Janko Tipsarevic faces off against Feliciano Lopez in the opening round of the Shanghai Masters today.
Tipsarevic is still in with a slim chance of qualifying for the ATP World Finals but he badly needs to make up some ground this week. With the in-form Tomas Berdych seeded to face him in the third round it will take some special performances from the Serb this week but he's currently in the form of his life and having been a renowned giant-killer for many years, you simply can't count him out.
Tipsarevic picked up a long-awaited first ATP title of his career earlier this month in Kuala Lumpur but he came swiftly back down to earth last week, crashing out in the first round of Tokyo to Dmitry Tursunov.
Lopez has enjoyed a solid season but the summer hard-court swing was not good to him and you have to go back to July to find the last time he made an ATP quarter-final. The Spaniard went out in the second round of the China Open last week to Mikhail Youzhny.
Lopez does lead 4-1 on the head-to-head, winning in three sets when they met in Monte Carlo earlier this year and he has won all three of their matches on hard courts. However going on recent form, we would be surprised if Tipsarevic does not find a way through.
