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NO SPOILERS 🎥

If you don't want to see the results yet, and want to catch up with the highlights, stop scrolling now! (If these links have been taken down by the ATP, tap the ‘view in browser’ button at the top of this email and there should be updated links):

Federer 🎥 Copil

Nishikori 🎥 Anderson

RESULTS 🎾

💥 = Beatdown \\ 🤕 = Injury \\ ‼️ = Upset

Featured Matches:

Federer d Copil (Basel🏆): 7-6(5), 6-4

Key Moments 📊:

Set 1: As has been the running theme this week, Federer was broken early after a shocker of a game at 1*-2, ending with a double fault.

Set 1: But Fed broke back for 3-3 after the Swiss employed the ‘Gilles Simon’ school of eliciting an unforced error from your opponent by not missing (at 30-30 with Copil serving at 3*-2). By playing a succession of high margin, but hard to attack (low pace & deep) groundstrokes, Federer made sure he wouldn’t give his opponent an easy chance to attack, or a free point. It worked, as Copil’s own brand of first strike tennis faltered when forced to hit 7-8 shots in a rally, with the Romanian making back to back unforced errors to surrender the break.

Set 1: Both guys spent the rest of the 1st set looking absolutely impenetrable on serve. Federer finished with 100% of 1st serve points won (22/22) and Copil with 76% (19/25). Neither won a great deal of points on 2nd serve (Federer 6/13 and Copil 8/15), but it didn’t really matter with both landing a decent number of 1st serves in (both 63%).

Set 1: The tiebreaker featured Federer as the more stable player, not giving away any free points, and Copil somewhat crumbling under the pressure. The gulf in title match experience was telling, with the Romanian dumping a bad forehand unforced error to hand Fed the mini break for 4*-3. Federer then converted his 3rd set point with a great inside in forehand down the line.

Set 2: Wouldn’t you know it, Federer started off yet another set with a donation of serve. A fantastic Copil drop shot aside, it was Federer’s errors (especially a tame forehand into the net on break point) which caused the Swiss to go down 0-2 in the score.

Set 2: Break back chances came Federer’s way with Copil serving at 3*-1. Copil’s serve, for the first time this week, looked like it might be faltering after a double fault handed a BP to Fed (the Romanian shook out his arm indicating he may have a physical issue). But the serving blip didn’t last long, with Copil blasting two subsequent first serves to steady the ship and hold for 4-1.

Set 2: The two players produced the best game of the match at 4*-2 with Copil serving one again. Copil produced a ‘behind-the-backer’ (GIF below), before Federer grabbed the break back with a wonderful looping cross court forehand.

Set 2: Federer then started to look much more comfortable, holding serve in a sub-minute game and then immediately putting pressure on Copil’s next service game at 4-4. Back-to-back failed challenges by Copil, on Federer shots that caressed the baseline (by a millimetre each time) set up a break point. And then two further hawk eye calls (this time on Copil’s shots) crushed the Romanian’s spirits by showing them both out, by the same minuscule margins that Federer’s were in. Federer would serve for the title.

Fed then came through a tense, final service game, saving a break point with an un-returnable serve, to secure his 9th Basel title, and 99th ATP trophy overall.

Federer finished with a very tidy 22 winners to 14 unforced errros. Copil with a less tidy 25 winners to 32 unforced errors.

Fortune had favoured the brave for much of Copil’s run to the final this week. But some of the luck and aggression that had gone his way in earlier matches, turned against him in in the form of narrow misses in todays final. Federer was the more stable player with the exception of his two very ropey service breaks early in each set. An important week for Fed, who will relish being in the winners circle once again after a few months of drought. He may not have played his best this week, and his consistency was lacking. But he still managed to pull out the win, which is a great sign. Confidence will get a boost ahead of the ATP Finals in a few weeks.

— Your Basel champion🏆.

Anderson d Nishikori (Vienna🏆): 6-3, 7-6(3)

Key Moments 📊:

Set 1: The first half of the set was defined by a marathon, 14-minute Nishikori service game at 1*-2. Anderson finally converted his 5th break point of the game and looked in control as he held his own serve to take a 4-1 lead.

