By Chris Oddo | Monday, October 13, 2014
Roger Federer won his 23rd Masters 1000 title on Sunday in Shanghai, which catapulted him to hero status in our eyes once again.
Photo Source: Getty
Another week is in the books, and a fresh batch of heroes—and zeros—to go with it. With a Masters 1000 in Shanghai and three WTA events splattered over Europe and Asia there was plenty of action from which to cull our content.
Without any further ado, on to the heroes and zeroes…
The Heroes
Roger Federer
Roger Federer turned a match point-saving marathon into his 23rd Masters 1000 title, which included an eye-opening straight-sets defeat of red-hot Novak Djokovic in the semifinals. Hard not to agree with the T-shirt after watching the Mighty Fed’s performance in Shanghai:
Alison Riske
The 24-year-old American notched her first career title in Tianjin, taking down Belinda Bencic in straight sets. Riske has come a long way from the days where the only place she could win a match was Birmingham. She’s now a bona fide member of the WTA’s top 50 with a title under her belt.
Karolina Pliskova
Pliskova’s year keeps getting better, as the 22-year-old ace machine rises to No. 27 in the rankings (career high, ka-ching) after winning the Linz title.
Sam Stosur
Fueled by tuna triangles, the former US Open maintained her dominance in Osaka, notching her third (of six career) titles in the Japanese city.
The Zeroes
Fabio Fognini
Dude, just stop it already!!! Fognini received a measly $2,000 fine for flipping off Shanghai. Yeah, it was subtle, and kind of not directed at anyone in particular, but given Fognini’s history and how ineffective previous fines have been, maybe something a tad steeper would have been a bit more appropriate in this case?
Leonardo Mayer
The Argentine is a hero for playing an awesome match against Roger Federer in Shanghai, but he’s a zero for missing this backhand:
Studs and Duds
Stud: Gilles Simon
The Frenchman reached the final of a Masters 1000 for the first time in six years, taking out Stan Wawrinka and Tomas Berdych along the way.
Dud: Seeds in Linz
In a field of seeds that included eight top 40 players, only one—eventual titlist Karolina Pliskova—made the quarterfinals.
Stud-Dud Combo: Stan Wawrinka
Wawrinka was bounced from Shanghai without winning a match, but he officially qualified for the World Tour Finals by the end of the week, so all’s well that ends well.
Jam of the Week: Bryan Brothers and Andy Summers
Hard to top this one, even when you’ve just become the first doubles team in history to have won all nine existing Masters 1000 titles and claimed the year-end ranking for a record 10th time:
A good day...got a trophy and then got to play the blues with Police guitar god, Andy Summers! @shanghairolexmasters #fyeah
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Top Tweets
1. Somebody get this man a wild card!!!
2. Petra found a new man!
3. No words for this
It Must Be Love Moment of the Week
How about this fellow getting out the ring while the stadium’s roving camera stays fixed on him during a changeover at the Federer-Djokovic semifinal. Now those are some FAST HANDS!
Quote of the Week:
Gilles Simon on Roger Federer:
“I feel he's even more aggressive. Before he really wanted to prove that he was the best on every part of the game. Sometimes he was too [stubborn] to change. Now it's not the case anymore. I feel today I was playing, for example, very good from the baseline. Then I could see that he was trying to come more often to the net, playing more serve and volley. He's realizing better what is happening on the court.”
Movers and Shakers
Saisai Zheng and Ana Konjuh make their top 100 debuts, with Zheng coming in at 92 and 16-year-old Konjuh coming in at 100.
After his semifinal appearance in Shanghai, Feliciano Lopez climbs 7 spots to No. 14. Gilles Simon is back in the top 20 after his Shanghai final, climbing 11 spots from 29 to 18.
Congrats to Serena Williams, who passed Martina Hingis to move into sole possession of the fourth-most weeks as WTA No. 1 all-time, at 2010.
Congrats to Alla Kudryavtseva and Anastasia Rodionova for grabbing the final Singapore slot by winning the title in Tianjin.