GW30 - BEIJING - EARLY LOCKOUT

The lockout for GW30 (WTA Masters Event in Beijing) is earlier than normal, and is set for tonight, Friday Sept 29th at 11pm EST.  This lockout has been listed on the website for a few days, but because its earlier than normal, a reminder seemed necessary.

I have also provided a full breakdown of both the Main and Qualifying Draws, to go along with the breakdown of the Dark Horse selection.  Remember, if you would like a copy of your own, open the sheet, click on FILE, scroll down to MAKE A COPY, and give it a name. The file can be found here. BEIJING WTA

Good Luck Everyone

OVERALL STANDINGS - AS OF GW28

More often than not, a picture speaks volumes, but every once in a while context is essential as that simple snapshot doesn't tell the whole story.  When we look at the Overall Standings after this week (GW28), context is truly essential as although there was zero movement inside our top 6, it doesn't mean that we are in the same situation that we were in after GW27!!

Aoun (Fedex Superstars) continues to lead, but his lead was trimmed to 73 points!  His week got off to an ominous start as 2 of his players withdraw before their first match of the week (Belinda Bencic and Lin Zhu). His week was saved by Maria Sakkari as he selected her as a Dark Horse, and as a result, he finished 44th. 

Samir (Mirzini Sinovi) continues to sit in 2nd, but thanks to a 12th place finish, he's now the closest to the lead that he's been all season.  Samir had both Zverev and Sakkari win titles this week.  He also had CarGar reach the Semi's.

Dragan (Nadal's Forehand) continues to sit in 3rd, but thanks to a 14th place finish, he gained 87 points on our leader and is only 147 points back.  Dragan was the only manager ranked inside the top 10 that didn't have Sakkari.  He did have Zverev win a title, and had great runs by Leylah Fernandez, Caroline Garica and Sebastian Korda.

Tricia (Prepare for Czech Mate) continues to sit in 4th, but thanks to a 6th place finish, she gained 120 points on our leader and is only 174 points back.  She had both Zverev and Sakkari win titles and had CarGar reach the Semi's.

Mikhail (Roger That) continues to sit in 5th, but thanks to a 29th place finish, he gained 30 points on our leader and is only 282 points back.  He had both Zverev and Sakkari (Dark Horse) win titles and had CarGar reach the Semi's.

YES it continues......

Anthony (Alcarazian Domination), who's in 6th, finished 9th and picked up 110 points

Jamie (The Umpire Strikes Back), who's in 7th, finished in 17th and picked up 65 points.

Every one of Aoun's closest rivals gained ground on him this week, and puts the Overall Lead into jeopardy moving forward!!  Considering GW29 has another blind draw in Beijing and Astana, it should be interesting to see this Leaderboard once the final ball has been played this week!

Btw do not look now, but one of our GOAT's, Vlad (Rafa), who has struggled virtually all year, finished 2nd this past week, and is up to 34th in the Overall Standings.  He's always gained massive ground in the final third of the season, so you have been warned!

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.

GW29 RESULTS

 Just a reminder to everyone that no scores from Game Week 29 (WTA Matches in Tokyo and Ningbo, and ATP Matches in Beijing and Astana) will be uploaded onto the website until after Game Week 28 is concluded.

 

They are set to play Semi-Final matches in both Zhuhai and Chengdu (Game Week 28) later today, so both of these events should come to a conclusion in a couple of days.