Week 11 Futures - Great Britain F4 ($15k) - Bath

freerider · Futures level

RE: Week 11 Futures - Great Britain F4 ($15k) - Bath

steven · Tennis legend

Chris Eaton ended Nielsen's streak last year and I'm hoping that Colin will meet him in the semis, because he was the last Brit to beat Nielsen before that ridiculously long streak started.

steven · Tennis legend

The Shedman wrote:
I was at Bath today and saw most of the matches......Fleming was the class act on display and a Fleming-Robert final seems likely

Thanks for the report smile

... but why weren't you texting the scores to anyone, you lazy wotsit! evileye

Sheddie · administrator

Dan Cox bt Martin Fischer (1) 6-0, 7-5:
Stunning performance ! I know Fischer is claiming on his website that he was injured but it can't have been too serious. He showed no difficulty in moving and there were no obvious signs of discomfort and then after the match he just sat around playing games on his phone before his doubles with Eaton where he played much better tennis and seemed a lot happier.

I don't think Fischer knew what hit him first set. Cox has improved a hell of a lot since I last saw him in Nov 2007. He's always been super-fast and a great scrambler but his backhand is now a big weapon and Fischer couldn't handle it when Cox upped the pace off that side. 1st serve has some real pop on it now.

Fischer didn't look like a top 200 player and his tennis was littered with errors today. Cox didn't give him anything in the first set and he just never settled. Fischer then called the trainer but I suspect that was more tactical than anything and it worked.....Cox lost his rhythm at the start of the 2nd and was 5-2 down before reeling off the final 5 games.

From matches I've seen in the past, Fischer thrives off trading backhands cross-court but he was always outhit in those exchanges today and he didn't seem to have many answers. He likes the drop volley but Cox is so quick and he read them nearly every time.

Colin Fleming bt Yannick Mertens (6) 6-3, 6-3
Fleming looked a class above most of the field today and if he maintains this form he won't be hanging around in futures for too much longer. He made last week's winner look quite ordinary. If he hadn't lost concentration and dropped serve in each set then it could have been 6-1, 6-1.

Has a huge serve which earned a vast number of cheap points. He's not quite a Bloomfield style ace machine but when it came back the 2nd shot was usually pretty lethal. The backhand is the talked-about shot in Fleming's game but the forehand does a lot of damage too. With the volleying ability aswell he has definately the best all round game in the tournament.

Lots of the Bath academy coaches were there today and they were using Fleming as a role model to some of the juniors training there with his match preparation etc. His DC form didn't go unnoticed and there was quite a buzz on the viewing gallery during his match.

Sheddie · administrator

I would have texted scores but I'm on pay as you go and I had no credit I'm afraid !

steven · Tennis legend

I might forgive you now you've put up some good reports (good to know that Fischer wasn't completely "Krankheit besiegen" after all and that Dan had a lot to do with it) ... I can't speak for the Count though.

Sheddie · administrator

Ivo Minar (8) bt Chris Eaton 6-4, 6-4
It's strange but I think Chris needs the buzz and pressure of a big match situation (eg Wimbledon/DC/ATP qualies) to get the best out of his game. He's at his best when really pumped up and its hard to do that in the flat atmosphere of the last 16 of a futures event.

He paid for a slow start in set 1, missing first serves and getting broken in the opening game of the match. Never looked like breaking back in that set. Was under a lot of pressure at the start of the 2nd and found himself facing 3 bps at 2-2. Saved 2 but unfortunately he missed a very easy volley on the 3rd. He had 15-30 on the Minar serve at 6-4, *4-3 down but again missed a makeable volley.

He was unlucky to get an absolutely shocking call at 15-0 with Minar serving for the match. A passing shot from the Czech went wide by about 3 inches right under the umpire's nose and he called it in. I don't think either player could quite believe it.

Stakhovsky said during the DC that an out-out serve-volleyer couldn't make it any more with the modern game and you could see his point today. Even a player ranked 340-odd could pass Chris at will at times. Chris had to make first serves otherwise Minar would slam passing winners off the 2nd serve.....on the two occasions Chris missed a few, he got broken.

If he's going to make top 300 and higher he needs to stay back at times on the 2nd serve and work on his game from the back of the court. The same is true when returning, kamikaze net-rushing just isn't going to work against challenger level players. So many times today, Chris would cream a return (usually off the backhand) and then race forwards like a headless chicken and the ball would be past him before he'd even made it to the service box.

freerider · Futures level

he probably only had a "kopfschmerzen" caused by cox

Sheddie · administrator

Richard Bloomfield (7) bt Pierre Metenier 4-6, 6-1, 6-3
Bloomers is fairly lucky to still be in the tournament after a lacklustre performance. It must be hard going from something like ATP Marseille to the Bath 15K and he didn't look up for it today, irritated for most of the match and didn't really look like he wanted to be there.

Metenier is simply solid from the back, chases down everything and really likes a target as Bloomfield found in the first set so it was easy to see how he got the better of Marray yesterday.

However it is impressive how Metenier has reached the top 500 with his serve....at times it's simply a way of starting the point and the 2nd has little on it at all....the technique looks fairly suspect !

First set was a bit of a write-off, Richard was serving well at all and for some reason trying to beat Metenier at his own game by patiently rallying from the back. 2nd set was more like it, he was really aggressive and dominating the points, stepping in and crunching numerous return winners off Metenier's serve and finally getting to the net more which he has to do as having watched all the matches he's probably the best volleyer in the field.

3rd set was more of the same except he lost concentration at first and had to come back from 3-0 down.

Metenier wasn't too happy at the end, threw his racket across half the court

daisy · County player

Nice reports - thanks.

Shame about Eaton but Cox seems to be doing well.

Good luck to the Brits in the next round.

James · Satellite level

Appreciate the nice reports Sheddie. Planning on going on any other days?

P.S How are you enjoying university? CHH living upto expectations?

Sheddie · administrator

I'd predict a Fleming - Minar semi and a Yani - Robert one in the other half

Wasn't amazingly impressed with Robert....he has a very unorthodox serve which seems quite effective and as wolf said last week he's a very clever player.....covers the net extremely well and read everything Illingworth was trying to do yesterday.

However Illingworth wasn't too far from making a real match of it and its hard to see why exactly he's had this incredible run against Brits. Illingworth was quite frustrated he couldn't quite raise his game another notch and seemed hell bent on destroying his racket at the end

steven · Tennis legend

Just having a quick look to see what the French think of their no. 26 (i.e. Robert), it turns out his 16 month break wasn't for injury, it was for hepatitis A, usually caught (according to Wikipedia) "in developing countries, and in regions with poor hygiene standards."

So, where did he catch it? Well, that long layoff started with a retirement from his first match in Cherbourg, a week after winning a Future in that well-known hepatitis A blackspot ... Barnstaple. confuse

DUSTY DICK · Club Coach

Fleming seems well capable of getting up to Challenger standard and maybe challange a bit further than that. He seems to have done really well since coming back to tennis and has routinely been consistant since last summer. The more big matches he can get to play may be all he needs to go far. Wonder what he would be like playing with Jamie M again. Probably never happen but you never know.

tennisfan334 · Lower Club Player

Fleming def Cox 6-7 6-4 7-6