Top 8 Seeds All off to Winning Starts in Shanghai

Not every day you see all of the top 8 seeds progressing to the next round. There are usually at least one or two upsets. There were a couple of close calls though. Del Potro as well as Wawrinka won in 3rd set tie breaks. Del Potro after dropping the 1st set against Kohlschreiber and Stan after being down 5-2 in the final set breaker against Anderson. That was disappointing from Anderson losing the last 5 points of the match, especially being a player with a big serve.

Not that I'm surprised. Anderson has been known to do this kind of thing. Stan will be very grateful that Anderson handed him the match on a platter, because he badly needs the points to qualify for his first Masters Cup. Stan now plays Raonic who beat Verdasco 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-3. It looks like Verdasco played pretty well and it is another solid win for the Canadian. The Raonic/Stan match will be one of the highlights tomorrow. Another match which should be interesting is the Tsonga/Nishikori match.

Tsonga had an easy straight set win against Andujar and still has an outside chance of qualifying for London. It's too late for Nishikori to qualify who had a three set win over Melzer today. He is playing well though and no doubt has a chance against Tsonga. The quarter of the draw Tsonga and Nishikori is in is the weakest quarter in the draw with Ferrer and Mayer on the top side of it, and it is a good opportunity for either Tsonga or Nishikori to make a Masters semi.

Tsonga could especially use the points in his bid to qualify for the Masters Cup. Djokovic, Nadal, and Federer all had straight set wins today as well. Djokovic was very impressive again as he bageled Ganollers 6-2, 6-0. His form in Beijing and Shanghai so far reminds me of his 2011 form where he was handing out bakery products left and right. It looks like he is really on a mission after Nadal stole his thunder. It is good to see and good for tennis.

Nadal is not backing down though. Today he beat Dolgopolov 6-3, 6-2, and he will no doubt want to make history by winning a 6th Masters this year. I have a feeling Nadal's results will start to suffer towards the end of the year, but maybe this title is still within his grasp. He no doubt wants it bad for the history books and today he got some extra help from the draw when Berlocq upset Isner, but Djokovic is on a run of form and will be tough to stop.

The court surface could once again play a key role too. The bounce doesn't look as low as Beijing to me which counts in Nadal's favor should we have another Djokodal final. Still a long way to go though. In the top half Federer played his first match back since his straight set loss to Robredo at the US Open, and despite struggling in the 1st set he ended up beating Seppi 6-4, 6-3 in which was surely a confidence boosting win for him.

He now plays Monfils for a place in the quarters against the winner of Djokovic and Fognini. I don't think there is much doubt that Djokovic will prevail there and it would be nice to see Federer getting through as well for his first meeting with Djokovic this year. Well I think that about covers it. Some good matches to look forward to tomorrow. The two I mentioned and the Del Potro/Haas match should be good, and it is always interesting to see what Nadal, Djokovic, and Federer is up to.

On a side note Murray has officially withdrawn from the Masters Cup as well which is probably the best thing for him. That means there are five spots left in London of which you would expect Berdych and Del Potro to come through. The remaining three spots will be contested between Federer, Wawrinka, Gasquet, Raonic, and Tsonga. Gasquet already lost this week which will hurt his chances, while the other four will do everything in their power to get ahead this week.

Fun times!