2010 ROME MASTERS BOTB - DAY 7 'SYNDICATED' REPORT

8% pick David 'Pics' Ferrer recovered from 1-5 down in the 1st set to win the semi that really mattered in BOTB terms against 36% pick Nando, while 87% pick Rafa surprisingly dropped a set against Gulbis before coming through in 3.

Detailed results can be found at http://www.freewebs.com/britishtennis/competitions.html and they are being updated regularly each day, with 'headlines' and the odd 'quote of the day' appearing on http://twitter.com/botb1 as well.

TEAMS

BT.net had already made sure of the Rome team title yesterday but 2nd place for TAT and 3rd place for Rusedski.co.uk were also confirmed today. MTF, steady in 4th, claimed the highest score for the SF round but they will be overtaken by the Dammitaires if Rafa wins tomorrow.

The only change in position on Saturday was AM.com, up 1 to 8th, jumping ahead of the Feddies, who will finish last if Rafa wins the title. Tennisopolis will stay in last place if Ferrer wins.

INDIVIDUALS

Congratulations to fil-813 (IN), up 2 to 1st, who has won the Rome individual title whatever happens in the Final - only his bonus points can change on Sunday, but he is certain to get over 800 ranking points from this event.

Jean-Marc (BT) fell 1 place to 2nd and is now certain to finish there, while Hen (MT) has grabbed (and will keep) 3rd place after getting both finalists correct and climbing 10 places. The top 5 is completed by mmmm8 (TA), down 2 to 4th, and Petalp (CC), down 2 to 5th - N.B. the latter is male not female, just to correct an error in yesterday's report!

rondun (JM) & NiallE (JM), both up 13 to 6=, and Suliso (TA), up 22 to 8th, climbed into the top 10, which is completed by GVGirl (TA) & Scratchy (BT), both down 4 to 9=.

R1 winner Vixs (AM), down 4 to 11th, was unfortunate to drop out of the top 10 at the very last moment.

ON THE RISE

15 entrants got both finalists correct, including all five risers in the top 10 mentioned above.

The others were Zebra Melanija (IN), up 28 to 12th, dewster99 (AM), up 28 to 15th, Irena2 (TA) & Sher (CC), both up 32 to 16=, maedal TA (TA), up 46 to 20th, Lizzim (AM), up 48 to 21st, Steven (GR), up 63 to 29th, riser of the day Boarder35m (MT), up 68 to 42nd, Hawkeye (AM), up 65 to 58th, and mattk77 (SG), up 59 to 84th.

DODGY DROPPERS

27 entrants failed to get either finalist correct, with bojek (RF), down 61 to 120th, falling the most and pabbers (AM), down 1 to 222nd, falling into the lanterne rouge position right at the end.

SUNDAY

84% of us will score if Rafa wins on Sunday, nobody will score if Gulbis wins. The top 29 positions cannot change any more, since they have all picked Rafa to win the title, so I won't do a report on any changes tomorrow, but I will be back with a report on the overall new rankings in the next few days.

NEXT UP

There is no BOTB for Madid, so the next pick 'em will be for Roland Garros. Hope to see you all there!

SMC, you may be average, but you do make the comments below ...


POST-ROME MASTERS 2010 BOTB PICK 'EM RANKINGS

The overall ranking list (with 792 ranked players, down 9 since Miami due to the new Sunday start in Rome reducing entries a bit this year but up 1 since the AO) and the pick 'em 'Hall of Fame' after the 2010 Rome Masters, along with the final Rome Masters results themselves, can now be found at http://www.freewebs.com/britishtennis/Competitions.html

TEAMS

World no. 1 team the Feddies finished last in Rome, the third time they have finished last in a Masters BOTB in the last 12 months. The fact that they have won the teams league at all four slams in the same period means that they were never in danger of losing their no. 1 spot here, but there will be a 3- or even 4-way fight for the no. 1 spot at Roland Garros after the next three teams in the rankings filled the top three places at the Foro Italico.

BT.net have jumped 2 places to 2nd after their Rome win, while TAT have remained in 3rd after only just missing out on defending their title. Rusedski.co.uk have slipped 2 places to 4th, the bigger differential between the ranking points for each position in Rome this year due to the decrease in the number of teams meaning that they have slipped 12 points behind TAT despite finishing one place behind them in Rome both times.

AM.com moved back into the top 5, swapping places with Team CC, who fell 1 to 6th. The only team outside the top 5 to move more than one place was the Dammitaires, up 2 to 10th after their 4th place finish in Rome. They have knocked Tennisopolis, down 1 to 11th, out of the top 10, while Match Point have dropped out of the rankings after not managing to field a full team for 12 months.

