He then just kept it solid and there were no more breaks, so he wrapped up the 1st set. In the 2nd set he got the early break as well and from there on was unstoppable. These best of 3 set matches can be over fast like that, especially against a guy with a huge serve like Raonic. He was consistently pumping out 220 kph first serves and he was pretty good in other aspects of the game as well. It was just nice to see two players with attacking games in indoor conditions.
That kind of tennis is scarce these days with all the base line grinding going on. Raonic was the best at it today and claimed his 2nd title of the year after he won San Jose earlier in the year. In the end probably his serving was the key. But of course that is not enough. He was still clutch in the breaker to hold on after getting the mini break and to get the service break in the 2nd set as well. No surprise that San Jose is indoor as well.
Raonic is just very dangerous in these conditions with his big serve and power game. He's probably the best of the young players, although Janowicz may have something to say about that. Anyway it is good to see young talent coming through, especially since they are attacking players. Maybe they are a little one-dimensional with their big serves but at least they balance out some of the base line grinding that is taking the game over.
Talking of base line grinding Joao Sousa fits that bill pretty well. Not that I mind. It was great to see him win the title today against Benneteau after being match point down in the 2nd set. Like yesterday I was impressed with his mental fortitude and composure. I mean it was his first ATP final and coming back from match point down to win it 2-6, 7-5, 6-4 say a lot. On match point Benneteau attacked the net with a 50/50 approach and Sousa came up with the running forehand pass down the line.
It was the shot that changed it all. That was at 4-5 and in the next game he broke Benneteau and squared things up at a set all. He then got the break early in the 3rd set while Benneteau was still regretting not converting the match point. Although Benneteau fought like a madman to get back in the match the writing was on the wall. Benneteau had his chances to break back but like I said the writing was on the wall. Very tough loss for Benneteau who is still without an ATP title after 9 finals.
Today must really hurt after dominating the first half of the match against a rookie and having match point. As for Sousa he became the first Portuguese man to win an ATP Tour title. It has really been a great story for him since the US Open. Before the US Open he could barely qualify for main tour events. Then he makes his first slam 3rd round after wins over Dimitrov and Nieminen. After that he makes the semis in St. Petersburg and now he wins an ATP Tour title.
You won't get a more clear cut case of mental strength and mental weakness than in this match. Benneteau fails for the 9th straight time in an ATP final after having match point while a first time finalist saves match point and wins the title on his first attempt. Some players just have 'it', while others don't. Sousa actually reminds a lot of Nadal with the amount of work he puts on his forehand and his mental fortitude. He is like a lesser version of Nadal, even though he is right handed.
Well that concludes this past week on tour and of course this coming week we have the ATP 500 events in Beijing and Tokyo so I'm excited for that. You can view the draw for Beijing here and the draw for Tokyo here. The big boys Nadal and Djokovic are back in their first outing since the US Open where of course they played in the final. It will be interesting to see how Djokovic can pick himself up after yet another disappointing loss against Nadal and whether Nadal can keep dominating.
They are the first two seeds in Beijing. Djokovic(11,120 pts) is still #1 but Nadal(10,860 pts) is now very close. Surely just a formality for Nadal to become #1 now despite saying today: "it will be very difficult to win the number one spot". What he really meant to say was: "it will be very easy to win the number one spot". That is just the way Nadal rolls. He relentlessly tries to take pressure off himself. I expect Nadal to keep dominating during the indoor season.
I think he will win Beijing and it is hard to see him losing anything the way he has been playing of late. Probably he has his first Masters Cup title coming up too. Beijing should be pretty interesting though. There are many good players in the draw and Nadal won't have it all his own way. In Tokyo Del Potro is back as well as the #1 seed while Tsonga continues his comeback as the #2 seed. Looking forward to the action heating up in the coming week!
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