Week 13 - Challenger ($35,000+H) - San Luis Open, San Luis Potosí, Mexico (red clay)

LHarvey89 · Social player

RE: Week 13 - Challenger ($35,000+H) - San Luis Open, San Luis Potosí, Mexico (red clay)

LHarvey89 · Social player

Michalicka breaks to 40 in the first game of the third set. Thornley saved two breaks points at *15-40, winning the next three to *A-40, but MM rallies and takes the next three points and breaks serve. Topsy turvy stuff.

Thornley then has a BP but cannot convert, and Michalicka holds to 40.

*0-2 in the third set.

LHarvey89 · Social player

Thornley's 14th double fault gifts MM a break point, but he doesn't take it. After a bit of a slog, Thornley toughs it out and holds to 40.

1-2*

LHarvey89 · Social player

Michalicka holds to love (that was the only love service game of the match, there was only one hold to 15 too - also by MM) and then breaks to 15 - GSM.

Shame that Thornley ended with a bit of a whimper, but he can take many positives from taking Michalicka to three sets. Especially having not played on clay for so long.

Michalicka defeats Thornley; 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

David & Sean must've just missed the cut for the doubles: the last DAs, Andrey Martin & Simone Vagnozzi, are ranked 413th compared with the boys' 422nd, yet the orgnaisers saw fit to dish out three WCs!

Edit: ah, I see spud's confirmed my suspicions!

-- Edited by Stircrazy on Monday 25th of March 2013 07:06:46 PM

SMC1809 · All-time great

I don't think you can blame them for the choice of tournament. You wouldn't expect a $35K Challenger to have a lower cut-off than a $100K Challenger. Unfortunate choice of tournament rather than a poor one.

-- Edited by SMC1809 on Monday 25th of March 2013 11:07:14 PM

spud · Challenger qualifying

Sean tweeted to say they were one out of the cut for doubles again!! Must be heartbreaking. Would it be worth waiting to see if an alternate position crops up?

spud · Challenger qualifying

To rub it in even more, Guadeloupe, a much bigger challenger on hard courts, which isn't too far away from where they are, has bye's in its doubles draw!

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

spud wrote:
To rub it in even more, Guadeloupe, a much bigger challenger on hard courts, which isn't too far away from where they are, has bye's in its doubles draw!

Looks as though they'd've walked into the Le Gosier draw: the draw doesn't give the ranking of the last DAs, but Roman Borvanov & Greg Ouellette, for example, who take on the fourth seeds, Cerretani & Shamasdin, in the first round, have a combined ranking of 817! Poor choice of tournament or were other factors in play when they opted for Mexico?

Bob · Social player

spud wrote:
Sean tweeted to say they were one out of the cut for doubles again!! Must be heartbreaking. Would it be worth waiting to see if an alternate position crops up?

David and Sean must be wondering what to do for the best. They have a Challenger win and quite a few Futures titles yet still not enough points to get into Challenger draws such as this and other Challengers closer to home. The Le Gosier Challenger had a much stronger singles entry list but a number of late withdrawals made it weaker. Unfortunately, players are unsure who will turn up for Doubles as there is no advance entry list for Challenger Doubles. They must be in a state of limbo now as they said they want to compete in more Challengers at a higher level in Doubles!!!!

Spectator · All-time great

That really is wretched. If there are going to be fewer Challenger tournaments and increasingly tough draws, something needs to be done to ensure that doubles players have more ability to predict what the cutoffs will be.

korriban · Challenger level

This is partly why the decision to eliminate all but 2 of the GB Challengers is particularly baffling from the LTA. As can be seen clearly from this example, when our players show the right behaviours and try to play at a higher level, they take disproportionate risks, without the points potential of home Challengers to at least smooth their entry into overseas MDs.

I cant get too excited and animated about doubles, but for those who focus on it, this really makes life tough, expensive and frustrating.

blob · All-time great

Thanks for the updates LHarvey89, very readable.