Set 1: A chance came for Nishikori to break back with Anderson serving at 4*-2, but the Japanese could only dump a 2nd serve return into the net. After such a great week of returning from Nishikori, the first set today represented a downshift, with Kei struggling with Anderson’s bigger and better serve, relative to the rest of the competition he had faced. Another chance to break came with Anderson serving for the set at 5*-3. But a huge 1st serve saved the South African, and he then went on to convert a set point after Nishikori netted a slice backhand.

Set 1: Two keys to the set. One was Nishikori not enjoying success on return early in the set. Kei, more often than not, would put the 2nd serve back in play when he had the break point at 4-2. The second was Anderson’s 1-2 punch success, dominating the point whenever he landed a 1st serve. Kando landed just 51% of his 1st serves in, but won 17/19 points when he did, coming up clutch with numerous big serves when facing scoreboard pressure.

The good news for Nishikori was that, after a slow start, he had finally started winning the majority of points off Anderson’s 2nd serve, finishing the set with an impressive 61% of 2nd serve return points won.

Set 2: The bad news for Nishikori was that Anderson’s 1st serve accuracy and power ramped up in the 2nd set. Kando landed a much improved 65% of his 1st serves in, winning a hugely impressive 22/24 points off that shot in the 2nd set. This just didn’t give Nishikori any realistic chance to get into his opponents service games, creating a grand total of zero break chances.

Set 2: Anderson create the lone break point chance of the set at 5-5, but Nishikori responded well taking us into a tiebreaker. Kando pounced first, storming to a 3-0 lead with some aggressive returning and thanks to some quite tame Nishikori serving. Kei lost serve once again at 3*-6 to hand Anderson multiple match points, which the South African converted.

Overall, a serving and big-point-play masterclass from Anderson, who was just too good, and big, on his 1st serve and one-two punches. Nishikori, who had been returning excellently all week, had no answers today. Kei’s 3rd final loss this year, and 9th(!) in a row.

— Your Vienna champion🏆.

SHOTS OF THE DAY 😮

— A huge return from Anderson, but also a great angle to examine the problems with Nishikori’s serve (this was a 1st serve, and a slow one at that).

— Wonderful backhand change of direction from Nishikori.

— Anderson has improved his volleying out of sight in the past 2 years. Nishikori did very well to put his slice on Anderson’s shoe laces, but the lanky South African got down so low.

— Federer played such a solid first set tiebreaker today. No mistakes, controlled aggression.

— Federer using Copil’s pace to redirect this whipped forehand into the open court.

— It was Federer’s first volley that did all the damage. Also notice how well Federer patrols the net after he hits that initial volley. Moves just enough to his left to shut off the down-the-line option for Copil.

— Behind-the-backer from Copil!

— Nearly Marius.

— Copil (finishing a 20+ shot rally) with a fantastic lob.

— Federer with some sublime serve and volley.

INTERVIEW & PRESS BEST BITS 🎤

Anderson after winning the Vienna title 🏆:

“We were playing for 30 minutes and there had only been four games (in the first set). It was really important to get the early break and also be able to consolidate that and go up 4-1. There was still so much tennis to play from that moment but it was obviously a very important moment in the match.” Source

“It means a lot to me to finally win my first title here in Vienna. Five or six years I watched Berdych playing Thiem here and the crowd support was something I’ve never seen before. It wasn’t quite the same for me playing here, but having so many people come and watch us throughout the week is really unbelievable.” Source

Federer after winning the Basel title 🏆: (On court interview)

“To the crowd I can‘t thank you enough, I‘m the happiest person now.”

“It's been a magical week. It was dream run for me.”

“There were people who suggested I would not be able to deliver results in UNIQLO, that it doesn’t suit me, but I don‘t bother about that, I already told the Japanese that I want to win more important tournaments and maybe another GS.” Source

“Regarding WTF we think it would make sense to get more match practice instead of just training...therefore we‘re considering to play in Paris, I‘m motivated.” Source

(Matt: Federer has said he will decide whether he plays Paris tomorrow (Monday))

Talking about his coin-toss decisions:

“In the old days it was funny with Rafa, he always chose return and I went for serve, then when they tossed the coin we just looked at each other and thought, yeah it‘s ok.” Source

Copil post final:

