Joplin Challenger 2007.

johnnylad · Tennis legend

RE: Joplin Challenger 2007.

steven · Tennis legend

Sunday qualifying:

QR2: (q6) Ross Hutchins WR 725 beat Lance Vodicka (USA) WR 1539 by 4 & 2
QR3: (q6) Ross Hutchins WR 725 lost to (q1) Bjorn Rehnqvist (SWE) WR 432 by 3 & 1

In the end, Ross fell at the final hurdle, getting thrashed by a player ranked nearly 300 places above him. He is now 2nd in line for a LL place.

Btw, Donald Young managed to qualify here - that may well be a first!

Reminder of the R1 draw & previews, and I've aded the OoP at the bottom:

R1 Q1: Alan Mackin WR 238 v Michael Lammer (SUI) WR 297
R1 Q2: Jamie Baker WR 252 v Santiago Gonzalez (MEX) WR 243
R1 Q4: Josh Goodall WR 210 v Michael Ryderstedt (SWE) WR 340

Overall, a good draw for the Brits (i.e. they have all avoided seeds in R1), but Alan and Josh have lost 8/8 sets between them against their now lower-ranked opponents, so their matches will be a measure of how good their improvement over the last year has really been.

Alan has failed to take a set off Lammer in three previous meetings, being fed three breadsticks in the process. However, those meetings were all on clay and the last was in 2003. Lammer has an odd record against Brits in the last two years - losing to big Arv in straights in Cherbourg in Feb 2005 then beating Andy Murray in straights in Dresden three months later.

Fresh from losing a doubles semi to Butorac/Murray in Dallas, Gonzalez has a career high of 155 in May last year but has since dropped a fair bit. Jamie has never played him before. His recent record against Brits has included wins over Parmar and Childs and losses to Boggo and Childs.

Ryderstedt often plays in the UK but Josh has only met him once, losing 3 & 2 in Bath nearly a year ago.

On Monday, Josh is 1st on Court 4 at 17.00 GMT, Jamie is 3rd on Court 4 at about 19.30 GMT and Alan is 5th on Court 4 at about 22.00 GMT.

TBarM7 · Intermediate Club Player

ryderstedt def goodall 6-4, 6-4

Salmon · Tennis legend

Nooooo.

When will Josh start his season properly?

Count Zero · Tennis legend

thats a shame for josh, although i am suprised ryder is ranked so low.

john · Top national player

Wonder if Jamie has started his match yet. I reckon he can have another good run here.

TBarM7 · Intermediate Club Player

I was very impressed with the way he played in Dallas. I like his big game. In my opinion, the conditioning has to improve. Viewing from the stands, he looks like he is carrying an additonal 10 pounds that he could lose. He could have easily put Fleishman away in straights, but breaks didn't go his way.

TBarM7 · Intermediate Club Player

ryderstedt was injured the second half of last year. he is finally healthy and playing rather large.

seagull · Hall of fame

Apparently Jamie Baker won in straight sets

steven · Tennis legend

Here are the detailed results and the R2 draw for Jamie. Rankings and scores now up to date / corrected.

R1: Josh Goodall WR 212 lost to Michael Ryderstedt (SWE) WR 327 by 4 & 4

Josh had been beaten by Ryderstedt 3 & 2 in Bath just under a year ago, since when the Swede's ranking had slipped a lot due to injury. Josh won more games this time, but he is really having difficulty in kick-starting a season which promised so much.

R1: Jamie Baker WR 268 beat Santiago Gonzalez (MEX) WR 239 by 4 & 1

Jamie, however, confirmed his big improvement early this year is no flash in the pan, with a convincing win against a player who was ranked 155 in May last year :) and whose recent record against Brits had included wins over Big Arv and Lee Childs.

R1: Alan Mackin WR 242 v Michael Lammer (SUI) WR 298 - should be in play now

R2: Jamie Baker WR 268 v (3) Ilija Bozoljac (SRB) WR 117

Jamie's last opponent may have beaten Parmar and lost to Boggo recently, but Bozo has done the opposite - he beat Boggo 5-7 6-0 7-6(4) in Heilbronn recently but lost to Big Arv in a DC dead rubber last year. Clearly, he will be a much bigger challenge for Jamie though.

-- Edited by steven at 03:26, 2007-02-13

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

Poor Josh.

I hope he has a good week in the doubles to cheer himself up a bit and find his form for next time.

As for Jamie. I had almost lost faith in him last year when he didn't do as well as I expected but now!! If he can pull off a win against Bozo (and why not?) he should be back in the top 250. Whilst Gonzalez is only a few places ahead of Jamie in the rankings it's still a pretty big win for Jamie, nice an comfortable and a real confidence boost.

Good luck to Mackin, I hope to wake up to win please.

Are these guys travelling together? and are they being followed/helped by a coach does anyone know? That question has probably been answered before in which apologies and please could someone point me in the direction of the answer! Thanks.

edit: just had another quick look at my rankings table and I could be talking rubbish about Jamie being back in the top 250 so he'll just have to win more matches to make sure! Basically my table stops at 250 with Jamie perched on the end. He is one win away from getting back into the top 250 on said table but goodness only knows what everyone off the bottom is doing!

-- Edited by imoen at 23:01, 2007-02-12

steven · Tennis legend

Jamie's win was even better than previously reported - the person in Joplin who gave out the score to the caller from MTF was a game out:

R1: Jamie Baker WR 268 beat Santiago Gonzalez (MEX) WR 239 by 4 & 1

But then things went sour again ...

R1: Alan Mackin WR 242 lost to Michael Lammer (SUI) WR 298 by 1 & 4

Things then turned sour again, as Alan was comprehensively beaten by an opponent who had beaten him in straights three times before in 2001-3 but is now lower-ranked than him.

Jamie is the only British man to have scored any singles points so far this week ...

-- Edited by steven at 03:13, 2007-02-13

-- Edited by steven at 03:27, 2007-02-13

johnnylad · Tennis legend

Nice one Jamie B!!!! Personally can't see him getting bast Bozo but I hope for another set of surprises like ay Waikoloa!

Mack and Goodall have had such a frustrating start to the year...

Thanks craig for info on Goodall. Maybe a two week training block would help him hit his physical peak and give him a little rest mentally! If he can actually get some time with Lundgren things might turn around for him too.

I think Mackin may be struggling from the lack of coach. He seemed to really improve under Mike Raphael, but this mystery split doesn't seem to have done him any good... (Other than qualifying for a grand slam!)(way to undermine tyoyur own comment Johnnylad!

)

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

johnnylad wrote:
I think Mackin may be struggling from the lack of coach. He seemed to really improve under Mike Raphael, but this mystery split doesn't seem to have done him any good... (Other than qualifying for a grand slam!)(way to undermine tyoyur own comment Johnnylad!)

I think you might be right. Didn't the Auss qualifying come just before the split? That's one of the reasons I'm curious if they're travelling with a coach.

Where are these two off to now? Can they jump start their seasons (well Mackin just needs to get his back on track) at the next place? If Mac's not careful Jamie will leapfrog over him in the rankings very soon!

johnnylad · Tennis legend

Think they're all down for Wolfsburg week 9. Not sure about next week