[Season 4](Day 46) PSALT Wins YEC!

dav6789 · [Season 4](Day 46) PSALT Wins YEC!

PSALT won the biggest title of his career last week, claiming the Federer Masters Cup. He defeated NEA 7-6 4-6 6-4 in the title match at Geneva.

The tournament began with the shocking withdrawal of the top two players in the world, defending champion Vanessa Child and Yodavitch, who together had dominated the tour this year. Those withdrawals however didn’t affect the quality of the draw and the matches to come. Former US Open finalist Srroganoff and former French Open champion J-man replaced Child and Yodavitch. The next best player to Child and Yodavitch this year, NEA, took over as top seed.

In the Round-Robin groups, Group A turned out to be far more competitive than Group B, with 4 of the 6 matches going to 3 sets. Group A featured NEA, dav6789, PSALT and Stroganoff. NEA, coming in off a win at the Mauresmo Masters, continued his great form. He won his first two matches before losing to PSALT 6-2 2-6 6-4, in what turned out to be a decisive match. Apart from a straight set loss to Stroganoff, PSALT had also looked comfortable in his early matches. He had a 6-3 6-7 6-4 win over dav6789, plus the win over NEA, which ensured he finished the group at the top. dav6789, who has suffered from a slump in form for a while, began to pick his game up in Geneva. He lost two close matches against NEA and PSALT and won his final match 7-5 6-7 6-3 over Stroganoff. dav6789’s win over Stroganoff meant NEA would take the second place in the SF.

Group B had Jennacourt, J-man, x.doublea and Tricatrina. Former finalist Jennacourt played some of her worst ever tennis and failed to gain a set in her three matches. In contrast, J-man looked the most impressive player in the Round-Robin stages, winning his three matches in straight sets. There was an exciting battle between Tricatrina and x.doublea to decide who would finish the group in 2nd place. Both had lost to J-man and beaten Jennacourt. x.doublea prevailed in an epic, winning 6-4 6-7 6-4.

From there, the tennis only got better. All four of the semi-finalists were from the same generation, guaranteeing a younger Champion. PSALT defeated x,doublea 7-5 4-6 7-6 to reach the final for the second straight year. PSALT, who had been here before, looked more comfortable in the early stages and was able to win the first set. x.doublea began to look more relaxed in the second and levelled the match. The final set was top quality tennis all the way through, with PSALT prevailing in a tie-break. x.doublea was appearing at the Year-Ending Championships for the first time. In the other SF, J-man entered as favourite against NEA based on his form. NEA was playing with the chance to reach the number 1 ranking if he won this match. J-man had played his best tennis during the Round-Robin stage, and all the other players know that he is incredibly hard to beat when on form. J-man won the first set 6-4 and looked to be on his way to the final. However, NEA hung in the match as ever and forced his way onto a final set. There, J-man couldn’t quite recover and NEA took advantage to win 4-6 7-5 6-4 to claim the number 1 ranking. He had to keep the celebrations aside, as he still had a final to play!

The final was an even better display of tennis than the SF. PSALT, who had nightmares from his loss to Child in this same match, was not about to let the chance to win this title slip again. Last year, he let a 5-2 final set lead go. This year, he impressively kept his cool in the big moments, and finally ended the challenge of NEA 7-6 4-6 6-4. NEA will displace Child as the world number 1 next week. Such was the quality of the final stages of this year’s Federer Masters Cup, all three matches were nominated for the ITF’s Top 15 matches. This tournament has shown that tennis can still be shown at the highest level without Vanessa Child and Yodavitch. This tournament had many players bringing out their best tennis and showing that they could threat Child and Yodavitch next year. Child and Yodavitch have their work cut out for them at the start of next season.

This week, the final event of the year, the Team Cup, will take place. Defending Champions Great Britain, NEA and dav6789 will host the event.