Simon Stuns Fed....Murray Takes Out Roddick.

Take a breath.

What a great day 2 at Shanghai today.  Two three set competitive matches, and one big upset.  The great thing about Round Robins are you get another chance (you hear me out there Fed and Roddick?) therefore, it's harder to get the big players out of the semis, considering they have more chances.  For the first time in a few years, I think this Master's Cup is wide open.  I could see any of the 8 player's getting hot and making a run for the title, which makes it very exciting to watch...

RESULTS: SIMON DEFEATED FED 4-6,6-4,6-3

In a pendulum-like match the momentum was everywhere.  After the first set, it looked like a routine Fed win, but after an array of errors, Simon found himself doing what he has done all year...getting balls back.  Simon is really becoming an amazing player, and is someone no one wants to play.  Fed looked off a bit the tighter the match got, which might have something to do with his back and not practicing much, but mostly because he simply hasn't played great in all of the big moments this year like we are all used to.  Fed seems to mishit A  LOT of balls.  This also puts Simon in a great position to qualify in a very tight red group that all 4 players will beat each other up in.  Fed has some serious work to do, and might very well have to run the gauntlet of Murray and Roddick to reach the semis.

MURRAY DEFEATED RODDICK 6-4, 1-6,6-1

Murray could be playing the best tennis of anyone right now.  This match also had it's moments, and you got the feel that it would be a dog fight in the third, and then you blinked and Murray was up 5-0.  It had to be disappointing for Roddick to fight to even things, and then get hammered in the third so badly.  Especially with A-Rod's serve, it's hard to imagine him losing sets 6-1, but perhaps that is a sign of how good Murray's return is.  The win puts Murray in a dominating position in the red group, and Roddick will have to conquer his demons and beat Federer(yes I know he did finally beat him again, but he is far from happy to play him.) to put himself in a good position to reach the semis.  

So the first group of round robins are done, and time for me to grade the players performances so far...

Fed: B-     I'll be lenient.  He had some flashes of Fed, just got outplayed most of the third.  Errors are still the big difference from the old fed to the now fed.  

Novak: A He played great, looks very sharp.

Murray: A- Played a solid match, had a bit of a hiccup in the second set, but bounced back quickly and put Roddick away.

Davydenko: B+ Was grinding as usual.

Tsonga: C+ Looked dangerous, but inconsistent.

Del Potro: C This was the biggest disappointment for me.  He seemed a bit overwhelmed by the moment and Novak's game.

Simon: A+ Showed huge heart in his first victory.  It's not often you see a guy pull of an upset after losing the first set...that takes some serious mental toughness.

That's it for today...GOLD GROUP ACTION TOMORROW.

TAKE CARE