ATP Beijing: Novak Djokovic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Final?

By Shane Lambert on Friday, October 5th 2012
ATP Beijing: Novak Djokovic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Final?

ATP Beijing (2012 China Open) is down to semifinalists following a day of quarterfinals on Friday. The two main title threats that remain in the draw are Novak Djokovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Tsonga, the three seed in the tournament, will face Feliciano Lopez on Saturday in what could be a mild test for the Frenchman while top seeded Djokovic appears very unlikely to be bothered by Florian Mayer.

Djokovic and Mayer have met just twice in the past and the current World No. 2 has won both of those matches. Their most recent contest came at Wimbledon this past summer, a quarterfinal match that saw Djokovic cruise to a straight sets victory. Their other previous meeting came on a hard court surface in Dubai, a result that also saw Djokovic win in straight sets as well.

Mayer, currently ranked 29th in the world, has been a factor in some tournaments over the last couple of years. However he still only has one career title to his credit and he's not likely to increase that total to two in Beijing this weekend. A draw through Djokovic and then perhaps Tsonga en route to the 2012 China Open title is way too high of a mountain for the German to climb. He's only beaten a top ten player once in 2012 (John Isner) and beating two of them in a row should prove far too challenging. Arguably the main reason Mayer is still alive in Beijing is because he's faced no one more proven than Fabio Fognini through three rounds of the tournament.

Sunday's final in Beijing appears to be shaping up as an Djokovic/Tsonga affair. The two players have a history against one another and Tsonga has big wins over the Serb. However heading into the weekend Djokovic has won five straight matches against the Frenchman (discounting a walkover loss in Paris last year). Betting odds for ATP Beijing now make Djokovic a big favorite to win the title (ie. bet365 3/10) and the World No. 2 is a tremendous favorite to beat Mayer on Saturday (bet365 1/40).

Tsonga and Lopez will meet early on in the day (12:30pm ICT) while Djokovic will face Mayer later in the evening (not before 7:30pm ICT). 

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