Events / Sean Calvert / 11 October 2010 /

The big boys are once again back in action at a Masters event with both Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic looking to make it two wins in a row after prevailing last week. And the Serb has a great chance of doing just that....

Last week's advice proved to be very solid indeed in both Japan and China, where both Gael Monfils and Novak Djokovic respectively reached the finals.

Monfils, sporting a Bacary Sagna-esque braided hair style, which has the appearance of a comedy disguise, lost out to world number one Rafa Nadal, while Nole stormed to victory in Beijing as predicted.

The Serb has no time to rest though, as he hotfoots it to Shanghai along with the rest of the world's top tennis stars for the Shanghai Rolex Masters, which has a prize fund totalling a cool $3.24 million.

Defending champion here is Nikolay Davydenko, who enjoyed a great autumn last year, winning this and memorably the ATP World Tour Finals in November.

The Russian is in nothing like that sort of form this year though and he's a whopping [50.0] to defend his title, which is about right based on his results since coming back from a wrist injury sustained back in March.

Davy lost to fellow countryman Igor Andreev last time out in Kuala Lumpur and overall he has a 9-10 record since returning to the tour in June, with his best finish being a quarter final on clay in Umag three months ago.

All of which is good news for Nadal, who has been drawn in Davy's quarter and a repeat of last year's final between the pair would be a good result for the out of touch Russian.

Nadal on the other hand has just won his seventh title of the year in Japan and he's rightly favourite this week at around [3.75].

The Pearl de Manacor was aided by two retirements on his way to the final here last year and he doesn't have the easiest of starts in 2010, as he will play the winner of Gilles Simon and Stan Wawrinka in his opening match.

Both of those have been in good touch lately and he also has Denis Istomin, who troubled him in New York, Mardy Fish and Jurgen Melzer in his starting section, so it's no gimme of an opener.

The adjacent section of Nadal's quarter looks poor, with only Davydenko and Verdasco of any real note, but Verdasco isn't in much better form than Davy, with a straight sets first match stuffing by Benjamin Becker in Bangkok being his last tournament result.

The adjoining quarter to Nadal's is where Andy Murray has been drawn and the opposition there doesn't look up to much, which is good news for the out of touch Scot.

An ailing Murray was taken out by veteran Ivan Ljubicic is comfortable straights in Beijing but in normal circumstances the likes of Marcos Baghdatis, Radek Stepanek, Feliciano Lopez, Sam Querrey and a returning from injury Jo-Wilfried Tsonga shouldn't prove too much of an obstacle.

This is the coach-less 2010 Andy Murray though and you wouldn't back him with huge confidence for this at around [8.6] on his tournament debut, given his recent struggles.

The Scot also has Tokyo semi finalist Stepanek first up and that is never a first round draw to relish.

The opposite half of the draw is where Roger Federer, making his event debut, and Djokovic are drawn - assuming Djoko can get a flight from Beijing in time for his first round match against probably Ljubicic.

Fed's immediate section looks straightforward with the possible exception of John Isner, who also makes his event debut, and the occasionally great but very erratic Croatian Marin Cilic.

The next mini-section looks very competitive and tough to call, with Robin Soderling, Davis Cup hero Janko Tipsarevic, Michael Llodra, David Ferrer and Thomaz Bellucci all with a chance of progressing.

Soderling was beaten by Ferrer in Beijing and has been up and down this year, while Tipsy is impossible to predict at the best of times.

I would expect Federer to prevail from that quarter, having had a rest since that shattering defeat to Djokovic in New York and having reached the final of the last three Masters events.

Djokovic's run in New York was a real boost for him and his record at this time of year 12 months ago was superb, with wins in Beijing, Basel and Paris before running out of gas in London.

He also reached the semis here (losing to Davydenko) in 2009 and assuming he's OK after Beijing, he should be too strong for Tomas Berdych, Andy Roddick, Monfils, Richard Gasquet, Ernests Gulbis and Philipp Kohlschreiber.

So, Djokovic and Nadal are the form guys going into the event and it's worth sticking with the Serb again this week at a handy [6.8] to take the Shanghai Masters.

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