TEAMS OUTLOOK FOR RG

With 2009 RG points removed, TAT will be on 2990 with a score above 334 needed for them to start adding points. The other teams that could finish RG as world no. 1s are current no. 1 team RF on 2981 (only needing a score above 292 to start adding points), BT on 2883 (334), GR on 2853 (375) and AM on 2654 (251) - no other team can reach TAT's starting score of 2990 even if they win both the league and the KO in Paris.

NEW TOP 10

Shabba (IN) was never in danger of losing the individual no. 1 spot in Rome and even managed to add a few points to his total with a top 25 finish. He is now being chased by the big mover within the top 10, GVGirl (TA), whose 9= in Rome has lifted her 6 places to a career high WR 2. Jose Javier/Buyaka86 (RF), Oploskoffie (TA), Steven (GR) & Portsey (BT) have all dropped back a place to 3rd, 4th, 5th & 6th respectively as a result.

Two more people have entered the top 10 for the first time - TimS (GR), up 7 to WR 7 after a top 20 finish in Rome, and Scratchy (BT), up 18 to WR 10 after finishing 9=. The former's surge means that his team-mate Roy (GR) has dropped back a place to WR 8 despite gaining some points and Dark_Necrofear (CC) has fallen 3 to WR 9 after a bottom 15 finish in Rome, though he had no points to defend there and has really only fallen because of players who had been behind him gaining lots of points.

OLD TOP 10

The only players dropping out of the top 10 are Dentist Appointment (IN), down 8 to WR 17 having been defending top 25 points, and former world no. 1 kaseldop (GR), down 43 to WR 53 after not entering to defend 8th place points from Rome 2009.

ON THE RISE

By far the biggest riser into the overall top 50 is Hen (MT), up 50 to WR 18 after finishing 3rd in Rome, her second top three finish since last summer (2nd in Shanghai) - she has no points to defend in either of the next two slams, so decent performances in Paris or London should see her continue her rise into the top 10.

The only other players who have risen more than 30 places into the top 50, both with a resurgence in form, are former world no. 3 Lizzim (AM), up 33 to WR 30 after finishing 21st in Rome, and nicki (AM), up 32 to WR 32 after finishing 37th, while former world no. 6 hfwardhouse (AM), up 49 to WR 56, and almost made it back into the top 50 too.

The fastest riser into the top 100 is Rome R1 winner Vixs (AM), a rise of 54 places to WR 83 hopefully making up for the disappointment of missing out on a top 10 overall finish in Rome by just one place. Rome winner fil-813 (IN) jumped 39 to WR 65 and Rome runner-up Jean-Marc (BT) gained 41 places to end up at WR 54.

The biggest riser in the top 150 is mwoods (TA), up 59 to WR 146 after a top 25 finish in Rome. In the top 200 it is mojoworking (CC), up 68 to WR 169 after a top 50 finish, and in the top 250 it is NiallE, up 99 to WR 226 after finishing 6= in Rome.

The first three-figure riser is airsmashers (BT), up 118 to WR 306 after a top 20 finish in Rome, but the fastest risers in the top 500 are maedal (TA), up 194 to WR 402 after a top 20 finish, one-time Rome leader Robert/AIH (IN), up 163 to WR 434, and Golden Lady (AM), up 177 to WR 496.

The highest new entrant is SMC1809 (BT), in at WR 645 after finishing right in the middle in Rome, i.e. 111=.

LAST YEAR'S MIAMI WINNERS

The big fallers are usually those who didn't play in the latest pick 'em and are running out of counting scores, so when looking at fallers it's probably more interesting to see how the top three in the event coming off from last year have fared.

Last year's Rome winner Jtdrum (TA) finished in the top quartile this year and stays in the world top 50, falling 26 to WR 42. 2009 runner-up Kayce (JM) fell 38 to WR 253, a drop cushioned by finishing in the top 50 this time. TennisAnyone74 (TA), 3rd in Rome last year, is now one place behind the 2009 Rome runner-up in the rankings too, falling 51 to WR 254 after a top 75 finish, so none of last year's top three crashed and burned completely as so often happens.

THE NEXT PICK 'EM

After an exciting BOTB in Rome, there will (as last year) be no BOTB for Madrid, so the next pick 'em will be for Roland Garros, with entries opening later this month and closing at 09.00 GMT on Sunday 23 May. As another slam where individual points can be counted twice with a player's best 7 scores and there are both league and KO points for the teams, RG could lead to some very big changes in the overall rankings, as could Wimbledon soon afterwards.