ATP points up for grabs at Malaysian Open
The professional tennis players, Robin Soderling, David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych and Nikolay Davydenko, came on the same flight from Macau to Kuala Lumpur on Sunday for taking part in the Malaysian Open tennis tournament. Set to start today in Bukit Jalil
at the Putra Stadium.
They all went to Macau for an exhibition competition called, the Venetian Macau Tennis Showdown.
However, what lures them to Malaysia is not only an Open title but in fact an opportunity to win a precious 250 ATP World Tour points in order to qualify in the season ending Barclays, starting from November in London.
Except for last season’s winner, Nikolay Davydenko, whose year was blighted by a couple of injuries, the rest of the three participants are all in good shape for positions in the season ending competition.
Qualification for the Barclays Finals is based primarily on points earned in major events, eight ATP 1000 and two of the best ATP 500 and ATP 250 championships throughout the season and the top eight contenders make the grade.
The world number five tennis player from Sweden, Robin Soderling, seventh ranked, Tomas Berdych, and eleventh ranked, David Ferrer, are all well set to qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals in fifth, sixth and ninth positions respectively in the rankings.
Just two contenders, the top ranked Rafael Nadal and the world number three Spaniard, Roger Federer, have thus far guaranteed spots based on their overwhelming leads in the standings.
With other Barclays Finals hopefuls including Jurgen Melzer and Fernando Verdasco to contest in the Thailand Open tennis competition today, with Rafael Nadal making his debut, it is quite clear why players are making a comeback to Kuala Lumpur to participate
in the tournament.
The United States Open last month brought down the curtain on major events, which offered a total of 2,000 points. Contenders will now have their eyes set on the Shanghai Rolex Masters as well as the BNP Paribas Masters, which is going to be held in France
and together offers a total of 1,000 points to winners, and a chance to finish in the top eight.
Anyhow, a good performance in Kuala Lumpur should provide them the required boost of confidence ahead of such big championships.
Robin, with a total of three runs as a runner up this season, including the Roland Garros where he was defeated by Rafael back in May, looks confident to pull the rug out from under Nikolay.
However, Tomas, this season’s Wimbledon finalist, should pose an equally powerful threat as he would want to come back from his early round departure to Michael Llodra of France in the recent US Open.
Championship director, Nick Freyer, even tipped Robin, Tomas, Youzhny and David as among the frontrunners to capture the trophy in Kuala Lumpur, however, he favoured the Swede most of all.
“Robin Soderling looked strong this year and it will be tough for others to win against him in the championship this year”, said Nick Freyer.
He further added, “Anybody who can make two successive appearances as a finalist in the French Open (2009 and 2010) should be a player to be reckoned with”.
Robin Soderling, Nikolay and Youzhny will begin their tournament’s campaign from the second round tomorrow after receiving a first round bye whereas David will contest in his opening round clash versus a wildcard entrant Bernard Tomic from Australia on Monday.
Si Yew Ming from Malaysia received a wildcard to participate in the main draw of the competition and will play his first round match against Yuki Bhambri from India, who is another wildcard entrant in Kuala Lumpur.
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