40th WEEK

Before the Asian tour, Andy Murray [4] announced he would like to finish the season as No. 3 for the first time in career and he’s been confirming his aspirations winning back-to-back titles in Asia. In Tokyo he claimed his 20th career title and broke a 5-match losing streak to Nadal (all matches were played in semi-finals) – he managed to do that because found a great balance between defense and attack. Perhaps participating in the doubles competition this week (triumphed along with his older brother Jamie to become the first player this season to get singles & doubles titles in the same tournament) helped him a lot because against Nadal he was very confident at the net throughout the final. It’s the 11th consecutive win for Murray, which is his second longest streak in career #. The Scot was on a verge of defeat in the first round where he came back from a *1:3 deficit in the 3rd set against Baghdatis. “There was a lot of close games in the first set and early in the second set, then I started to get the momentum and didn’t give him any chances,” Murray said about the match with Rafa. “I played some great tennis, especially in the third set.”

Tomas Berdych [10] has finally won a title after more than a 2-year drought (29 months). The Czech, who loses regularly in quarter- or semi-finals, found a tremendous form in Beijing beating five very tough opponents, including overwhelming wins over Kohlschreiber ## (6-2, 6-0) & Verdasco (6-1, 6-0). In the final he saved a mini-match point at 4:4 in the 2nd set with a service winner. “I felt psychologically in these critical moments, especially at the end of the second set and the beginning of the third, I missed a few chances here and there. So I would say that was the reason.” Berdych stated. The beaten finalist Cilic has lost three finals this year, each of them in different conditions (indoors, clay, hard). It’s 6th title for Berdych, and he boosts his chances to play in London for the second straight year.

Finals

Tokyo (500)
S: (2)Andy Murray d. (1)Rafael Nadal 3-6, 6-2, 6-0
D:  A.Murray/J.Murray d. (4)F.Cermak/F.Polasek 6-1, 6-4

Beijing (500)
S: (3)Tomas Berdych d. Marin Cilic 3-6, 6-4, 6-1
D: (3)M.Llodra/N.Zimonjic d. R.Lindstedt/H.Tecau 7-6(2), 7-6(4)

Choker of the week:

Tokyo: Janko Tipsarevic would have won two losing sets against Dmitry Tursunov in the first round. ‘Tipsy’ had a double set point in the 1st set tie-break and 4 mini-match points at 5:5 in the 3rd set (in the middle of the set he had been a break ahead twice). Tursunov won 7-6(6), 6-7(3), 7-5 after 3 hours 1 minute.

# Murray’s longest winning streaks:

2008: 14 – beaten by D.Nalbandian (Paris)
2009: 10 – beaten by A.Roddick (Wimbledon)
2011: 10 – beaten by R.Nadal (US Open)
11 and continues…

## Kohlschreiber played in qualifying tournament for the first time since Hamburg ’06, and won both rounds saving a match point (De Voest, Zemlja)