Week 17 - Challenger ($35+H) - Pereira, Colombia

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

RE: Week 17 - Challenger ($35+H) - Pereira, Colombia

Silver · County player

Good stuff! Keep it going James!

alex03maccy · Grand Slam Champion

let's hope our clay court specialist can lighten up this so far rubbish week.

-- Edited by alex03maccy on Thursday 30th of April 2009 08:01:22 PM

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

News at last - & Wardy's on a roll! He beat Gonzo (Alejandro) 6-3 7-6(1) earlier today biggrin

& will play the 4th seed, Mariano Puerta (ARG), in the QF (so at least 13 points in the bag). But there, I fear, the roll is going to end, but you never know. We could do with a bit more good news this week...

afe · Social player

James Ward beat Gonzalez 6-6 7-6(1) according to the tournament website

http://www.tennissegurosbolivar.com/pererira2009/resultados.php?idtn=22&fecha=2009-04-30

Good choice of tournament and even better to take advantage by reaching the QF

steven · Tennis legend

Excellent, but his next opponent is THE Mariano Puerta (WR 192) - Puerta was the 2005 Roland Garros runner-up (after going a set up on Rafa in the Final), though he was later forced to give back all the prize money.

The former world no. 9 now has to play Challengers because he's not been quite the same since coming back from a second doping ban, which should have ended his career but was reduced on appeal.

Easy peasy then ... ashamed

Btw, James is the first Brit to reach a clay court Challenger QF since Martin Lee reached the QFs in Telde in 2006 and with 16 points already in the bag this week (3 for qualifying plus 13 QF points), his total will go up to 254, which would be enough for WR 274 in last Monday's list, just above his old career high of 276.

-- Edited by steven on Thursday 30th of April 2009 11:08:17 PM

Vandenburg · Futures level

good stuff, finally got his season on the go.

freerider · Futures level

well done wardy i had lost faith in you! is this his first challenger qf on any surface?

alex03maccy · Grand Slam Champion

great win wardy, now you know clay is definately your best surface, stick on it.

steven · Tennis legend

Just having a look at the decisions on the Puerta doping cases, there is at least a possibility that he was very unlucky - see http://www.itftennis.com/antidoping/...rticleid=15919 (first time) and http://www.itftennis.com/antidoping/...rticleid=16083 (second time) - blaming his wife is a novel approach, but it does show how easy it is to fall foul of the rules, and if you read the detailed decision in the second case, even the tribunal seemed to think the 8-year suspension they originally imposed was very harsh and encouraged him to appeal it.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

steven wrote:

Excellent, but his next opponent is THE Mariano Puerta (WR 192) - Puerta was the 2005 Roland Garros runner-up (after going a set up on Rafa in the Final), though he was later forced to give back all the prize money.

The former world no. 9 now has to play Challengers because he's not been quite the same since coming back from a second doping ban, which should have ended his career but was reduced on appeal.

Easy peasy then ...

Btw, James is the first Brit to reach a clay court Challenger QF since Martin Lee reached the QFs in Telde in 2006 and with 16 points already in the bag this week (3 for qualifying plus 13 QF points), his total will go up to 254, which would be enough for WR 274 in last Monday's list, just above his old career high of 276.

Thought the name sounded familiar...! wink

James' match will be the third & last on the centre court, with the first of the preceding two kicking off at 17.00 BST. Good luck, lad. I've a feeling you're going to need it!

steven · Tennis legend

Bet365's odds on this match imply a 30% chance of winning for James, which is a lot higher than I'd have put it. Then again, there must be some reason why Puerta is only just inside the top 200 these days, so who knows ...

Smidster · Challenger level

Congratulations to Wardy

Lets just hope he can push on and set up a good grass court season before we get to July and a load of points start coming off.

Silver · County player

Puerta made a significant climb from the abyss in 07 though... but he's plateaued somewhat since then.

Meh. I'd give him 30% myself actually... even on clay. GO WARDY!

alex03maccy · Grand Slam Champion

match before james' has just finished so he will be starting in 10-15 mins. live score on bet 365.