Janko Tipsarevic takes on Dmitry Tursunov in the opening round of the Japan Open.
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Tipsarevic gave his chances of qualifying for the end of season ATP World Finals a big boost by picking up his first career title in Kuala Lumpur at the weekend.
Tipsarevic currently lies in 13th position but with four remaining spots still left to be filled over the next month, there's all to play for. Tipsarevic currently trails Tomas Berdych (who lies in eighth place) by 320 points but he insists he's not looking that far ahead.
"I know that it’s a really long way off," he said. "I have a certain amount of points and another eight guys have like 700 or 800 points more than me, which means I need to perform really good at the Masters 1000 events in Shanghai and Paris in order to have the chance to overtake Tsonga or Fish. But I’m not thinking about that. Since I’m going to stay Top 20 or Top 15 for the rest of the year, I would be overwhelmed if I had the chance to finish Top 10."
Tursunov is in reasonable form himself having worked his way back from outside the top 100 to the world's top 40 and he reached the Kuala Lumpur quarters last week.
Tipsarevic leads 2-1 on the head-to-head, winning in straight sets at Wimbledon three years ago. Look for him to take this in straight sets.
