Week 9 - Futures F1 ($10K) - Faro, Portugal - hard

steven · Tennis legend

Week 9 - Futures F1 ($10K) - Faro, Portugal - hard

SMC1809 · All-time great

QR1: Tom Farquharson UNR lost to Ruan Roelofse (RSA) WR 1174 6-0 6-1
QR1: Matthew Kinsler UNR lost to Adam Lawton UNR w/o
QR1: (q3) Matt Illingworth WR 770 has a bye
QR1: Nikki Roenn UNR beat Bernardon Saraiva (POR) UNR 6-1 7-6(2)
QR1: Rogan Egerton UNR lost to Artur Romanowski (POL) WR 1786 6-2 6-3
QR1: Philip Barlow WR 1285 lost to Nikala Scholtz (RSA) UNR 6-4 6-4

QR2: Adam Lawton UNR v CAYLA, Jeremie (FRA)
QR2: (q3) Matt Illingworth WR 770 v SILVERIO, Joao (POR) UNR
QR2: Nikki Roenn UNR v PANCALDI, Luca (ITA) UNR

spud · Challenger qualifying

I think Dom will play Sarajevo quals- so will need to be in Sarajevo Friday to sign in.

I dont think there was any point of coming out of Sarajevo just to go back.

steven · Tennis legend

That makes perfect sense re. Inglot.

QR2: Adam Lawton UNR lost to Jérémie Cayla (FRA) UNR by 1 & 2 cry

QR2: (q3) Matt Illingworth WR 770 beat João Silverio (POR) UNR by 2 & 0 smile

QR2: Nikki Roenn UNR beat Ricardo Jorge (POR) UNR by 1 & 2 smile

QR3: (q3) Matt Illingworth WR 770 v Nikki Roenn UNR

... winner to play Álvaro Cajigal (ESP) UNR or Giulio Mazzoli (ITA) UNR in the FQR.

-- Edited by steven on Sunday 28th of February 2010 06:02:38 PM

steven · Tennis legend

Somewhat inevitably ...

QR3: (q3) Matt Illingworth WR 770 beat Nikki Roenn UNR by 1 & 1 smile

FQR: (q3) Matt Illingworth WR 770 lost to Álvaro Cajigal (ESP) UNR by 2 & 4 bleh

L32: (5) Morgan Phillips WR 412 v Augustin Gensse (FRA) WR 608

Gensse reached a CH of 235 in April 2008 but has been slipping back since then. However, he reached the semi-finals of his last tournament, Egypt F3. Gensse is qualifier Wardy lost to in 3 sets when he got that WC into Valencia ATP in 2007 and the Frenchman has compiled a 4-match winning streak against Brits (including Mackin as well as James) since losing to Mark Hilton in 2004.

-- Edited by steven on Monday 1st of March 2010 09:38:53 PM

SMC1809 · All-time great

L32: (5) Morgan Phillips WR 412 lost to Augustin Gensse (FRA) WR 608 6-2 6-4

Gensse keeps his Brit-bashing run going.

indiana · Tennis legend

Pity

Would really like to see at least one player outside the top 6 ( Murray, Bogdanovic, Ward, Evans, Baker, Goodall ) make a significant breakthrough this year towards or even inside the top 300.

Not sure who that might be though. Different players show form at different times, but it is not nearly sustained enough.

-- Edited by indiana on Tuesday 2nd of March 2010 10:18:50 PM

steven · Tennis legend

Yes, consistency seems to be a huge issue with the young Brits, even (it seems) the ones we tend to think of as more reliable, like Morgan. It must be a combination of how much work they put in, their confidence levels, luck with draws (and whether their opponents are over-ranked or under-ranked), etc, but it's usually very hard to tell which is the biggest factor in any given case.

I wonder if most other players outside the top 100 are similarly inconsistent, it's hard to know when we only keep a close eye on the Brits.

Of course, we all know that some players (GEMs, anyone) inside the top 100 can be incredibly inconsistent too!

LadyTigress · County player

You know for a moment when you said "young Brits" I thought you were only referring to Evo, but you meant all the guys. *shakes head* Habit! I'm younger than all of them except Evo. *grins* I get to call Josh "old man".

Consistency is a big issue though. With, I would say, many many tennis players, not just our boys though. Look at the women's tour... the men's tour... heck, even the top men have been having wobbles these past few years. Ah, I've just read your question there steven. I would say there is a lot of inconsistency outside the top 100, yes. But you do get familiar with the names that crop up time and time again and seem to hover around the same level... for example, let's see... the Sitak brothers I see a lot of but don't seem to be making any big movements up or down... Arnaboldi also seems to be a permanent fixture along with a couple of Italians whose names I can't remember right now.

I would definitely also identify confidence as an extremely big issue. It's important amongst the older guys like Goodall, Baker, Ward, just as it is for the youngsters coming through like Evo etc.

Berdych comes to mind.

SMC1809 · All-time great

Re top 300, I reckon Big Bad Dom will have a good year. He only returned to tennis at the end of last year so has no points to defend for ages. He's at a CH at present, and regularly beating players higher ranked than him, including his present doubles partner.

indiana · Tennis legend

I reckon that's a good call SMC.

I was almost going to say ( so will now ) that in the long run BBD smile

and the Wardinator may be ones to be watching. Both have a long way to climb though from being currently ranked in the 600s.

-- Edited by indiana on Wednesday 3rd of March 2010 12:24:15 AM

Josh · Challenger level

I don't see Goodall staying around there though. Grass season is very important for him or he might find it hard to end the year inside 300. Don't forget Slabba too, it took Baker quite a few months to find his top form after his return (albeit he was out for a bit longer) so maybe Slabba can put a decent Futures run together in August/September.

steven · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:

I reckon that's a good call SMC.

I was almost going to say ( so will now ) that in the long run BBD and the Wardinator may be ones to be watching. Both have a long way to climb though from being currently ranked in the 600s.

BBD (good one!) and the Wardinator are the only Brits outside the GB Top 8 who have reached double figures in 10 ranking points picked up this year so far, which corroborates what you say ... though of course that could just mean that they're having their good runs for the year at the moment. Hope they can keep it up though.

Having said that, even if they gained the same number of points per month for the rest of the year, they'd only just get inside the top 500, but on the plus side, if they continue to climb the rankings, they won't have to waste quite so much energy in Futures qualifying, which will make life easier.

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, I was partly conscious that I hoped I wasn't being too influenced by Inglot and Ward being sort of players of the moment and that it could be a passing phase for them too. However, I do think each in their way is really maybe at a beginning that will hopefully continue and grow.

I am not particularly predicting top 300 this year, I am in fact rather pessimistic about any new GB male top 300'ers this year, which is why I said "in the long run". But it would be something to be pleased about if one of them or anyone else did make that.

I do see for both continued advancement with possibly entering the top 300 next year.