Rafael Nadal and Tomas Berdych were the highest ranked casualties in the quarterfinal round of the 2015 Paris Masters. Those two players lost to Stan Wawrinka and Novak Djokovic respectively. As the final in Paris starts to shape up, here’s a look at the scoring lines from all four matches that were played on Friday, all of which were competitive.
Stan Wawrinka defeats Rafael Nadal 7-6, 7-6
Novak Djokovic defeats Tomas Berdych 7-6, 7-6
Andy Murray defeats Richard Gasquet 7-6, 3-6, 6-3
David Ferrer defeats John Isner 6-3, 6-7, 6-2
Wawrinka’s victory over Nadal represents the Swiss No. 2’s first win over a Top Ten player since winning the 2015 French Open several months ago. However Nadal, who had played in the Basel final this past weekend, was likely not at 100% in terms of energy levels this week.
The former World No. 1 still managed to make the sets competitive, and that does attest his play right now. However I still think Wawrinka’s victory can be belittled due to the fact that Nadal had to be facing fatigue issues. I think Isner’s victory over Federer a round earlier can be belittled for the same reason as Federer was busy in Basel last week too. Accordingly, when the ATP World Tour Finals come around later this month, I expect both Nadal and Federer to be very tough outs.
As far as the draw goes it will now be Andy Murray against David Ferrer on the bottom half of the draw. On the top half, Novak Djokovic will face Wawrinka. In several ways, the semifinal match-ups do point to a Murray/Djokovic final.
For instance, Wawrinka is just 4-18 against the current World No. 1. While his quartet of wins does include one this season, from the French Open, Djokovic has since avenged the loss with a hard court win in Cincinnati. I don’t think Wawrinka’s victory over Nadal proves that the Swiss No. 2 is regaining his former touch, and it would be a shocking upset to see Djokovic fail to make the Paris final.
Andy Murray does not own all that big of an edge against David Ferrer heads up. However, the Scot is 10-6 against the Spaniard, a series that includes a three-match winning streak over Ferrer. Three of Ferrer’s wins over Murray are on clay while only one of the remaining ones came both indoors and on the hard court surface.
With Federer and Nadal meeting in Basel last weekend to cap the 500-series tournaments for the year, a Murray/Djokovic final would be a great cap to the 1000-series for 2015.