Shanghai – 3R

Juan Carlos Ferrero, who is mentioned on my blog in the “Match points” page as the biggest active specialist of winning matches from a match point down, lost today a third round encounter, squandering four match points (the most in his career #). He was four times one point away from beating his compatriot David Ferrer on return at 5:4 in the 2nd set. Ferrer has improved their H2H to 7-2 (three “tight” wins). “Pics” with this win has already qualified for ATP Tour World Finals in London for the third time.
Gilles Simon didn’t increase his chances to qualify for London as he was surprisingly beaten by Matthew Ebden 2-6, 6-2, 6-7(8). The Australian needed five match points in the final set tie-break to clinch the biggest victory of his life. It’s astonishing achievement for Ebden, who hasn’t even won a Challenger (the only final: Kyoto ’10). Florian Mayer [23] upset Rafael Nadal 7-6(5), 6-3 in 1 hour 47 minutes, notching the biggest scalp of his tennis life, it was their first meeting at the ATP Tour level. The German converted his first match point with a backhand passing-shot and caught his head in disbelief. He had never before defeated a player of this caliber (H2H’s: 0-1 Agassi & Djokovic, 0-3 Federer). “It’s a really nice feeling,” said Mayer. “He’s such a great competitor on court. For sure it is the biggest win in my career. I cannot actually believe it right now. But the tournament goes on tomorrow so I have to stay focused for the rest of the week“.

# Ferrero’s defeats after wasting a match point:

Estoril 2002, 2R: D.Nalbandian 6-4, 4-6, 6-7(4) – 3 m.p.
Sydney 2003, F: H.T.Lee 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-7(4) – 1 m.p.
Dubai 2005, 2R: R.Federer 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(6) – 2 m.p.
Palermo 2005, QF: T.Behrend 7-6(2), 6-7(4), 5-7 – 3 m.p.
Vienna 2006, 1R: J.Melzer 7-5, 6-7(5), 3-6 – 1 m.p.
Shanghai 2011, 3R: D.Ferrer 6-1, 5-7, 2-6 – 4 m.p.