ATP Masters 1000 Paris, França ~ BNP Paribas Masters

Não é à toa que o Roger se queixa do prolongamento exagerado da época de ténis. Se fosse noutra qualquer circunstância, diria que estávamos perante um verdadeiro milagre, mas a verdade é que o Federer nunca tinha passado dos quartos-de-final deste Masters e isso a algum motivo se deve. Nesta altura da temporada, o suíço tem de começar a gerir o esforço para poder estar na sua melhor forma no ATP Finals, de Londres, aquele que é o último grande torneio da época.

Anyway, amanhã, como é óbvio, não perco a final entre o francês e o Soderling por nada, sendo que vou estar a torcer pelo sueco (é sabido que marko bastante por ele desde o RG de há dois anos)

14.11 | Final's Preview ~ Gael Monfils vs Robin Soderling

After thrilling semi-final matches in which they saved match points to win, Robin Soderling and Gael Monfils are the last two players standing at the BNP Paribas Masters, and they will duke it out Sunday, both hoping to win their first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown. This is the first time both finalists at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament are looking for their first Masters 1000 title since Paris in 2006 when Nikolay Davydneko beat Dominik Hrbaty in the final.

WHAT’S AT STAKE –
Winner: € 450,000 and 1,000 South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking points
Runner-up: € 212,500 and 600 South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking points

FINALS HISTORY –
Monfils: Appearing in his 13th ATP World Tour final. He is 3-9 in finals (1-2 in 2010). Appearing in his 2nd ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final. He is 0-1 in finals
Soderling: Appearing in his 16th ATP World Tour level final. He is 5-10 in finals (1-3 in 2010). Appearing in his 1st ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final

WINNING A TITLE FROM MATCH POINT DOWN –
The winner will become the fifth different player this year to win a title after saving match point. Monfils saved two match points in his third round win over Verdasco and five in the semi-finals vs. Federer while Soderling saved three match points in the semi-finals against Llodra. Sam Querrey has achieved the feat twice, so this would be the sixth overall time it will happen:
• Davydenko, Nikolay (Doha - saved 2 M.P. to beat Nadal in final)
• Isner, John (Auckland - saved 1 M.P. to beat Clement in final)
• Querrey, Sam (Belgrade - saved 1 M.P. to beat Isner in final)
• Querrey, Sam (Los Angeles - saved 1 M.P. to beat Tipsarevic in SFs, then 1 M.P. to beat Murray in final)
• Nadal, Rafael (Tokyo - saved 2 M.P. to beat Troicki in SFs)

SUNDAY CHAMPIONSHIP HEAD-TO-HEADS –

Court Central
(12) Gael Monfils (FRA) vs (4) Robin Soderling (SWE) Soderling Leads 2-0
05 Milan (Italy) Carpet R16 Robin Soderling 6-3 6-4
10 Valencia (Spain) Hard QF Robin Soderling 6-3 6-2

	Monfils	Soderling
Age (Birthdate)	24 (September 1, 1986)	26 (August 14, 1984)
Residence	Nyon, Switzerland	Monte Carlo, Monaco
ATP Ranking (Career-High)	No. 14 (No. 9 – March 2, 2009)	No. 5 (No. 5 – July 5, 2010)
2010 W-L Record (on Hard)	45-18 (35-12)	55-20 (37-13)
2010 Finals W-L	1-2	1-3
Career Finals W-L	3-9	5-10
Last ATP Final/Last ATP Title	’10 Montpellier/’10 Montpellier	‘10 Bastad/’10 Rotterdam
2010 Tie-Break W-L	19-15	12-9
Paris W-L (Best Result)	10-4 (Finalist – 2009-10)	10-4 (Final – 2010)
Coach	Roger Rasheed	Magnus Norman

