Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down: Asia

by Pete Bodo

With the Asian swing now over and the home stretch of the year in view, it's time again to distribute thumbs ups and thumbs downs to a hodgepodge of usual suspects and surprising performers. Keep in mind that in a drill like this, it's easy to overlook certain individuals whose highs weren't quite high enough, or whose lows didn't get close enough to rock bottom to merit comment. So let's get right to it, because we have a fair amount of ground to cover.

!UpfaceAndy Murray. Duh! Okay, we know he struggles at the Grand Slam events, but tends to show up do serious damage at the lesser-but-no-less-talent-laden Masters 1000 events. Murray went all Djokovic on his peers these past weeks, ripping off three consecutive tournaments wins in Asia (in order, Bangkok, Tokyo and Shanghai). He's lost just one match since he began streaking in mid-August in Cincinnati, and that one hurt—Rafael Nadal dumped him for the third Grand Slam semifinal in a row at the U.S. Open.

Since the start of Cincy, Murray is 25-1. Better yet, for his long term ambitions, he did better than his nemesis Nadal at the two Asian events were they were both entered and seeded Nos. 1 and 2. Murray took the Tokyo title from top-seeded Nadal, and even though he was denied another crack at him in Shanghai (Nadal was upset by Florian Mayer), Murray must be feeling like he's one or two steps closer to solving that Grand Slam puzzle.

Agniezska Radwanska won both WTA premier events in Asia, vaulting her to her career-best singles ranking of No. 8—again. It's easy to forget that Radwanska hit the same rarefied heights in Februrary of 2010, but a nagging foot injury slowed her down at this time last year. And a good thing it was for the Wozniackis and Sharapovas of this world, as Radwanska demonstrated these past week, doing a fair impersonation Murray.

Janko Tipsarevic finally broke through and won his first ATP title after four previous attempts. He had declared this summer that, inspired by his friend and countryman Novak Djokovic, he was resolved to making the most of his career. He gave himself firm goals—mainly becoming a Top 20 player and ATP tour champion.

At 27, Tipsarevic's time seemed to be running out; perhaps he was just talking the talk. But this fall Tiparevic also walked the walk. He won his first singles title title at Kuala Lumpur, and subsequently moved up to No. 14. And the two first-round losses he absorbed in the two most recent tournaments (Tokyo and Shanghai) were mitigated by the circumstances—both were heartbreakers. Fatigue played a role in Tipsarevic's 7-5 in-the-third loss to Dmitry Tursunov in the first round of Tokyo, where Tipsarevic was still feeling the effects of his run in KL. And in Shanghai, Feliciano Lopez, who's been establishing himself as a reliable upset maker, used that big lefty serve and penchant for attacking on the relatively fast court to force a pair of tiebreakers—and won both of them.

WTA No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki has been to exactly one final since she won on her home tournament in Copenhagen way back in June—and that was at New Haven, where she met just one player ranked better than No. 40 (and that was fading No. 8 Francesca Schiavone). Wozniacki is just 21, so she has plenty of time to win that first Grand Slam event. Meanwhile, though, she could keep her endangered credibility higher if she won something here or there. She never got past the quarters in Asia.

Kei Nishikori became the highest-ranked Japanese male ever by virtue of an excellent run in Shanghai, even though Andy Murray ultimately proved too strong for him—and everyone else. But let's not forget that Nishikori was also a semifinals at Kuala Lumpur (l. to champion Tipsarevic). At No. 30, Nishikori has gone 16 rungs higher on the rankings ladder than that much-loved, pioneering Japanese pro, Shuzo Matsuoka.

!UpfaceMaria Kirilenko could be forgiven for cursing the tennis gods after the U.S. Open,  because they coughed up the new Grand Slam champion, Sam Stosur as Kirilenko's opponent in both big Asian WTA events. But Kirilenko sucked it up—and cleaned up. She won both matches in three hard-fought sets, 6-4 in the third in Tokyo and 7-6 in the third in Beijing. The bad news for Kirilenko was that she didn't win another match at either event, and the good news for Stosur was that she made the final in Osaka (l. to Bartoli) last week.

!TsongaJo Wilfried Tsonga feasted at home in France in Metz, although he didn't have to beat anyone ranked better than No. 20 there. But when he went over to Asia, he squandered any momentum he'd built up and lost to No. 10 Tomas Berdych in Beijing (Tsonga faded badly, losing 6-1 in the third) and he was then upset by then No. 47 Kei Nishikori in Shanghai. Give him a thumbs down, because Tsonga could have done a lot of damage on the Asian hard courts.

!UpfaceMarion Bartoli has been playing with a gun to her head. In order to qualify for the WTA season-ending championships, she needed to win both Osaka and the event going on now in Moscow. And her fate still isn't entirely in her own hands. Radwanska needs to lose her first match in Moscow for Bartoli to possibly sneak in and grab that eighth and final spot. It certainly seemed like an impossible mission a week ago, but Bartoli, determined to give it a shot, completed part A of her mission—she won Osaka (d. Stosur in final). If Radwanska loses her first match in Moscow and Bartoli runs the table, it will be one of the all-time great late-season surges.

!DownfaceLi Na played exactly one match this fall, losing in the first round of Beijing to No. 57 Monica Niculescu. It's almost enough to make you think that in some subconscious way Li is trying to punish her Chinese countrymen—or it would seem that way if Li's diappearing act were not part and parcel of her MO. I can understand how hard it was to deal with the pressure she felt after she made the Australian Open final, but it also ought to have prepared her for what lay in store when she actually won a major—which she did in June in Paris.

Okay, we love Li; she did an amazing job navigating western culture to become Asia's first female Grand Slam champion. At 29, she's no kid, and it's obviously been a long, eventful year for her. But she could at least have thrown her Asian fans a bone by showing up, perhaps taking a victory lap after her accomplishment of the sumnmer. Who would have thought that Li, theoretically the product of a culture that prizes uniformity over individuality, would turn out to be so—there's no other word for it—unpredictable?

Donald Young entered only two fall events this year. I'm not sure why, given the progress he's made lately, although his ranking, entry deadlines, and cut-off stats might have had something to do with it. And Young was a direct acceptance at only one of those two events, Bangkok. The American made it to the final there (l. to Murray), mastering some good players along the way (he had wins over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Gael Monfils, among others).

But what really impressed me more than Young's achievement in Bangkok was that he qualified and won a main-draw round at Shanghai. It's one thing to be on the qualifier circuit and make the occasional breakthrough. But to have to play qualifying when you're legitimately a Top 50 or better player is daunting. It's all up-side for your opponents and all down-side for you. But Young got through it, gaining that much more experience and confidence. Could it be that with this recent burst into the Top 50 (Young is No. 41), Young has put a big obstacle behind him and will move further up, rather than slide back?

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That's it for this edition, folks. The tennis is getting thin, enjoy whatever you might find. . .