Paris – 3R

In a “battle for London”, Tomas Berdych eliminated Janko Tipsarevic 7-5, 6-4 coming back from *1:5 in the 1st and *2:4 in the 2nd set. Tipsarevic could qualify to London only by winning the tournament, anyway thanks to one win he notched in Paris, secured himself a status of an alternate in the season ending championships. In the other encounter on court No. 1, David Ferrer avenged a loss in Nice  (earlier this year) to Alexandr Dolgopolov [17] with a convincing 6-3, 6-2 victory. It’s a breakthrough season for the gifted Ukrainian, but he finished it in a disappointing style – lost 5 out of last 6 matches (all in straight sets).
Novak Djokovic  playing only at 60-70% of his abilities, rallied from a set down and beat his compatriot Viktor Troicki  in ugly style 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 to improve his H2H with Troicki to 10-1 (ten wins in a row). The 5th game (at 2 all) of the 2nd set was crucial, serving Djokovic seemed very tired, indifferent, without a fighting spirit, but won the 10-minute game which should have been won by Troicki (at one of five break points, Djokovic’s ball landed ‘out’ but wasn’t called that way by the linesman). It was a turning point, since then Djokovic’s backhand started working really well and the better Serb grabbed 10 out of last 12 games. Unfortunately Mardy Fish walked off the court in tears. The American was playing a perfect match against Juan Monaco [34] until producing a double match point in a tie-break of the 2nd set. At the first match point he made an unforced error (forehand), then read wrongly Monaco’s kick serve and played an awful return. Two more mistakes and Monaco leveled at one set a piece. In the 3rd game of the 2nd set Fish’s hamstring injury (which forced him to retire in Basel) reminded itself. Fish won quickly three straight points with strong shots, took a medical time-out but in the first point of the following game realized that was unable to continue. Monaco for the seventh time prevailed saving a match point, but the first time on a different surface than clay # “I started feeling it late, probably late in the second set. It went from sort of tightness and an uncomfortable feeling to, in that last game that I served, a lot more pain, a lot sharper.” said Fish, who believes in quick recovery which will allow him to play in London, “The next two weeks are arguably the most important of my whole career. I’d just love to be close to 100 percent at the end of the year. We’ll do everything we can to get there. I’ll ice it five, six times a day; electric stimulate it, ultrasound, all that stuff.”

# Monaco’s m.p. saved wins:

2004 – Sopot: QF: M.Lopez 6-3, 2-6, 7-6(6) – 2 mp
2005 – Casblanca, QF: G.Simon 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 – 2 mp
2006 – Stuttgart, 1R: M.Berrer 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-4 – 2 mp
2008 – Vina del Mar, 2R: M.Vassallo Arguello 6-3, 4-6, 7-5 – 3 mp
2008 – Poertschach, 2R: I.Ljubicic 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(4) – 3 mp
2011 – Bastad, 1R: C.Berlocq 6-7(5), 7-6(7), 6-2 – 1 mp
2011 – Paris, 3R: M.Fish 1-6, 7-6(6), 1-2 ret. – 2 mp