MONFILS FASTFACTS-

Tournament Highlights
• The Frenchman is making his second straight final showing after defeating top seed and World No. 2 Roger Federer 76(7) 67(1) 76(4) in two hours, 41 minutes (saving five match points)…He also beat No. 4 Andy Murray 62 26 63 in the quarters…He opened the tournament with a 76(4) 64 win over German qualifier Benjamin Becker on Tuesday and then saved two match points in a 67(4) 76(2) 75 victory over No. 6 seed Fernando Verdasco in the third round on Thursday…Has a 10-4 career mark in Bercy
• Last year he reached his first final here, falling he lost to Novak Djokovic in a third set tie-break…Along the way he defeated No. 13 seed Radek Stepanek in the semi-finals, No. 12 seed Marin Cilic in the quarter-finals and countrymen Julien Benneteau and David Guez.

2010 Highlights
W: Montpellier (d Ljubicic); F: Stuttgart (l Montanes); Tokyo (l Nadal); SF: Brisbane (l Stepanek); Johannesburg (l Lopez); QF: Rotterdam (l Youzhny); Marseille (l Benneteau); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Madrid (l Nadal); Nice (l Starace); US Open (l Djokovic); Valencia (l Soderling).

ATP World Tour Masters 1000 History
• Has a 40-37 career match record and his best result was a runner-up in Paris last year (l. to Djokovic) and the semi-finals in Rome in ‘06 (d. No. 5 Roddick in QF, l. to No. 2 Nadal) and QFs in Madrid in ’08 and this year.

FRENCH ATP MASTERS 1000 WINNERS –
Monfils is trying to become the fifth different Frenchman to win an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title (since 1990). Here are the French winners:

No.
Guy Forget 2
Sebastien Grosjean 1
Cedric Pioline 1
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 1

SODERLING FASTFACTS-

Tournament Highlights
• The top Swede enters his first final with a 10-4 career mark…Has only dropped one set in posting wins over Gilles Simon 64 60, Stanislas Wawrinka 76(3) 63, No. 8 seed Andy Roddick 75 64 and unseeded Michael Llodra 67(0) 75 76(6), saving three match points…Has held serve 44 of 47 games (saving 12 of 15 break points) and hit 55 aces en route to the final, including 19 in semi-finals
• The last Swede to reach the final was Jonas Bjorkman in 1997 (l. to Sampras)…Thomas Enqvist is the last Swedish winner in 1996 (d. Kafelnikov)
• His previous best result was the quarter-finals in his debut in 2004 (l. to Mirnyi) and last year (l. to No. 3 Djokovic).

2010 Highlights
W: Rotterdam (d Youzhny); F: Barcelona (l Verdasco); Roland Garros (l Nadal); Båstad (l Almagro); SF: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells (l Roddick); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami (l Berdych); Valencia (l Ferrer); QF: Marseille (l Llodra); Wimbledon (l Nadal); US Open (l Federer); Kuala Lumpur (l Golubev); Beijing (l Ferrer).

ATP World Tour Masters 1000 History
• Has a 65-50 career record (17-7 this season) and his previous best results are the semi-finals in Indian Wells and Miami...Also a five-time quarter-finalist in his career.

SWEDISH ATP MASTERS 1000 WINNERS – Soderling is trying to become the sixth different Swede to win an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title (since 1990). Here are the Swedish winners:
No.
Stefan Edberg 4
Thomas Enqvist 3
Magnus Norman 1
Thomas Johansson 1
Mikael Pernfors 1
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E agora a pergunta: porquê isto tudo? Bem, primeiro, porque é giro, e segundo, devo fazer exactamente o mesmo para a última grande final do ano, em Londres, por isso, decidi desde já ver como ficava.

Em relação à final em si, vi aqui estatísticas muito curiosas que dificultam prever um vencedor. Se tivesse que apostar, iria mesmo para o Monfils, unicamente devido aos seus níveis motivacionais estarem ao máximo (venceu Montpellier; eliminou o Federer, nas SF, depois de três tie-breaks; e disputa a final "em casa").

Excelente trabalho Diogo, espero que o Monfils consiga vencer, se vencer vai-se aproximar do top 10.

Soderling

O Monfils acordou para a partida tarde demais.