Week 5 ATP - Johannesburg, South Africa

Vandenburg · Futures level

RE: Week 5 ATP - Johannesburg, South Africa

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Hutchins to serve - 1-1

15-0 - good body serve and the return is netted
30-0 - great bh volley and Vliegen passing shot is long (although it looked in)
30-15 - good lob from Vliegen takes control of the point, and then he hits a big fh winner
40-15 - unreturnable serve
Game Hutchins - good pick-up half-volley, and Vliegen blasts a fh pass wide

Hutchins leads 2-1

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Vliegen to serve - 1-2

15-0 - return wasn't deep enough and Vliegen hits the fh pass winner
30-0 - fh from Hutchins flies long under no pressure
30-15 - DF
40-15 - good bh return hits the line, but Vliegen hits a decent fh, and then Hutchins goes long with a fh
Game Vliegen - smash put-away

2-2

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Hutchins to serve - 2-2

0-15 - dodgy fh volley flies long
15-15 - good bh volley and Vliegen's running fh pass is long
15-30 - Hutchins tries to go behind Vliegen with the bh volley, but puts it in the net
30-30 - Ace
40-30 - fh return into the net
Game Hutchins - bh return is netted

Hutchins leads 3-2

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Vliegen to serve - 2-3

15-0 - good bh return, but Hutchins's fh on the run is long
30-0 - fh winner from Vliegen
40-0 - bad volley from Vliegen, but Hutchins cannot capitalise and puts the lob wide
Game Vliegen -

3-3

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Hutchins to serve - 3-3

0-15 - good return, and the bh volley is wide
0-30 - bh volley isn't putaway and Vliegen makes the fh pass on the run
15-30 - Vliegen puts a lob right onto the line, and Hutchins just moonballs it back in play, but Vliegen whacks a drive volley miles wide
30-30 - bh return is wide
40-30 - good serve, and the bh return is netted
Deuce - didn't do enough with the volley, and Vliegen makes the bh pass
Adv Vliegen - good point from Vliegen and the lob is good enough as Hutchins puts the bh overhead wide
Game Vliegen - 2nd serve sits up and Vliegen his the bh return winner

Vliegen leads 4-3

Suppose it was coming, and that probably ends Hutchins chance of winning the match

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Vliegen to serve - 4-3

15-0 - short return, and fh put-away
30-0 - chip charge has nothing to it, and Vliegen hits the fh winner
30-15 - bh return hits the line, and Vliegen then goes long with the fh
30-30 - Hutchins hits through a 2nd serve and hits the bh dtl for a clean winner
30-40 - Vliegen s/v's and misses an easy bh volley, not even getting it close to the court
Deuce - good hustle from Hutchins but he's never really in the point and Vliegen puts a fh volley away
Adv Vliegen - Hutchins tries to attack, but nets the bh return
Game Vliegen - fh on the run from Hutchins is long

Vliegen leads 5-3

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Hutchins to serve - 3-5

15-0 - good set of volleys and eventually he gets a smash to put-away
30-0 - bh return into the net
40-0 - fh return is long
Game Hutchins - Hutchins gets a smash off the return and puts it away

Vliegen leads 5-4

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Vliegen to serve - 5-4

15-0 - better chip charge as it stayed low, but Vliegen's fh pass is good
30-0 - bh return is wide
40-0 - Ace
GSM Vliegen - bad way to end the match as Vliegen's fh gets a dead net cord and goes for a winner

Vliegen wins 7-6(3), 6-4

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Pretty much what was expected from the match really, although maybe Ross got closer than a lot of us expected him to.

The match definately looked like a unranked doubles player taking on someone from around the top 100, as although Ross could compete on the serve and when he was in a good position at the net, he was pretty woeful from the baseline. Perhaps of more concern was the fact he was disappointing on the return, as for a doubles specialist, you'd have expected him to be able to return a lot better than he did. Vliegen served at 47%, but was at 87% on the second serve which is a ridiculously high stat when he wasn't serving that well, but Ross was just chip charging straight to him, rather than coming over the ball, or even chip charging to the corners.

