Nadal calls quits on 2012 season

World number four Rafael Nadal confirmed this week that he would not take any further part in the 2012 season after withdrawing from both the Paris Masters and ATP Tour Finals in London.

The Spaniard has been battling a persistent knee injury for most of the season and has not played a competitive match since his shock second round loss to Lukas Rosol at Wimbledon back in June.

The eleven-time Grand Slam champion is said to be battling a partially torn patella tendon in his left knee that also ruled him out of both the Olympics and US Open earlier this year.

However with inflammation around his kneecap having not subsided the 26 year old declared on Thursday he would not return to the tour until he believed he was 100% fit and ready.

“It’s disappointing for me to miss the last two tournaments of the season in Paris and London, but it doesn’t come as a surprise,” Nadal said. “I will hopefully resume my tennis practice soon since I am making good progress with my recovery from injury.”

Nadal’s hard action style of play makes him a lot more prone to injury than other players on tour and with these next two tournaments both to be played on hard courts it would have likely increased the risk of further aggravating the knee injury. 

“We wish Rafa all the best as he continues his rehabilitation from injury,” ATP president Brad Drewett said, according to ESPN.co.uk. “Rafa is an incredible champion and it goes without saying that he has been missed on the ATP World Tour over the past few months. We look forward to welcoming him back on the tour very soon.”

Nadal’s withdrawal opens the door for both Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Janko Tipsarevic to claim the last two spots at the season ending ATP Tour Finals. Juan Martin Del Potro was the sixth man to qualify for the tournament after reaching the quarterfinals at Basel on Friday. 

Wozniacki claims Kremlin Cup victory

Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki has won the WTA Kremlin Cup after defeating 2011 US Open champion Samantha Stosur in Moscow.

The 22 year old claimed her 20^th career title, and second for the year, with a tightly fought 6-2 4-6 7-5 victory over her Australian opponent and leveled her head-to-head record with Stosur at 3-3.

The Dane came out firing at the Olympic Stadium taking an early 3-1 lead. She rattled the world number nine, who was clearly struggling on serve, breaking her three times during the opening set to take it in 37 minutes.

The second set exposed nerves from either side of the net and with both players struggling to find their rhythm, the first six games all resulted in breaks of serve. However it was Stosur who prevailed drawing level at one set a piece with her third ace of the match.

In the third Stosur looked on course for her first title since last year’s US Open triumph after going ahead 2-0, but failed to convert her shots and handed Wozniacki the crucial break back in the sixth game.

“I definitely had a few chances”, top seed Stosur said. “I think I went for the right shots but missed by a couple of inches.”

At 4-5, Stosur saved her first match point with her fourth ace but could not survive match point number two and handed Wozniacki the deciding break to win the match in 2hr 13min.

“It was a tough match and it could have gone either way,” Wozniacki said. “ I hit some good shots close to the line on important points and it made the difference.”

Meanwhile in the men’s final, Italian second seed Andreas Seppi came from behind to beat Brazilian Thomaz Belluci 3-6 7-6(3) 6-3.

Vettel Takes Title Lead With Victory in Korea

Photo courtesy of BBC Sport

Red Bull’s Sebastian Vettel took a dominant victory in the Korean Grand Prix and in doing so took the lead in the world championship title from Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso.

It was Vettel’s third victory in a row and he became the first driver this year to win four races. He was followed to the chequered flag by teammate Mark Webber who finished second and Alonso who rounded out the podium.

Vettel began the race in 2^nd position, behind pole sitter Webber, however by turn one the German had already managed to eclipse his colleague forcing Webber to settle for second place after challenges from both Alonso and McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton.

For the third time is as many races, a first lap incident ravaged the Grand Prix with Japanese Sauber driver Kamui Kobayashi running into the back of McLaren’s Jenson Button ultimately taking him and Mercedes driver Nico Rosberg out of the race.

Kobayashi served a drive through penalty on lap eight for causing the collision.

This was the second race in a row that Rosberg had been involved in a race ending collision on the first lap, whilst for Button, it was his first since the 2009 Belgium Grand Prix.

“It’s as if the race is two corners long. I don’t know what’s going on but it’s pretty disappointing. It’s a long race and there are so many overtaking opportunities here so there’s no need to do that.” Button said.

The race continued with Lewis Hamilton entering the pit lane on lap fourteen, the first of the frontrunners to do so, followed by fifth place Felipe Massa of Ferrari, Webber, and sixth place Kimi Raikkonen on lap fifteen, all of whom retained their track position.

With Kobayashi struggling after the result of the earlier incident, he was forced to retire on lap 18 followed by HRT driver Pedro de la Rosa on lap 20 with a failed gearbox.

It was not a good weekend for McLaren with Jenson Button forced out and teammate Hamilton struggling for downforce and pace. After lapping around a second slower than those around him, the British team were forced to change their strategy for their remaining driver from a two-stop race to a three-stop, resulting in a tenth place finish for Hamilton.

The 10^th place result effectively puts Hamilton’s title hopes out of reach.

