L32: James Ward WR 207 v (4) Carsten Ball (AUS) WR 158 (CH 108 last July)
Looking on the bright side of this draw, James has good memories to take into this match - Ball was the player he beat in the 2009 Sarasota Challenger Final to become the first Brit since Henman to win a Challenger title on clay.
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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
That's far more like it, well done Ward! Unfortuntely he still has a pretty brutal draw this week. Next up is likely to be Jan Hernych, formerly in the top 60, who has just climbed 67 places after qualifying and reaching the R32 of the Aussie Open. He beat Istomin in 4 in the first round, before beating Bellucci 8-6 in the fifth in the second round so is in pretty decent form right now.
Hernych beat the Aussie qualifier, James Duckworth, by 3-6 6-4 6-1, so maybe "our" James is in with a chance of a QF place...
'Twas a bad day today for the seeds & for Czechs & Slovaks Down-Under: in addition to Ball's defeat, the Aussie top seed, Marinko Matosevic, lost to the Canuck, Philip Bester, in three, Ivo Minar (CZE/7) lost to another Aussie qualifier, Joel Lindner, in two, Lukas Rosol (CZE/5) to a Canuck qualifier, Erik Chvojka, in two & Grega Zemlja (SLO/3) by Matthew Ebden in two, so only three still standing (Lorenzi (ITA/2), Sugita (JPN/6) & Ito (JPN/8)!
I think its a winnable match for James, the difference in ranking is not that big, and James has already beaten the seed in his quarter. I imagine tomorrow will be a day off for him....
I think its a winnable match for James, the difference in ranking is not that big, and James has already beaten the seed in his quarter. I imagine tomorrow will be a day off for him....
Yes, and all the seeds in the top half except the other seed in Wardy's quarter, (8) Ito, went out in R1, so it's become an interesting-looking draw.
He doesn't get a day off though - he's first up tonight at 23.00 GMT.
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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
Btw the men's and women's tournaments seem to be in different locations, because the OoPs are completely separate and there is live(ish) scoring for the men on the TA site but not for the women.
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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!