Still, a good scoreline for Ross and gives him plenty of match practice for the doubles which is surely his main focus here, but hopefully this will give him the confidence to try singles qualies when he can, although he's not going to make a career out of it.

Vliegen didn't look that impressive at all, and if it wasn't for the fatc it was Ivo Minar he has next, I'd expect him to be going home early here.

wolf · Tennis legend

I watched Minar's match today and he was a lot better than Vliegen! Can't disagree with your summary there FD encouraging that he served so well and his volleys for the most part were quite good.

Wonder if they will put his doubles on today or not; it was scheduled for centre court but got took off because of the rain but they might put it back on because the matches have been quite quick over there and Tsonga in near to winning in the last match.

EDIT: They have took all doubles matches off the OOP.

-- Edited by wolf at 18:53, 2009-02-03

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

ForeverDelayed wrote:
Perhaps of more concern was the fact he was disappointing on the return, as for a doubles specialist, you'd have expected him to be able to return a lot better than he did.

I'm not sure a poor return is such a huge problem for a doubles player, it seems to me that there are two kinds of doubles players, the ones who go for broke on the return, and are more likely to stay back and rally. and the ones who use the return to get the ball back in play and then win the point at the net, of after a rally. From the way you describe it (and I didn't see the match) it sounds as though Ross was the latter player and the problems in the resulting rally came because he didn't have a partner already at the net waiting to intercept. Also, does "right at Vliegen" mean down the middle of the court? If so, that's actually a positive in doubles where the centre of the court is often the most vulnerable area.

All of the above is pure conjecture of course having not seen the match, or being an expert on doubles in anyway, shape or form. And I'm not trying to suggest that therefore Ross needn't work on his return, a better return can never be a bad thing. Just asking really whether there's slightly more to the story than at first glance.

Great effort from Ross though, I think. The result was never really in doubt, but holding serve and therefore nerve is a good thing. Good luck to him in the doubles if they ever manage to get on court

By the way, thank you for the commentary. If possible, could someone provide the same for the doubles?

Smidster · Challenger level

Match is 2nd on court 3 (with games starting at 1pm local)

Count Zero · Tennis legend

i only saw a bit of the match, but i did get the impression that Vil was playing in his comfort zone most of the time. still it was encouraging by Ross, and i think does his dc chances no harm at all. lets hope he can have a good run in the dubs now.

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

imoen wrote:

ForeverDelayed wrote:
Perhaps of more concern was the fact he was disappointing on the return, as for a doubles specialist, you'd have expected him to be able to return a lot better than he did.

I'm not sure a poor return is such a huge problem for a doubles player, it seems to me that there are two kinds of doubles players, the ones who go for broke on the return, and are more likely to stay back and rally. and the ones who use the return to get the ball back in play and then win the point at the net, of after a rally. From the way you describe it (and I didn't see the match) it sounds as though Ross was the latter player and the problems in the resulting rally came because he didn't have a partner already at the net waiting to intercept. Also, does "right at Vliegen" mean down the middle of the court? If so, that's actually a positive in doubles where the centre of the court is often the most vulnerable area.

All of the above is pure conjecture of course having not seen the match, or being an expert on doubles in anyway, shape or form. And I'm not trying to suggest that therefore Ross needn't work on his return, a better return can never be a bad thing. Just asking really whether there's slightly more to the story than at first glance.

Great effort from Ross though, I think. The result was never really in doubt, but holding serve and therefore nerve is a good thing. Good luck to him in the doubles if they ever manage to get on court

By the way, thank you for the commentary. If possible, could someone provide the same for the doubles?

I didn't think of it like that to be honest and perhaps that does explain the way that Ross was returning as it would be what he was used to rather than trying to adapt his game for singles.

Still felt he could have done a bit more on the return, but it could be that he was returning how he would in a doubles match (down the middle, chipped returns to try and get to the net) as that is what he normally does and to get some practice for the doubles in.

He did serve well which is a positive for the doubles.