korriban wrote:

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RJA wrote:

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Jamie had a break point but couldn't take it. He lost 2 and 4

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First match tournament after a mini-break or not - this is a bad loss (2 fairly easy straight sets), especially after 2 "warm up" matches beforehand.

I come back to Leon Smith's decision to drop Jamie after having picked him for the DC tie against Russia, with Jamie pulling out of 2 or 3 weeks of tournaments to be available, and then training with the squad fully expecting to playing as our #2. Just how badly must Jamie have been playing in practice before that DC tie for Leon to make such as big decision to unilaterally drop in and call in an emergency back-up? Now we know. 

 

Peliwo is a good player so I dont think it is a really bad loss. I didnt expect Jamie to win this tournament so its not a shock to me. I still have him as one of my favourite players but I think he has hit a bit of a brick wall ==will he ever get into the top 200. He's s fighter on the court but has no big weapons to trouble the better players.

I dont read much into the Davis Cup-- it is horses for courses with much added pressure to win --- I think Evans was always in the frame for the tie because of his good record in these ties but I guess Jamie must have been disappointed not to have been selected.

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indiana wrote:

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Anyway, a day here encapsulating the ongoing rise in rankings for players in about the 15 to 25 GB rankings range, but the lack of progress ( indeed the reverse in some instances ) of our top half dozen or so players.

Ultimately one must hope that the real stirrings lower down the rankings help give monentum to some players really breaking through into the top 200, and that's what we really need.

Very good that we are getting so many top 600 players, but it matters nowhere near as much in the bigger scheme of things against getting top 200 players, and the situation there looks like remaining fairly dire for some time to come yet.

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 Sums up exactly my thoughts. The genuine progress from the new guard only matters if they progress up the rankings, passing the more established players who have either plateaued or are actually going backwards, then continue into the top 200 and beyond towards the top 100. Otherwise, its just more of the same. The players who have genuine top 100 to 150 potential on our table still probably can be counted on the fingers of one hand, so it's not really a case of a feast, following the famine. But the direction is still very much positive.

I think this is Bruce Strachan's first pro tournament in doubles. Not bad going, making the final!

Very very good win, and actually fairly comfortable in the end. 2 slip ups early in each set, both comfortably retrieved.

Well done!

Given how straight forward this was, I return to Jamie Baker (remember David beat Peliwo easily last week too) - what IS going on, Jamie?