Kiwi Does Shanghai

And so the first player to the semi-finals is Novak Djokovic. You can imagine how thrilled I am about that one. Overjoyed. I'm sure my ecstasy is transcending the bounds of the screen, so overwhelming is it.

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That was sarcastic, in case no one picked up on it.

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Yes, Djokovic is through after beating Kolya Davydenko, who will fight it out with Juan Martin del Potro for the final berth in the Gold Group. What a disappointing showing from Jo-Wilfried Tsonga - I felt sure he was going to step it up and go through. Oh well. He still has to play Djokovic in the final round robin match, and Djokovic has been Jo-Dub's bunny of late, so hopefully he can smash him like a guitar. Again. Just because it would be funny, and something needs to go right at these year-end championships, damn it!

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I think I'm picking del Potro over Davydenko. He's just been in better form, and even though Kolya seems to have screwed his head on to a degree after his reprehensible spat earlier this year, he's just - and always has been - a terribly uninspiring tennis player. Then tomorrow I'm going with Roger over Roddick (hopefully without the match-points that Roddick had last year which could have turned into a fiasco) and Murray over Simon. Murray really is the one to beat, I think - he's the form player. However, I thought Tsonga was the form player of the Gold Group, and look how that turned out.

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One thing I found really interesting about the Masters Cup - did you know Nicolas Kiefer is one of the alternates? Apparently none of the twenty-five or so players ranked above him wanted to schlep to China, so he got the call up. I found this very bizarre. Look at Doha last week - you had the #9 and #10 players in the race (if you discount the injured Maria Sharapova) more than willing to go. Radwanska and Petrova both got a match too. I can understand not wanting to go all the way to China if you're not going to play, but seriously... when you have to go to the twenty-sixth player on your list, that's a bit dodgy. Why is it so different for the blokes?

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I bet Kiwi will be a very happy guy if someone pulls out... I can just picture him dancing about saying, 'I told you so!'

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Today's Results

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Tennis Masters Cup (Shanghai)

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Gold Group

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Novak Djokovic def. Nikolay Davydenko, 7-6 (7-3) 0-6 7-5

Juan Martin del Potro def. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-5)