Week 48 - Cambodia F2 ($10,000) - Phnom Penh (Hard)

steven · Tennis legend

Week 48 - Cambodia F2 ($10,000) - Phnom Penh (Hard)

steven · Tennis legend

QR1: Jathan Malik UNR trails (q8) Yan Sabanin (RUS) WR 1199 by 4-6 7-6(5) 4-5 ... resumes on Sunday

Btw, Win Oo did indeed lose 0 & 0

steven · Tennis legend

QR1: Jathan Malik UNR beat (q8) Yan Sabanin (RUS) WR 1199 by 6-4 6-7(5) 7-6(2) biggrin
FQR: Jathan Malik UNR lost to (q13) Chuang Ting Yu (TPE) WR 1756 by 3-6 6-5 ret.

L32: (4) Alex Ward WR 424 v (WC) Pannhara Mam (CAM) UNR
L32: Joshua Jones WR 962 v (3) Axel Michon (FRA) WR 384 (CH 246 in Apr)
L32: Richard Gabb WR 737 v Artem Sitak (NZL) WR 716 (CH 299 in 2008)

Born in the USA, Mam teamed up with Kenny Bun to win Cambodia promotion in Davis Cup this year, going 5/5 in singles, but has never won a set in a Futures singles main draw match.

steven · Tennis legend

L32: (4) Alex Ward WR 453 beat (WC) Pannhara Mam (CAM) UNR by 1 & 1

Tuesday's matches with up to date rankings:

L32: Joshua Jones WR 956 v (3) Axel Michon (FRA) WR 382 (CH 246 in Apr)
L32: Richard Gabb WR 732 v Artem Sitak (NZL) WR 714 (CH 299 in 2008)

L16: (4) Alex Ward WR 453 v Wang Chuhan (CHN) WR 749 (CH 676 in 2011) or Luca Margaroli (SUI) WR 1018 (CH 981 in 2011)

Alex beat Wang 2 & 4 in Thailand 2 weeks ago.

steven · Tennis legend

Oops - this article about the Cambodian DC team in the Phnom Penh Post (RTd by Davis Cup twitter) suggests Cambodians write their surnames first like the Chinese. http://www.phnompenhpost.com/index.php/2012112659927/Sport/cash-rewards-to-davis-cup-tennis-squad.html

korriban · Challenger level

Both Richard and Joshua lost in straight sets this morning. Somewhat disappointing again from Richard. 2 first round losses in Cambodia against a qualifier with a 1800ish ranking, and then to a peer in the 700s in straight sets. Thats an expensive trip with a relatively ordinary field. Richard isn't really talked about much in these forums, and hasn't really broken through in any futures draw - lots and lots of tournaments with a healthy number of L16 and a few QFs, plus one SF. Nothing more. Is he a slow builder type, or perhaps has reached his limit?

Shhh · Challenger level

The only time I saw Richard play I thought he was technically spot on, a very schooled game, no real faults at all. He did seem to lack weapons however and I felt that though he'd be hard to beat, he may struggle to win matches if that makes sense????

This lofty judgement was made from watching one futures match. I tend to be proved wrong a very high percentage of the time and this could easily be one of those occassions

wolf · Tennis legend

R1: (4) Marcus Daniell (NZL) & Richard Gabb WR 1814 beat Konstantin Gerlakh & Yan Sabanin (RUS/RUS) UNR 7-5 6-4 smile
R1: Dekel Bar & Michael Laser (ISR/USA) UNR beat Mehdi Bouras (ALG) & Joshua Jones WR 2178 6-2 7-6(2) bleh
R1: Antoine Escoffier (FRA) & Alexander Ward WR 1962 beat (3) Mick Lescure & Luca Margaroli (FRA/ITA) WR 1391 6-4 6-3 biggrin

QF: (4) Marcus Daniell (NZL) & Richard Gabb WR 1814 beat Dekel Bar & Michael Laser (ISR/USA) UNR 6-3 6-0 smile
QF: Antoine Escoffier (FRA) & Alexander Ward WR 1962 beat Austin Karosi & Filip Veger (USA/CRO) UNR 6-3 6-3 smile

SF: (4) Marcus Daniell (NZL) & Richard Gabb WR 1814 v (1) Maximilian Neuchrist & Artem Sitak (AUT/NZL) WR 793
SF: Antoine Escoffier (FRA) & Alexander Ward WR 1962 v (2) Wan Gao & Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan (CHN/IND) WR 1049

-- Edited by wolf on Wednesday 28th of November 2012 03:48:15 PM

korriban · Challenger level

L16: (4) Alex Ward WR 453 d. Wang Chuhan (CHN) WR 749 6-0 6-1

QF: (4) Alex Ward WR 453 vs [Q] Dekel Bar (ISR) WR 1139

Comment 1: Dekel Bar beat the seeded Escoffier (aka "The Chef") in the L16

Comment 2: How can Alex win the final Thailand futures tournament so easily (form great, acclimatised, etc), then immediately crash out first round of the Cambodia F1 6-4 6-0 to a much lower ranked player with little form (he lost in the next round, and lost 3 and 1 to Marcus in Thailand the previous week), then come back on the same courts the following week and be playing so strongly again. Maybe he was ill last week, or maybe it's the tennis Gods having some fun with us

Crofte · Improver

Newbie here guys.

Reply to comment 2, could it have been the fact he won in Thailand and the turn around for his match in Cambodia was too short?

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

Welcome Crofte. Seems like a reasonable possible explanation to me.

indiana · Tennis legend

Hi Crofte smile

As far as I can tell Alex played his Thailand final on the Saturday and Cambodia R1 on the Tuesday.

So, on the face of it not too bad at all, and Thailand and Cambodia border each other. But who knows, he might still have had travel problems, the courts may be very different paced to those he played so many martches in Thailand or as korriban says he may have been ill or or..

Works out overall not bad though. He wins his title with 18 ranking points, then OK goes out first round but he could have reached the QFs and you still get sod all for it in futures ranking points and not a lot of prizemoney either.

Have about a weeks rest in whatever joys Phnom Penh has to offer, get used to the courts and then go for it again, hopefully to reach the semi finals or beyond.

korriban · Challenger level

insomniacfolder wrote:
Welcome Crofte. Seems like a reasonable possible explanation to me.

Although it was a Saturday morning final win in Thailand and a Tuesday morning first round loss (big loss) in Cambodia. I presume he flew, but its only about 350 miles on the train (albeit not exactly at Eurostar speeds or comfort!), so shouldn't have been a problem either way!!! I still reckon there must have been an "issue"........anyway, seems to be back on form this week.

Crofte · Improver

Yes, as long as he does the business this week, last week can be forgotten about.

Also worth noting his Doubles record this trip. Judging by bet365 this morning, him and "The Chef" were a set and 4-3 up before I left for work. Another SF on the cards?

steven · Tennis legend

This will be Alex's 10th Futures QF of the year (11th singles QF of the year overall, since he also reached the QFs of the Madrid Challenger as a qualifier), all of them in Futures in which he was seeded to reach the QF or beyond.

His record in the other 9 QFs is W 3 L 6, but the four times he reached QFs seeded 4 or better (he has also had at least a couple of tournaments where he was seeded 4 or better but lost before the QFs), he went on to match his seeding 3 out of 4 times, i.e. 2 SFs when seeded 4 and a title when seeded 1.