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10/3/10 11:58 PM | Ricky Dimon
Andy Murray will be making his first appearance since an early loss at the U.S. Open when he takes the court this week in Beijing. Murray is in a bottom half of the draw that also includes Robin Soderling, Mikhail Youzhny, and David Ferrer.
Last year when Andy Murray lost early at the U.S. Open, he did not return to ATP Tour action until early November in Valencia. This time, Murray is not waiting nearly as long for an effort to regain momentum following another disappointing setback in New York.
The fourth-ranked Scot, who fell to Stanislas Wawrinka in the third round, is back in action this week at the 500-point China Open in Beijing. Seeded second, Murray is joined in a strong bottom section by No. 3 seed Robin Soderling, Kuala Lumpur semifinalist David Ferrer, Kuala Lumpur runner-up Andrey Golubev, and Kuala Lumpur champion Mikhail Youzhny.
Murray will open against Paul-Henri Mathieu, who has rounded into form over the past few weeks and has already qualified to book a spot in the Beijing main draw. If Murray prevails, he could run into Golubev. Youzhny, Marcos Baghdatis, and Aleksandr Dolgopolov are also in the fourth quarter of the draw. Interestingly, Youzhny, Baghdatis, and Dolgopolov were all in the same quarter of the Malaysian Open bracket; Youzhny beat each of the other two in three sets on his way to the title.
Soderling may have a slightly easier path to a potential semifinal berth, although it certainly won't be easy. Coming off a surprising blowout loss to Golubev in Kuala Lumpur, Soderling will open with Tommy Robredo and could meet Ferrer in the quarters. Ferrer, who lost to Golubev in three sets last week, faces a tough opener of his own against Denis Istomin.
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I would love to see a Murray-Soderling match. Have they ever played?
The top ten men are an interesting mix. Any of them can beat any of the others on a given day. Federer, I think, is chasing records. While he never tanks a match and always tries, he's not totally focused on the lesser matches. That's a mistake. It gives the lower ranked players the idea they can beat him. Nadal to his credit goes all out in every match no matter against whom or whether it's a slam. We'll see if that changes as he chases records. Djokovic can beat anybody on a given day (except maybe Nadal) but his brain sometimes doesn't show up. By the way, I believe Djokovic's "breathing problems" are related to exercise induced asthma and since tennis prohibits the drugs used to treat that malady, those who criticize him need to cut him some slack. Imagine going out to play three out of five sets in the heat with constricted bronchii. Not fun!
Murray can beat anyone, but he, like Djoko sometimes doesn't bring his brain to a match. Soderling has the big guns, but sometimes just flames out. I'm waiting for DelPo to regain his game.
I'm looking forward to China Open, Shanghaii, Basel, Paris and Barclay's. Here in the USA, the Tennis Channel showed all of those last year. Hope they do so this year.
10SL80 , 10/4/10 11:23 PM
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murray söderling is a great match-up, and highly anticipated match... somehow i don't think it will happen this week either!
croc , 10/4/10 10:49 AM