 2-6 7-6(5) 6-3 in the 2nd round of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati on Tuesday. It was the young American's second Top 5 win of the year (and of her career). Thanks to excellent results in the majors, the 20-year-old American is now ranked 17 in the world and is expected to enter the Top 10 by the end of the year.

It was Sharapova's first match with living legend Jimmy Connors as her coach and her first match since losing in the 2nd round of Wimbledon on Wacky Wednesday when 7 former #1's were bounced from the tournament on the same day. Sharapova made many more errors than winners, finishing with 62 unforced errors to just 16 winners. It was Stephens first win in 4 meetings with Sharapova.

On the men's side of the tournament Roger Federer won his first match as a 32 year old, defeating Philip Kohlschreiber in a surprisingly close 6-3 7-6(7). Federer has returned to his regularly sized racquet after trying out a larger head size in two summer clay court tournaments where he lost to two unheralded players in Gstaad and Hamburg. He had lost to three players outside the top 50 in a row and has fallen to #5 in the ATP rankings. However, he is the defending champion at the ATP Cincinnati Masters and hopes to gain enough confidence here to do well in New York at the US Open in two weeks.

Federer Beats Youzhny for 6th HalleTitle

Roger Federer won his 6th title in Halle, Germany by defeating Mikhail Youzhny for the 15th time 6-7(5) 6-3 6-4. It was Federer's first title of 2013, his first since winning the 2012 Cincinnati Masters over Novak Djokovic last August. It was the Swiss great's 77th ATP tour title and 904th career win. He lost his only other 2013 final appearance at the Rome Masters to Rafael Nadal in May. His career finals record is now 77-35.

It was Federer's first win in Halle since 2008, having lost in the final last year to Tommy Haas (who he beat this year in the semifinals) and to Lleyton Hewitt in 2010. He did not play in 2009 and 2011, despite having a lifetime contract to appear at the "German Wimbledon."

Federer is aiming for his 8th Wimbledon title (and is the 2012 defending champion), just one month after Nadal won his record 8th Roland Garros title.