With about five weeks left before the year-end Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, the Asian swing of tennis tournaments is the best way for the ATP stars to rack up much needed points to qualify for the London event. This week, two ATP 500 tournaments take place in Tokyo and Beijing.
Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic is on course to overtake current eighth-ranked Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France if he wins the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships which began on Monday. However, Tsonga is participating at the China Open which means that it will be a seesaw battle between the two.
Fifth-ranked David Ferrer is almost assured to make it in the elite eight-man event in London but could strengthen his hold in his current position with a strong showing in Beijing. Ferrer was a semifinalist in last week’s Malaysian Open and can add up more points if he wins in Beijing where he is the second seed.
Thailand Open champion Richard Gasquet and Kuala Lumpur winner Juan Monaco are currently both in 11th place in the Race to London and can gain entry in the world’s top ten with strong showings in their respective events. Monaco signed up for Tokyo while Gasquet secured a slot in Beijing as the fifth seed.
The world’s top four: Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal have secured their places at the year-end finale which takes place from November 5 to 12, 2012. Should Nadal opt to back out of the event due to injury, then his place will go to the next higher ranked player.