Meanwhile, Red Bull became increasingly anxious about Vettel’s front-right tyre towards the end of the race, warning him over team radio to back off in certain corners around the track. However he prevailed and along with teammate Webber led the Red Bull team to their first one-two victory for the season.

Ferrari’s Alonso finished third and Brazilian teammate Felipe Massa fourth after Massa’s race engineer Rob Smedley warned his driver that he was “a little bit too close to Fernando” and to back off a few seconds.

Lotus’s Kimi Raikonnen finished fifth, stretching his lead over Hamilton in third place in the championship but is 48 points adrift of Vettel with only 1000 points still available in the four remaining races: India, Abu Dhabi, USA and Brazil.

Force India’s Nico Hulkenberg showing some resilience and impressive driving finished sixth followed by the other Lotus Romain Grosjean in seventh. Torro Rosso drivers Jean-Eric Vergne (8^th) and Daniel Ricciardo (9^th), along with Hamilton rounded out the final points positions.

Murray Beats Federer to Reach Final in Shanghai

US Open champion Andy Murray defeated world number one Roger Federer in their semi-final clash  at the Shanghai Masters overnight and will now play second seed Novak Djokovic in the final.

The 25 year old Scot is now on course to win his third straight title in the Chinese city after beating the Swiss ace, 6-4, 6-4 in a seemingly one-sided final.

Murray took the first set after three straight double faults from Federer handed him the crucial break in the 5^th game.

In the second, two rain delays threatened to upset Murray’s rhythm but he managed to keep his composure and served out the match to win.

"He didn't serve that well for him so I was able to be very aggressive on his second serve," Murray said. On Federer’s three straight double faults Murray added: "I haven't seen him do that in his whole career. I was being aggressive on the second serve, but still that is not something he would normally do.”

He now faces world number two Novak Djokovic in Sunday’s final.

Djokovic had an easy win against fourth seed Tomas Berdych, beating the Czech player 6-3, 6-4.

Djokovic had yet to drop a set in the tournament and continued this fine record throughout his match. He broke Berdych’s first and second service game and looked like running away with the opening set.

However 27 year old Berdych, who is competing for one of the remaining places in the ATP World Tour Finals in London next month, fought back with the Serb having to relinquish his lead to only one service break and made the five time grand slam champion work to serve out the set.

Yet Djokovic came back in the second set, needing just the one service break to advance to the final on Sunday against Murray.

Djokovic currently leads their head-to-head battle 8-7 however the Scot has won their past two previous meetings, the most recent victory being the US Open final.

Top 4 Reach Shanghai Masters Semis

The top 4 seeds Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Thomas Berdych all reached the semi-finals of the Shanghai Masters overnight.

Federer beat Croatia’s Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-4 and will now play two time defending champion Murray. Murray came off a hard fought win against a tenacious Radek Stepanek outlasting the Czech 4-6, 6-2, 6-3. At one point he was staring down the face of defeat after going a set down but recovered well to win the match and improve his record to 11-0 in the tournament.

“I just managed to turn it around in time,” the 25 year old Scot said. “I played actually very well I thought the last 10, 15 minutes of the match.”

Stepanek dominated the first set, denying Murray an opportunity to break serve. However Murray bounced back in the second set, breaking serve to lead 4-2. Stepanek then had two opportunities to try and break back but the US Open champion held his nerve and did not surrender his lead.

“It was quite a scrappy first couple of sets. Obviously the second set I managed to get a break, got a bit of momentum” Murray said. “For me, the beginning of the third set was what was most frustrating.”

Murray beat Federer in their last meeting, the Olympic final and also triumphed over the Swiss world number one in the Shanghai tournament in 2010.

“I assume he’s very confident right now and probably playing with a little less pressure,” Federer said. “Then again, that can go either way. It’s been a long year for all of us.”

Meanwhile, Djokovic cruised into the semi-final with an easy 6-3, 6-3 victory over German veteran Tommy Haas. The Serb world number two was never troubled against Haas as he sets his eyes firmly on trumping Federer to the world number one spot. He will now play Berdych who beat France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in a tightly fought 6-3, 7-6 contest.

Tsonga was undone by two unfortunate mistakes, which ultimately cost him the match. The first a shaky service game in the first set in which he lost to love giving Berdych a crucial break in the eighth game of the match. The second, a double fault at 4-4 in the tiebreak of the second set, which paved the way for the Czech to go on and grab the victory.

“I was feeling quite well on the court,” Berdych said. “I think the biggest difference between me and Jo was I was able to take the small chances during the first and especially the second set.”

Both players are eyeing off a spot in next month’s ATP World Tour Finals in London. Currently, Berdych lies in sixth sport in the race to the tournament while Tsonga is eighth. If successful they will join Federer, Murray, Djokovic and the injured Rafael Nadal who have already qualified for London.

Federer’s third round win against Swiss team-mate Stanislas Wawrinka secured him a record 300^th week at the top of the world rankings when they are next published on Monday.