Article

  • Recent champs Roddick, Tsonga headline AIG Japan Open

    9/29/08 6:57 AM | Ricky Dimon
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    Andy Roddick and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, both winners last week on the ATP Tour, lead a star-studded field into Tokyo. The tournament also features No. 1 seed David Ferrer and on-fire Juan Martin Del Potro.

    Other than two remaining Masters Series events in Madrid and Paris and the year-end Masters Cup in Shanghai, there won't be another tournament bigger than the AIG Japan Open.

    The fans in Tokyo won't have the pleasure of watching any of the Big 3 (Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, and Novak Djokovic), but they will witness a field that is loaded at the top with second-tier players. David Ferrer leads the way as the top seed and he is joined by the likes of Beijing winner Roddick, Fernando Gonzalez, Richard Gasquet, in-form Juan Martin Del Potro, Tommy Robredo, Bangkok champion Tsonga, Mikhail Youzhny, and Tomas Berdych.

    For the most part there seems to be a noticeable drop-off in talent after the 16 seeds. Other than Kei Nishikori and Viktor Troicki (who is technically the No. 17 seed now since he picked up a first-round bye when Gael Monfils withdrew), the unseeded group appears to be lacking in upset potential. However, the fact that Nishikori is in Gasquet's quarter evens the draw out a little bit because that section is by far the weakest in terms of seeded players. None of the seeds (Gasquet, Youzhny, Rainer Schuettler, and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez) are intimidating, so Nishikori, who won a title in Delray Beach earlier this year and reached the fourth round of the U.S. Open, has a fine chance of making it all the way to the semifinals.

    Overall the whole top half of the draw is weaker than the bottom, although the first quarter boasts two stalwarts. Fifth-seeded Del Potro, who won four consecutive tournaments this summer and made it to the quarterfinals in New York before leading Argentina into the Davis Cup final, is the favorite in this section and probably in the entire tournament. The Argentine could face a relatively stern test in Ferrer in the quarterfinals, but outside of Del Potro and Ferrer the quarter is soft.

    That is not the case in the bottom half. That section includes Tsonga, Roddick, No. 3 seed Gonzalez, No. 9 Berdych, and in-form players such as Jurgen Melzer and Troicki. The winner of a potential Roddick-Tsonga quarterfinal showdown would be favored to reach Sunday's title match. Gonzalez and Berdych could meet in the quarterfinals, although Tommy Robredo and Sam Querrey will have something to say about that.

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Comments

tsonga really deserved the win bec djokovic may be too complacent he acn beat tsonga easily since he's a lower rank player and haven't win a tittle this year. good for him hahaha

marygrace , 9/30/08 10:41 AM


marygrace, go and do some medical check, hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

gordana , 9/30/08 11:22 AM



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