Percy896's Tennis Forum

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As the season rapidly comes to a close, all of the players on the FTL tour are looking to play well to get those extra points and end the year on a high. For the top players, this part of the season is particularly important, as 8 of them will qualify for the Federer Masters Cup.

No one player has been able to dominate the indoor season. With the world's top two players absent, world number 3 NEA has been playing the best tennis so far. Vanessa Child hasen't played since winning the US Open, and pulled out of the Vaidisova Grand Prix. Yodavitch hasen't played since retiring from the Ljubicic International final with a back injury.

In the early part of the indoor season, NEA defended the Ljubicic International and J-man surprisingly won the Sharapova Cup over another surprise finalist x.doublea. Since then, NEA and J-man have continued their good form. NEA won the Nalbandian Open, and J-man won the First Union Classic.

At the First Union Classic, the top seed J-man eased his way through the draw. He defeated Valkyrie 6-4 6-4 in the final. The next week at the Nalbandian Open, NEA came through tough matches against Stroganoff and Ying-Chang. Ying-Chang upset 3 seeds, most notably 2nd seed PSALT, on her way to the final. NEA stopped her run in a titanic struggle 6-2 5-7 7-5. It was Ying-Chang's first tournament since taking on a new coach, former player Na Li. After winning the final, NEA announced he was pulling out of all other tournaments to focus on winning a coveted Tier 1 title at the Mauresmo Masters.

PSALT then started to send signs to the tour that he was ready to end the season well. He won the Haas Outdoors straight after the US Open, but had two disappointing losses at his next two events. He rebounded at the Vaidisova Grand Prix. After beating Agassi2000 in 3 sets in the semis, he brushed aside leftys_rock 6-4 6-2 in the championship match. leftys_rock was another surprise finalist of the indoor season. In the first round, she ended J-man's 7 match winning streak 6-3 4-6 7-5 and also beat stevos14 and 4th seed Jennacourt. Meanwhile at the Austria Tennis Trophy in Vienna, Mollusk became the only player to win an event 4 years in a row.

In Berlin, Stroganoff defeated Bizet 6-4 5-7 6-3 to win the title. Stroganoff beat the in-form Ying-Chang in the SF, while off-form Bizet beat Mollusk (fresh off a victory in Vienna) and top seed Tricatrina. Both players are still within reach of a place at the Federer Masters Cup, where Bizet is a two-time former champion. Former top 10 player Sheila was the main star in Oslo, beating Sarahginia in under an hour to claim the title.

There are now just two weeks left of the regular season. The Mauresmo Masters and the Canadian International are where the top players will try and gain points to qualify for the YEC.