Week 46 - Challenger (€30k+H) - Jersey, CI

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

RE: Week 46 - Challenger (€30k+H) - Jersey, CI

Count Zero · Tennis legend

oop's out. boggo opens the show at 10am. cox and slabba also on ct 1, matches after 3pm.

in the dubs, starting at 1pm, flembo and ken play followed by josh and ward v bloomers and jonny.

boggo not in the dubs here. i guess if he loses in singles he will want to vacate the area.

steven · Tennis legend

Main draw GB matches with OoP plus up to date rankings and qualifiers added in:

L32 Q1: (WC) James Ward WR 295 v Paolo Lorenzi (ITA) WR 205 (winner likely to play top seed Guccione) - Wednesday
L32 Q2: Richard Bloomfield WR 291 v (Q) Ivan Dodig (CRO) WR 404 (winner to play (5) Mannarino or Qureshi) - Wednesday
L32 Q3: Josh Goodall WR 203 v Gary Lugassy (FRA) WR 271 (winner to play winner of next match) - Wednesday
L32 Q3: (WC) Alex Slabinsky WR 272 v (4) Joseph Sirianni (AUS) WR 140 - 5th on Court 1 after Cox
L32 Q4: (7) Alex Bogdanovic WR 182 v Tobias Kamke (GER) WR 239 (winner to play winner of next match) - 1st on Court 1 @ 10.00
L32 Q4: (WC) Daniel Evans WR 482 v Michael Koning (NED) WR 258 - Wednesday
L32 Q4: (WC) Daniel Cox WR 826 v (Q) Dominik Hrbaty (SVK) WR 264 (winner likely to play (2) A Beck) - 4th on Court 1 n/b 15.00

Shhh · Challenger level

So how many Brits will get through the first round? After last week I almost expect 7 out of 7 but seriously, it has put my confidence on a high. I'd be dissappointed with less than 4 making the 2nd round, my prediction is for 5 but, I cant help but hold out hope for that 7!

steven · Tennis legend

Before you get too excited, it's worth remembering that while form in Futures has been great, form in Challengers (until Rimouski last week, anyway) has been dire this autumn.

Having said that, three are higher-ranked than their opponents, so I'd be disappointed if they didn't win given that it's a home Challenger and the surface. You'd hope Wardy would have a good chance too.

Slabba has played Sirianni once, back in 2006 in Australia on "indoor clay" (I imagine the surface is a mistake on ITF!), when Sirianni won 6-2 6-7(8) 6-4 when their rankings were 628 (Slabba) and 498.

Given that their rankings are now 272 and 140 (still around 130 apart, but that's effectively a bigger gap the higher up the rankings you go - extrapolate to 1 v 131 if you need convincing!) and that the Australian has beaten both Boggo (who shouldn't have lost, admittedly) and Marray in straight sets this year after losing to them previously, it looks to me like he has improved faster than Slabba, so it'll be a big (though very welcome upset) if Alex comes through. Sirianni is on a 3-match losing streak though, and while those losses were against K Beck, Waske and Guccione, they may have hit his confidence a tiny bit.

Koning is 13-4 v Brits, winning the last four in straight sets (v Arlidge, Thornley, Corrie and Illingworth, though he has also beaten Josh and Jamie B, both twice, in recent years) - his last loss to a Brit was a 3 & 1 thrashing by Illingworth in Portugal Futures qualifying in March this year, but he got revenge (and some!) when he thrashed Matt 3 & 0 in Frinton, those two results suggesting either illness for one or other of the players or that Koning serious prefers faster surfaces, i.e. grass at Frinton to incredibly slow hard in Albufeira. I'd still give Evo slightly more chance than Slabba if he's feeling up for it.

I think Cox will lose in straight sets if Hrbaty gets through the match uninjured.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

unsurprisng but boggo lost.

i really think he should just call a end to the year. his brain is obviously in the wrong place at the moment, and i dont see the point of going to helsinki or mexico. he needs a holiday or something, get the DC loss, which then turned into this awful run out of his system and start preparing for next year. .

alex-germany · Newbie

does anyone know the result of guez vs. reister? thx.

steven · Tennis legend

Count Zero wrote:

unsurprisng but boggo lost.

i really think he should just call a end to the year. his brain is obviously in the wrong place at the moment, and i dont see the point of going to helsinki or mexico. he needs a holiday or something, get the DC loss, which then turned into this awful run out of his system and start preparing for next year. .

I have to say, I am surprised - that he lost even to Kamke and in the UK too. There's no way he should be letting the DC tie (where he played pretty well, after all) have this kind of effect on him for so long.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

The results of the first four R1 matches for those who like to keep track of the Brits and an updated draw sheet:

Kamke beat (7) Boggo by 2 & 4 Bad loss! cry

(6) David Guez (FRA) beat Julian Reister (GER) by 3 & 1

Tomas Cakl (CZE) beat Marco Crugnola (ITA) by 3 & 4

(2) Andreas Beck (GER) bt Stefano Galvani (ITA) by 4 & 5

I don't hold out much hope for the remaining Brits... hmm

* Wonder how "Col & Ken" fared against Kamke & Reister.

-- Edited by Stircrazy at 16:50, 2008-11-11

Count Zero · Tennis legend

2 & 4 is bad.

i know it shouldn't be DC, but i think it is a direct knock on from that. its just sprialed beyond that as its all the losses since then too pilling up. he was playing well before, and even in the tie he played some great tennis.

thats why i think maybe he should call it a year. he's had a pretty bad year by his standards and got press hammering after both Wimby and DC. Wimby seemed to spur him on to a good summer, but DC has destroyed him and i think he is mentally gone and needs a priper break. he has no points to defned now, will jsut lose the 5 this week. and just start working on next year.

maybe even leave the courts for a while, just work on the gym etc. get focussed on somehtign else.

tennisfan334 · Lower Club Player

a win for skupski and flembo 6-4 6-1 biggrin

come on GB

-- Edited by tennisfan334 at 16:21, 2008-11-11

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Interestingly, the veteran Swiss, George Bastl, has removed the German third seed, Simon Greul, with relative ease: 1 & 4! He (or the Czech, Tomas Cakl) is a potential quarter-final opponent for Bloomers, if he gets past Dodig & then Qureshi or (5) Mannarino...

* Really pleased to hear about Colin's & Ken's fine win. biggrin

freerider · Futures level

Alexander Slabinsky (Gbr) bt Joseph Sirianni (Aus) 6-2 6-2

what a win! i was going to say ledgend but i know the debates that that would spark!!

cox lost 2 and 1

freerider · Futures level

wonder if this was spark another end of the year surge from slabba ... a quarter here and one semi in japan would defend his shrewsbury chall and nigeria title

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Well done Slabba, I admit I didn't think he would win that one!