When Serbia won the Davis Cup in 2010–their first ever–the team not only celebrated, but it sent such a feeling of good will and accomplishment that Novak Djokovic went on to have his best year.  But he wasn’t the only one.  Although Tipsarevic wouldn’t play his best tennis until after the US Open, he won two tournaments and reached a final and elevated his ranking up near the top ten.  Even Troicki did all right.

Today, Troicki actually matched Djokovic stroke for stroke, but he was aided by an erratic Djokovic who misfired on his shots and hit lots of drop shots.  Troicki broke early, got broken back, broke again and took the first set, 6-4.  The second start started lose but Djokovic eventually showed why he’s number 1 and took the second set, 6-3, and the final set, 6-1.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had a fairly comfortable 63 64 win over Seppi.  David Ferrer shows why he’s so tough as the fifth ranked player in the world and beat Dolgopolov 63 62.  Juan Monaco looked out of it against Mardy Fish, losing the first set, 61.  However, he came back to win the second set in a tiebreak, 76.  Fish retired leading 2-1 in the third presumably due to injury.

Due to the various losses by Monfils, Almagro, Tipsarevic, and Simon, the remaining three, Tsonga, Berdych, and Fish should move on.  Tsonga and Berdych are still both in the tournament, and by winning today, they put enough distance that they should be automatically in.  Fish didn’t move that much, but it doesn’t matter given all these other losses.  Indeed, the ATP World Tour website has already confirmed the three remaining players have qualified for the finals.

So the eight finalists are Djokovic, Nadal, Murray, Federer, Ferrer, Berdych, Tsonga, and Fish.  Of the eight, only Fish is new to the finals.  Six of the eight finalists are the same as last year.  The new folks this year are Tsonga and Fish.  Last year, Roddick and Soderling were in the World Tour Finals.

Since today all third round matches are played, it is the busiest day in this event.  Still remaining are Federer playing Gasquet and Isner playing Lopez.  Despite most of the Frenchmen playing, only Tsonga and Gasquet remain, and Gasquet is likely to fall to Federer.