Asian Swing, part 2

No big surprises in the quarterfinals at either Kuala Lumpur or Bangkok. All eight players in the semifinals are seeded, and at Kuala Lumpur it's the top four seeds. I think the only surprises might have been Troicki over Isner (it's Troicki's first win over a top-50 player since Rainer Schuettler at the World Team Championship in May, and before that it was an injured David Nalbandian in Miami) and the fact that none of the quarterfinals in Kuala Lumpur were really competitive.

So the semis are Davydenko-Soderling, a rematch of their U.S. Open encounter, and Gonzalez-Verdasco, a battle of the Fernandos. I'm guessing it will be a Soderling-Gonzalez final, but it could go either way. In Bangkok, Tsonga and Simon should both come through easily against Troicki and Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer.

Looking ahead to Tokyo and Beijing, there are some great players all set for qualifying. Tomaz Bellucci and Somdev Devvarman are both trying to make it into Tokyo's main draw, along with Marco Chiudinelli, who beat Safin last week and is trying to make Switzerland's list of notable tennis players one name longer. The Tokyo draw is stacked with relatively low-ranking Japanese players, so these guys should be able to make it into the main draw.

Donald Young, who is trying to get in Beijing, may not be so lucky. He was unfortunate enough to draw Feliciano Lopez in the first round of qualifying. Why Lopez, who is ranked 34, is going through the quallies is a bit beyond me. But it's just bad luck for the Donald. Robby Ginepri is also in the qualifying draw, and he has an easier time of it, with a Chinese wildcard in the first round, but Michael Llodra could be a tough opponent in the second round. The Frenchman has not been having a banner year, but he's still a solid player.

It's interesting that the Asian swing is growing in importance on the schedule, even though the men's tour has not had an Asian player break onto the scene in a long time. This is highlighted by Paradorn Srichipan's attempt to start to his comeback in doubles this week, which probably didn't go the way he had hoped. Here's hoping he can return to the tour regularly next year, along with Japanese player Kei Nishikori. These Asian tournaments would be doing even better if the home crowds had some big-name players they could cheer for.

Asian Swing

The time after the U.S. Open is often disregarded by many tennis fans. Particularly for American fans, the U.S. Open is understood to be the end of any tennis that people are interested in. As it is the final grand slam of the year, the tournaments that follow (even the end-of-year championships) can be a bit anticlimactic for your average tennis fan. As in football (up until this year), the Pro Bowl was always played after the Superbowl, but nobody cared.

While I can see why some tennis fans ignore the Asian swing and the European indoor seasons, they're really missing out. This is often the time for up-and-coming or underachieving players to really make their mark, since the top players can begin to feel worn down by the year-long grind - two years ago, David Nalbandian beat both Federer and Nadal in back-to-back tournaments. Last year, JW Tsonga emerged victorious in his first Masters Series event in Paris. And Murray won Madrid's last Master Series shield.

There has already been some exciting tennis this year, just a week and a half into this part of the year. Tsonga played Ernests Gulbis (ranked just inside the top 100) to three tiebreaks, Monfils broke a four year title drought, and Monaco lost in his third final this year in the last clay court event on the calendar, giving him the most clay court wins of any player on tour this year. Still, no titles.

While this week's Bangkok draw may not be the flashiest (Tsonga, Simon, Isner are the highlights after Safin lost and Querrey withdrew with injury) the quarterfinals in Kuala Lumpur are nothing but fireworks: Davydenko-Monfils, Soderling-Berdych, Youzhny-Gonzalez, and Gasquet-Verdasco. That's the top six seeds, all in the ATP top sixteen, and two former top ten players in Gasquet and Youzhny. Despite not having any of the huge names, that's an incredbily strong draw for a low-level tournament in Malaysia. Mouth-watering, really.

I think the higher-ranked player is the favorite in every one of these matches (with the possible exception of Davydenko-Monfils) but all of them could be close. It's good to Gasquet back on the tournament trail, and Youzhny had a good win over David Ferrer. Any of the players left in the draw could pull out a win in this tournament, not only because of the strength of every player remaining, but also because a fair number of these players have been dealing with some injuries over the course of the year.

I'll try to watch as much of it streaming as I can. We'll see how it goes!