GAME WEEK 28 FINAL RESULTS

On paper Game Week 28 looked like something that was going to be rather easy to navigate from an FTL perspective, and then all hell broke lose.  A Masters 1000 event was set to take place in Guadalajara, but because the Asian Swing has started up and some huge events are coming up in Tokyo and Beijing, there was a mass exodus from Guadalajara.  By the time the dust settled, there wasn't a single top 5 player in the field, and only 13 of the top 30 players ended up being in the Main Draw!!! Meanwhile, there was a long list of Davis Cup matchups going on just days before the start of the events being played in  Zhuhai and Chengdu, so by the time the dust settled, there was barely a top 20 player in either event.  

With all of this being said, I'd like to give a huge shoutout to our victors this week - Maria Sakkari (Guadalajara), Xiyu Wang (Guangzhou), Alexander Zverev (Chengdu) and Karen Khachanov (Zhuhai)

Its hard not to be happy for Maria Sakkari to be honest.  She's been one of the most likeable players on tour for quite some time, and had struggled mightily over the past few months.  After losing in R1 at the US Open (her 3rd straight loss in R1 at the Slams this year), she sounded depressed and like she needed to take time off n get away from the sport.  Something changed her mind and she played the very next week, and then got her 2nd victory of her career this week in Guadalajara.  She didn't exactly play the who's who in the sport this week, but when you havent won a WTA Tour Level event in 4 years, a WIN IS A WIN and she did so without losing a set all week!  The fan fare for Maria in Guadalajara was truly something else - you had to wonder if her opponents were wondering if this event was actually being played in Greece!!!

 

Xiyu Wang won her Maiden WTA Tour Level event this week in Guangzhou.  Its hard to describe the quality of field as anything other than poor to be honest as the Majority of the top players were in Guadalajara, and some of the top Asian players weren't available as they were playing in the Asian Games.  But similar to Maria, a WIN IS A WIN, and this will be huge for her career going forward.  She won both the SF (Greet Minnen) and Final (Magda Linette) without losing a set.  Her ranking jumped 30 spots and she has moved up to 58th in the WTA Rankings.

 

Alexander Zverev pulled out of the Davis Cup due to an injury that he sustained at the US Open, so his status for the Chengdu was rather questionable.  Due to a R1 bye, he didn't have to play his first match until Thursday, and didn't look back as he won the event.  It wasn't the easiest of victories (he had to play a 3rd set in 3 of his 4 matches), but again a WIN IS A WIN, and when he's trying to accumulate ranking points to Qualify for the YEC, every one of those 250 points that he accumulated this week may end up being very important.

Not only did Karen Khachanov win his first match in 3.5 months, but he won the event in Zhuhai.  Karen had been sidelined with an injury that he sustained at the French Open, and altho he came back at the US Open, he didn't look anywhere near ready to be on court and lost in straight sets to Michael Mmoh.  As a result, it was hard to know what Karen was going to look like this week.  He struggled in his first match against Alex Bolt, but Bolt didn't convert a single break chance in the first set (11 opportunities!!!), and then found himself down a set and a break to Mackenzie McDonald, and the next thing you know, he's holding the title.  He's got a heck of a record during the Asian Swing and The Paris Masters, so he could be a huge problem going forward!

I'd also like to offer a HUGE KUDDOS to Caroline Dolehide for making the Final in Guadalajara!!  Her ranking will now be up to a Career High (42) as she moved up 69 places due to the result.  Due to the withdrawals of many of the top players, this was always going to be an opportunity for someone to make some incredible head way in their ranking, and she definitely took advantage.  I'm still not sure who saw this coming tho, as she didn't have a single Main Draw WTA Tour level victory since April!!! (Charleston).  Btw she beat some real talented players along the way to the final (Peyton Stearns, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Martina Trevisan, Sofia Kenin)

 

In terms of FTL, many a manager were left scrounging as they tried to put together a lineup for the week due to the withdrawals of many of the top players.  I know that my preliminary lineup had My Captain and 3 Key Players all withdraw from their respective events.  The side effect of the mass exodus from Guadalajara was that many of the seeds were eligible to be selected as a Dark Horse!!!  (Hell, Maria Sakkari won the event as a Dark Horse)

 

PJ (Drop It Like It's Hot) has struggled this season, but in any given week, you just never know whats going to happen, and won this week in truly dominant fashion as he amassed an incredible 480 points and eclipsed the field by 43 points -  there were only 9 other managers that accumulated 400 points.  He had 2 winners (Zverev and Sakkari), a Finalist (Linette), and 2 other SF (Korda and Musetti).

 

Its hard to give too much credit to anyone else considering the pure dominance by PJ!!  Vlad (Rafa), Devin (The Right Struff), Elin (Grylla's Golden GIF's) and Sagar (Goaldies) round out the top 5.