“I would love for it to be the beginning of my career at this level. It was an amazing week. Coming here, I was fighting in order to play and to stay in the Top 100... after this amazing week, I've just gained a lot of confidence in myself and I saw that I can play a much higher level of tennis and I could keep it up.” Source

OOP - PARIS MASTERS - MONDAY ⏰

Match to watch: 🔥

—

COURT CENTRAL

— (11am local, 10am UK, 6am EST) —

🇷🇺 Khachanov vs Krajinovic 🇷🇸 (H2H: 1-0) (Hard Court H2H: 1-0)

Prediction: Khachanov in 3

🇪🇸 Bautista Agut vs Johnson 🇺🇸 (H2H: 5-0) (Hard Court H2H: 4-0)

Prediction: Bautista Agut in 2

🇫🇷 Mannarino vs Humbert 🇫🇷 (1st Meeting)

Prediction: Mannarino in 2

— (NB 7:30pm local, 6:30pm UK, 2:30pm EST)

🇫🇷 Gasquet vs Shapovalov 🇨🇦 (1st Meeting) 🔥

Prediction: Gasquet in 3

🇫🇷 Mahut vs Tiafoe 🇺🇸 (1st Meeting)

Prediction: Tiafoe in 3

COURT ONE

— (11am local, 10am UK, 6am EST) —

🇬🇪 Basilashvili vs Millman 🇦🇺 (1st Meeting) 🔥

Prediction: Basilashvili in 3

🇩🇪 Kohlschreiber vs Haase 🇳🇱 (H2H: 1-1) (Hard Court H2H: 1-0) 🔥

Prediction: Kohlschreiber in 3

🇮🇹 Cecchinato vs J.Sousa 🇵🇹 (1st Meeting)

Prediction: Cecchinato in 3

🇦🇺 De Minaur vs F. Lopez 🇪🇸 (H2H: 1-0) (Hard Court H2H: 1-0) 🔥

Prediction: De Minaur in 3

EXTRAS 🔍📊🎤

— It looks like Dimitrov has started working with Agassi. Not much is currently known about the partnership (other than it was initiated by Dimitrov), if it’s permanent, a trial or just a one-off. But given Grigor’s shocker of a 2018 so far, it seems like a good decision to change things up. Based on what I’ve seen of Dimitrov training in Paris, Valleverdu is still part of the team for now. Source

— Mardy approves.

— From ballboy to 9-time champion. 1993 to 2018. Source

Nadal: “I’m not surprised at all by Novak’s comeback, he’s so good.” Video🎥

— This is the first time Nadal has spoken about his and Djokovic’s decision to play an exhibition match in Saudi Arabia. Interesting, but not surprising, to hear that the deal was made a year ago, long before the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Still not clear whether or not the exho will go ahead.

Rafa: “I know something happened very bad there. So we are looking about how evolves the situation and I hope the things will clarify as soon as possible.” Source

Djokovic: “Right now we just don't have obviously enough information, and we have to look into that a bit more and then we'll make our decision soon.” Source

Federer’s 2018 so far🏆:

11 tournaments played

7 Finals (64%)

4 Titles (36%)

One Slam (AO), two 500’s (Rotterdam & Basel), one 250 (Stuttgart).

The old fogey keeps winning and racking up titles. One more to #100.

— Kevin Anderson, after winning Vienna, has qualified for the ATP Finals in London.

2 spots left 👀.

LOL 😂

— Dimitrov: “You’re saying I SHOULDN’T hit 9 double faults every match?! That’s a fu*king gamechanger Andre.”

Source

— Just in case you ever questioned how much Federer values winning titles, here he is passionately molesting his trophy.

— The Rafa - Grigor bromance still very much a thing.

— TFW Federer won’t stop donating serve at the beginning of each set.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this weeks special coverage of Basel & Vienna (I don’t normally do daily coverage of ATP 500 events). If you’re not yet a subscriber and would like to get these Recaps for Paris this coming week (+the ATP Finals later in November), you can sign up below (first month is free). The Racquet Paris coverage starts on Tuesday, so I can take a 24hr break :D See you then! Matt

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GAME, SET, MATCH 👋

— The Racquet is created, and written, by Matt.

— You can find me on Twitter here.

See you on Tuesday for the start of the Paris Masters coverage!