Shanghai Quarterfinals

The last eight are set in Shanghai in the penultimate Masters of the year for the men.  Federer has gone crashing out in the round of 16 along with several other top seeds, but Djokovic and Nadal still bookend the draw, along with some dangerous others.  Of the players in the mix for the last few spots at the World Tour Finals, Wawrinka and Tsonga are playing themselves in, while Gasquet, Isner, and others are playing themselves out of the mix.  Two unseeded men are left along with 5 of the top 8 seeds, and a Spaniard quietly have a nice fall so far.

Here are the quarterfinalists:
1) Novak Djokovic (SRB)
2) Rafael Nadal (ESP)
6) Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG)
7) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA)
8) Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI)
15) Nicolas Almagro (ESP)
Florian Mayer (GER)
Gael Monfils (FRA)

-Djokovic and Tsonga are only two players remaining from last year's quarters.  Federer, Berdych, and Haas came within one round of getting back, while Murray, Cilic, and Stepanek did not play in this tournament.
-Djokovic, Nadal, Tsonga, and Mayer have yet to lose a set, though Mayer is only one to play 3 matches.  You may recall the German beat Nadal at this event in 2010 I believe, and he beat Ferrer this year.
-Wawrinka and Almagro have had to survive to 3rd set tiebreaks.

With Murray officially pulling out, 5 more spots are still open in London, with Berdych and Del Potro almost assured of taking 2 of them.  So right now it is still Federer, Wawrinka, and Gasquet but Tsonga is quickly overtaking his compatriot.  Of the other contenders, only Almagro still remains in the draw, but there are still 3 weeks of European indoor events to be contested.

It's hard to say what will happen in the remaining three days of this tournament.  A Djokovic/Nadal final is likely but the Frenchmen are heating up in Djokovic's half.  Nadal will also likely have to go through Del Potro.  I'm going to tip Nadal getting his first win in Shanghai.

The tournament has not been kind to the Americans, but three of them were in the main draw, thanks to Russell's qualification.  Isner and Querrey combined to go 1-2 with Isner defeating Giraldo 7-5 in the 3rd before losing in straight sets to Berlocq.  Querrey won 8 games against Haas in his opener.  Russell also lost his main draw match.

Quarterfinal matches:
-Djokovic vs Monfils
-Tsonga vs Mayer
-Del Potro vs Almagro
-Nadal vs Wawrinka