The engines are hot and ready for the race as Federer, Djokovic and Murray are about to have their first game in Shanghai.
Federer – Yen-Hsun
Roger has definitely the easiest task to play the world no.62 in his opener. This two have already played each other in the first round of Wimbledon in 2010 when Roger won 7-5 6-3 6-2.
Even if Yen-Hsun can put together a decent game, we do not expect Roger to struggle too much.
Djokovic – Dimitrov
Definitely the most interesting match of the day as Nole plays baby-Federer. Dimitrov is still trying to find a solid tennis. His technique is excellent (a copy and paste of Roger’s), but he has to find the right winning mentality and he still has to correct something in his shot selection (that often marks the difference between a genius and a fool… a blurred line).
This will be the first time they play each other. Nole is the hot favorite (his actual form is really impressive), but this is going to be a very interesting test for Grigor.
Murray – Mayer
Florian Mayer is always a dangerous player especially in Asia (last year he did upset Rafa 7-6(5) 6-3 in the 3rd round here in Shanghai). So the German knows that he can make it and his confidence has been boosted by his recent trash at the expenses of Berard Tomic (6-4 6-0 in 45 minutes in the 1st round!).
Andy may also have problems of concentration after his summer feat, so an upset would not be so outrageous.
Head to head is 1-0 for Murray in the quarter finals in Rome with a “teenagerish” result of 1-6 6-1 6-1.
Other matches
There also a wealth of other interesting matches such as
Seppi – Berdych —> Berdych the hot favorite
Nishikori – Querrey —> Nishikori might be the favorite, but Querrey is playing really well
Tsonga – Paire —> they may eat escargot soon after the match…Tsonga is the obvious pick
Gasquet – Stepanek —> spicy match between two very talented players where Gasquet is the favorite
Tipsarevic – Troicki —> Tipsarevic the favorite over his countryman
Baghdatis – Raonic —> Milos is ready to win it with a couple of hundred aces (per set!)
Dolgolopov – Simon —> You’ll never know what you get with the “crazy” Ukranine
Robredo – Haas —> Very interesting match between 2 veteran. Haas is the pick
