Yesterday was a day of upsets at the ATP Shanghai Masters. The day started off with the unfortunate withdrawal of Tommy Haas, whose unfortunate trysts with injuries seem to follow him even in the twilight of his career. Tennis fans must have been disappointed at being denied a potentially great match between Juan Martin Delpotro and Haas [a match I picked as the match of the day]. Enter Gael Monfils and Roger Federer and the two of them put on some breath-taking tennis to give us one of the most entertaining tennis matches in recent history.

Monfils, Almagro and Florian Mayer combined to oust 3 of the biggest names in the draw – Federer, Berdych and Ferrer, respectively. Almagro and Berdych served up a match full of drama and great shot-making. Almagro eventually prevailed in a 3rd set tie-breaker to end Berdych’s run in Shanghai. Let us jump into the exciting part – the predictions.

Tsonga vs Florian Mayer: Florian Mayer can play some great ball, ask Rafael Nadal who lost to Mayer a few years back in Shanghai. However, Tsonga is a force of nature when he is playing good tennis and right now he is. Tsonga in straight sets.

Delpotro vs Almagro: These two played a very exciting match last week in Tokyo, a match in which Delpotro came up trumps. This is my pick for the best match of the day. I will take Delpotro in 3 sets.

Djokovic vs Monfils: Monfils played some magical tennis to serve up a tennis feast yesterday. Towards the end of the match, Monfils was totally out of gas and that does not bode well if you have to play Novak Djokovic the next day. Not when he is in the middle of a serious run in a country he loves to play. Djokovic is the obvious pick in 2 sets. Thanks for the fun, Monfils. May the force be with you…..

Nadal vs Wawrinka: We have a one-handed backhand Swiss player against a Spaniard with 13 slams, but this is not Fedal, folks. It is Waw-dal or Nadwinka if you will. I had picked Raonic to come through to the quarter-finals, but Wawrinka who can be a nightmare for the best of players has added a dash of scare into Raonic’s bid for a position in the final 8 players to head to London. This is a red-alert match, if you are a Nadal fan. Wawrinka will throw a lot of blistering shots at Nadal but Nadal in this form should find a way out. Nadal in 2 tough sets.