Week 36 - Challenger (€42,500+H) - Seville, Spain (Clay)

SMC1809 · All-time great

RE: Week 36 - Challenger (€42,500+H) - Seville, Spain (Clay)

SMC1809 · All-time great

James wins four points in a row from 30-0 down to break, and will now serve for the match.

johnnylad · Tennis legend

Go'ed Wardy

-- Edited by johnnylad on Wednesday 8th of September 2010 01:35:53 PM

SMC1809 · All-time great

15-0
15-15
30-15
40-15
40-30

GSM James Ward 6-0 6-3. smile

stevemcqueen · Futures qualifying

when is the last time a brit one seven matches in a row on the dirt?

He is obviously in a rich vein of form, let us hope it continues. If he wins another match or two he'll have to request a Wednesday start in Thailand - shouldn't be too much of a problem.

I remember Marat Safin commenting that it was much easier to go from clay to hard than the reverse. I imagine that is because applying extra force is easier than fannying around with construction of points....

Akhenaten · Pro player

stevemcqueen wrote:

when is the last time a brit one seven matches in a row on the dirt?

Dan Smethurst

He won 7 matches on clay in a row in Portugal in Sept '09, after winning 7 matches on clay in a row in Belgium the previous month.

Drew · Sep 8, 2010

Very well done James.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Well done, James.

Anyone know owt about the kind of challenge his Serbian QF opponent, Nikola Ciric, is likely to present (other than the fact that he's currently ranked 310 & has a CH of 285, so should be a player James should beat...)?

steven · Tennis legend

Ciric won 3 back-to-back Futures on clay in June (in Italy, Serbia then Austria) but until this week, he hadn't got past R2 of a Challenger since reaching the SFs in Palermo last September, which is the furthest he's ever been in a Challenger before as far as I can tell.

He has only played Brits in singles twice before, beating Morgan Phillips 1 & 3 in a Spanish satellite was back in 2003 but losing to Chris Eaton 4 & 4 on indoor hard in Croatia in Feb 2008. Given the surface in Croatia though, I'd say neither result offers much of a guide to what to expect.

SMC1809 · All-time great

James' match with Ciric is well underway. James took the first 6-3, but lost the second by the same score. He was then broken in the first game of the third set, so not looking too good at present.

SMC1809 · All-time great

James had several break points in games 2, but Ciric holds eventually. 2-0*

SMC1809 · All-time great

A quick hold by James, followed by a hold game by Ciric, however, James has 2 more break points in that game. *1-3.

SMC1809 · All-time great

James is broken from 40-15 up. Looking bleak 1-4*

James is 16/1 to win from here. Time to invest my 10p.

-- Edited by SMC1809 on Thursday 9th of September 2010 12:13:14 PM

SMC1809 · All-time great

For the second receiving game in a row, James was 40-15 up before being pegged back to deuce, but this time he gets the break *2-4

SMC1809 · All-time great

James broken to love. Does he not care about my 10p? 2-5*