Week 19 - Challenger ($125,000) - Kūnmíng, China (hard)

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Week 19 - Challenger ($125,000) - Kūnmíng, China (hard)

SMC1809 · All-time great

RE: Week 18 - Challenger ($125,000) - Kunming, China (hard)

Spectator · All-time great

RE: Week 19 - Challenger ($125,000) - Kunming, China (hard)

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Stircrazy wrote:

Edited to correct week number

-- Edited by Madeline on Saturday 4th of May 2013 08:40:05 AM

I could've sworn I changed the "18" to a "19" when the auto-fill presented me with range of options from threads I'd previously started & I opted for Tunis... confuse

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

RE: Week 19 - Challenger ($125,000) - Kūnmíng, China (hard)

steven · Tennis legend

Note the changes in rankings compared to those shown in the first post now that last week's points have gone on!

L32: James Ward WR 210 beat (SE) Márton Fucsovics (HUN) WR 253 by 3-6 7-5 6-3

L16: James Ward WR 210 v Wu Di (CHN) WR 173

H2H 1-0, 7-6(4) 6-4 at last year's Shanghai Challenger

Sadly, only 9 points were available for the win today compared to the extra 32 points Fucsovics got for winning the Final last week - James needs to reach the semis here to come out ahead of the Hungarian on points over the two weeks and thus effectively make this the 'better' of their two encounters to have won.

-- Edited by steven on Tuesday 7th of May 2013 10:19:56 AM

LHarvey89 · Social player

Ward overcomes a first set deficit to win 3-6, 7-5, 6-3. Well done to him.

Shows the small margins involved as this time things swung in Ward's favour at the start of the third set and he was ultimately able to see the match out (albeit more comfortably than Fucsovics did in An-Ning). A little bit of revenge for a couple of days ago, anyway.

Just the one break of serve in the first set and it went the way of Fucsovics. The Hungarian was serving incredibly well and although I don't have the stats to hand, I can't remember him losing a point on his first serve in the opening set. The minute Fucsovics broke, I feared that Ward might start feeling sorry for himself after last week's loss, but it was the complete opposite and I should know better!

Ward saved a few BPs in the early stages of the second set, but was very comfortable on serve from then on.

At 3-6, *5-5 Ward hit five straight games to turn the match on its head to 3-6, 7-5, 3-0*. Ward had a match point at 5-2* 40-30 but it didn't matter as he served out the next game to 30.

The field this week looks a lot stronger. Ward faces the winner of Dudi Sela [3] vs Di Wu, with Wu currently up 5-2 in the opening set. Going to be a good match whoever he plays.

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Wardy will play Di Wu who upset 3rd seed Dudi Sela by 6-2 6-3

SMC1809 · All-time great

Fucsovics was indeed 100% on first serve points in set 1(14/14).

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Stircrazy wrote:
R1: Ruben Bemelmans (BEL) & James Ward WR 1179 vs (WC) Hai-Yun Tan & Jing Zhu Yang (CHN/CHN) UNR
At least Dino & his latest partner haven't drawn the second seeds (again Groth & Smith) this week!

Seemingly Ward and Bemelmans have won 6-3, 7-6

RainDelay · Pro player

Well done Wardy

mikeyp · Junior player

steven wrote:
Sadly, only 9 points were available for the win today compared to the extra 32 points Fucsovics got for winning the Final last week - James needs to reach the semis here to come out ahead of the Hungarian on points over the two weeks and thus effectively make this the 'better' of their two encounters to have won.

-- Edited by steven on Tuesday 7th of May 2013 10:19:56 AM

I was thinking about this today, I wonder what the percentages are from a stats point of view, do you win the final if you know you will lose in the first round of the next tourney? or is it better to lose in the final as you still have the chance to win the tournament in the next week

stevemcqueen · Futures qualifying

I feel this is quite an important win for Dino, quick revenge is like this is common but I think it is important for his confidence. He can show that his huge DC performance was not just a flash in the pan. He has a good opportunity to win a few more rounds and rack up some more points. He is managing to get the win from tight situations, unusual for an English guy.

The field is certainly stronger this week, but this is a $125k as opposed to last weeks $50K. More points on offer too.....

I think Dino will be the booky's favourite for the next round, even though Wu is on home turf and has a higher ranking. If that is not the case, I might consider getting my credit card out. I wonder if the Chinese propensity to gamble plus their desire to support their own man might mean there is an opportunity here. What do people think?

Regardless of all this, Dino you are a Star!!!!

steven · Tennis legend

mikeyp wrote:
I was thinking about this today, I wonder what the percentages are from a stats point of view, do you win the final if you know you will lose in the first round of the next tourney? or is it better to lose in the final as you still have the chance to win the tournament in the next week

If it was automatic that one person would win each match in this situation (which obviously it isn't), I'd take the win in the Final if the tournaments were broadly equivalent (i.e. not if it was a Futures Final followed by a Challenger R1!) - the chances of making semis if you are unseeded aren't very high and getting more points overall that way involves a lot more expenditure of energy.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

There's no "seemingly" about it, CD! wink

R1: Ruben Bemelmans (BEL) & James Ward WR 1331 defeated (WC) Hai-Yun Tan & Jing Zhu Yang (CHN/CHN) UNR by 6-3 7-6(5)

****

QF: (ALT) Go Soeda & Yasutaka Uchiyama (JPN/JPN) WR 586 vs Ruben Bemelmans (BEL) & James Ward WR 1331

The Japanese ALTs took out the fourth seeds, de Voest & Guccione (WR 238) in straight sets (two tie-breaks) in the first round, so they're likely to prove a bit of a handful! hmm