An ATP 1000 (Shanghai) and a WTA 1000 (Wuhan) this week so there were big points on offer especially with top ranked players going deep.
Now you may wonder why we have three winners pictures when there were only two tournaments. I felt it was fitting to give our very own Kimmer Coppejans pride of place this week. As many of you are aware, Kimmer has pretty much missed the whole year due to injury so his ranking has suffered as a result. Winning the Monastir title this week is the first step in getting back up the rankings and hopefully better things from a tennis point of view for 2025. Congratulations Kimmer.
So first to Wuhan. Once again Swiatek and Rybakina were absent from the main draw and Badosa and Muchova who had done so well in Beijing also pulled out of the event. Nevertheless it was still a strong field with Wuhan queen Sabalenka, Chinese "Queenwen" Zheng, Beijing champ Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini and Jess Pegula heading up the rankings.
Jess Pegula was the only notable early casualty losing to another Chinese talent Xinyu Wang who would go on to reach the semi finals. Facing her in the semi final would be compatriot Qinwen Zheng who had made her 2nd 1000 semi final in consecutive game weeks thanks to a hard fought win over Paolini. Qinwen was to win the all Chinese match up fairly comfortably to progress to the final.
Meanwhile on the other side of the draw Coco Gauff continued her good form from Beijing to set up a semi final against Aryna Sabalenka who is very much at home on the Wuhan courts having never been beaten in the city! Coco was outstanding in the opening set and looked on course to score a notable victory but those serving problems came back to haunt her and 20 double faults contributed hugely to her ultimate defeat.
And Aryna extended her unbeaten record in Wuhan to 17 matches as she defeated Qinwen in 3 sets to win the title. Qinwen put up a good battle against an opponent she notoriously struggles with but Sabalenka was just too strong in the end.
In Shanghai the draw gods once again put Alcaraz and Sinner on the same side of the draw while Djokovic seemingly had an easier route to the final with 2nd seed Zverev not 100% fit.
As it was Alcaraz didn't manage to set up the highly anticipated semi final with Sinner thanks to an outstanding performance by big hitting Czech Tomas Machac who had a terrific week in Shanghai and was able to overcome the Spaniard in the Quarter Finals to set up a semi final with Sinner.
On the other side of the draw, Zverev had a surprise exit at the hands of David Goffin while Djokovic was playing some of his best tennis to cruise through to the QF where he dropped a set against another impressive young Czech Jakub Mensik.
Both Sinner and Djokovic advanced through to the final in straight sets, Sinner seeing off Machac and Djokovic once again getting the better of Taylor Fritz.
In recent times, Jannik Sinner has been getting the better of most players and that includes Novak. So it proved once again in the final with Novak unable to create any opportunities on the Sinner serve for the third match in the row between the pair. Sinner eventually prevailed 7-6, 6-3.
Here is the final FTL table for game week 30.
Its been a remarkable couple of weeks for Aleksey P and his team of Broccoli florets! He was the top of the pops in Game Week 29 and was only just pipped for the top spot this time by 7 points but the honours for game week 30 go to Asen and Referee with an impressive total of 806 points.
Congratulations Asen!
Congrats also to Roger That, Alcarazian Domination and la Vamos Team who finished 3rd, 4th and 5th respectively.
Lets take a quick look at the head to head between the two top teams as there was little to chose between them.
You know you're having a good week when you have all 4 finalists for both the ATP and WTA 1000 events. Both Asen and Aleksey captained a winner and had all four finalists. Indeed both had exactly the same starting 8 players! This includes the non playing Swiatek but Asen's replacement Tommy Paul earned more points than Aleksey's replacement Pegula and if we are looking for the difference between these two then that might just be it! Both earned similar points from their dark horses with Machac proving to be a great pick for Asen!
Asen takes the level 2 prize for Game Week 30.
