Cincinnati 2008 F: [8] A. Murray d. [3] N. Djokovic 76(4) 76(5)

Good job, Murray. He's now officially the world #6. I haven't figured out if points lost from Toronto and Cincinnati last year will drop him back one or two places in a few weeks' time, but IIRC he didn't have that many points to defend, anyway.

1. Nadal will get the #1 spot for sure ( Read more... )

I'm suddenly making a comeback in terms of picks, and just in time to salvage my lacklustre early-round bracket. Let's see: two for two yesterday, although frankly I wasn't extremely confident about picking Djokovic over Nadal.

Now, the Cincy final:

[8] A. Murray v. [3] N. Djokovic - Djokovic ( Read more... )

So all my boring-as-hell picks came true yesterday. Here's the lineup for the semifinals:

[16] I. Karlovic v. [8] A. Murray - Murray
I think Murray wins this one. He's beaten Dr. Ivo before - twice - and is in decent form at the moment. 'Course, so's Karlovic's serve.

[3] N. Djokovic v. [2] R. Nadal - Djokovic ( Read more... )

I'd hoped it'd be later rather than sooner, but with Federer's latest loss (in three sets to a certain Ivo Karlovic) in the third round of Cincinnati, the possibility of Nadal being #1 as early as next Monday has opened up. It would take winning the title (and thereby completing the Canada-Cincinnati double) this week, but it's entirely possible. ( Read more... )

Toronto 2008 F: [2] R. Nadal d. N. Kiefer 63 62
True to form, I didn't get to see this match, but the result looks just about right.

1. Barring a minor miracle, I think there'll be a [1] next to Nadal's name at least once in the weeks to come, maybe as soon as the Olympics or the US Open. He's currently 300 points behind Federer, but Federer's ( Read more... )

Hmm. So it's going to be a Kiefer-Nadal final. I think Nadal's going to win it (there I go betting against Kiefer again; poor guy), because the motivation's there ( Read more... )