Week 15 Challenger - Johannesburg, South Africa - $100K+H (Hard)

Salmon · Tennis legend

RE: Week 15 Challenger - Johannesburg, South Africa - $100K+H (Hard)

James · Satellite level

I remember watching him play for Russia in the World Team Cup in Germany - very odd selection, don't think he was even ranked at the time. Although I think he took Bolelli to a TB purely by looping shots from 10ft behind the baseline, helped by the Italian spraying it everywhere.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Chris is also playing doubles this week, though with perhaps an unexpected partner! I guess the prize money on offer was too hard to resist...

R1: Rik de Voest & Izak van der Merwe (RSA/RSA) vs Chris Eaton & Denys Molchanov (UKR)

spud · Challenger qualifying

Another very good win for Eaton, he must be full of confidence after taking it with that sort of scoreline.
Chris will definitely enjoy being in a big challenger with a lot of top players, I really hope he takes this chance to make 2nd round and then who knows!

As for the doubles, I guess with them both qualifying together, they probably thought why not to having a go in the dubs.

-- Edited by spud on Sunday 10th of April 2011 03:38:45 PM

spud · Challenger qualifying

Cox's singles and Eaton's doubles is scheduled for tomorrow.

jmjhb · Lower Club Player

If Coxy can get past Van der Merwe, then he'll play the winner of Eaton and Vovk.

-- Edited by jmjhb on Sunday 10th of April 2011 04:19:00 PM

The Magician Santoro · Top national player

Nice one Eaton! He now defends nothing till August and 5 points till the end of October! So expect a rise in the rankings from Chrissy boy!

jmjhb · Lower Club Player

What does everyone reckon a viable target for Chris is? Top 250?

spud · Challenger qualifying

Really depends on how good his scheduling is throughout the year. We all know that on grass and carpet he's probably top 175 in the world but these are the rarest surfaces on the tour.

If he has a good grass court season then he can prob then push for around top 250

At the moment I want him to aim for top 400 before the grass, he will likely be the most improved for the year so hopefully be given some WC's for Queens, Eastbourne, Wimbledon etc. I still can't believe theyve never given him one yet when he is suited best for the surface. To be fair, he's never had such a solid start the to the year, so this time would be more deserving of one

indiana · Tennis legend

I'd say top 300 would be a very good, stretching and viable target for Chris this year.

Never know really what he could do with say some really good grass court tournaments, but overall top 300 ( currently 217 points ) and above his CH of WR 317 would be very good. Re top 250 ( currently 270 points and averaging 15 in counting tournaments if actually having 18 counters ) I would be very surprised but delighted if he got there.

Good scheduling will I agree be important, and certainly avoid bad scheduling for which is no real excuse. If he looks to really get himself to the right places at the right times that can really help him rise up these rankings.

steven · Tennis legend

Van der Merwe took the 1st set 7-5

(that was about an hour ago)

steven · Tennis legend

... Dan lost in straights

(I don't know the 2nd set score)

indiana · Tennis legend

Pity cry

I see Dan is down for European Challengers for the next couple of weeks.

South Africa, with the higher points and overall weaker field, was possibly a potentially worthwhile excursion, but I had actually thought Dan would keep more to futures until the 2nd half of the year.

OK, I will probably hear cries from some that he's proving nothing racking up future wins and points and time for him to move on to a continually higher level.

But to me, with so few points to defend in the first half of the year, I thought he might as well continue to push up his ranking. WR 250, and I presume the Wimbledon WC main draw entry that would come with that, seemed a good target to aim for. It would also be a good base ranking for thereafter going for Challengers.

With this higher ranking, post Wimbledon, he could then move to Challengers with certainly initially more chance of direct entries as a top 250 player, and then try and prove himself against better players.

-- Edited by indiana on Monday 11th of April 2011 12:25:48 PM

alex03maccy · Grand Slam Champion

Dan's score was 4-6 6-7 according to the tournament website; http://www.thebldgroup.com/the-clients/soweto-open-2011/media/

Salmon · Tennis legend

*raises hand up*

I think that if he starts playing Challengers full time in the second half, he'll be in big trouble as he has too much to defend. It's natural that you'll lose often in the first round when you're stepping up and he'll lose 10+ points too often.

To me it's a choice between -

Going up to 230-240 now and then going down to 350 at the end of the year with little or no experience gained.

or

Staying afloat at around 300 or improving, with a great chance of gaining experience and long term gains, if any.

I can't see why anyone would not choose the second one. It's a bit weird to think that just because he's ranked 200 by beating low ranked players, he'll magically evolve into a Challenger contender, no? As it is I think he has wasted a lot of time but maybe there's still hope.

-- Edited by Salmon on Monday 11th of April 2011 12:02:40 PM