Week 29 - Challenger (€30,000+H) - Recanati, Italy (hard)

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Week 29 - Challenger (€30,000+H) - Recanati, Italy (hard)

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

the Skupskis have won the first set 7-5

update: but lose the second one in a tie-break

final update: but win the MTB, 12-10, having saved at least one MP . ..

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Monday 15th of July 2013 07:06:26 PM

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Monday 15th of July 2013 07:20:25 PM

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Yay! A first Challenger win for the bruvs :

R1: (4) Ken Skupski & Neal Skupski CR 405 defeated Pierre-Hugues Herbert & Albano Olivetti (FRA/FRA) CR 465 by 7-5 6-7(4) [12-10]

Dug themselves out of a fair few holes in that MTB! biggrin

****

QF: Julien Maes & Fabrice Martin (FRA/FRA) CR 1268 vs (4) Ken Skupski & Neal Skupski CR 405

wolf · Tennis legend

The reached the final of the first Nottingham challenger, and won a round the following week as well.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

wolf wrote:
The reached the final of the first Nottingham challenger, and won a round the following week as well.

Whoops! So they did! How short is my memory... Getting too carried away by the fact that the boys were seeded & won a round on foreign soil, obviously. Well, that's my story & I'm sticking to it! wink

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

R1: (1) Stefano Ianni & Dane Propoggia (ITA/AUS) CR 248 defeated Marius Copil (ROU) & Jamie Delgado CR 420 by 2 & 4 cry

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

An easier win for the boys this time, perhaps not surprisingly, given the difference in ranking:

QF: (4) Ken Skupski & Neal Skupski CR 405 defeated Julien Maes & Fabrice Martin (FRA/FRA) CR 1268 by 3 & 2 smile

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

A sterner test for them in the semi, but not by that much & only to be expected at this stage:

SF: (4) Ken Skupski & Neal Skupski CR 405 vs (2) Vahid Mirzadeh & Denis Zivkovic (USA/USA) CR 379

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Never in doubt...

SF: (4) Ken Skupski & Neal Skupski CR 405 defeated (2) Vahid Mirzadeh & Denis Zivkovic (USA/USA) CR 379 by 3 & 4 biggrin

paulisi · Tennis legend

I assume the Skupski's will be playing together regularly now unless Neal's ranking holds Ken back in the masters and grand slams?

WD40 · Club Coach

At the rate Neal's ranking must be rising I don't think it will be long before they are able to enter the bigger tournaments together.

RJA · Hall of fame

paulisi wrote:
I assume the Skupski's will be playing together regularly now unless Neal's ranking holds Ken back in the masters and grand slams?

Ken won't get into Masters Series with his ranking anyway.

spud · Challenger qualifying

The brothers yet to lose serve this week. Watched them for a bit and they already look like a tour level pair, very solid.

I think it's just a case of time with their (Neal's) ranking to climb sufficiently to get into the 250 events.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

'Twill be interesting to see how the top seeds, Stefano Ianni & Dane Propoggia (CR 268), fare against the Italian WCs, Gianluigi Quinzi & Adelchi Virgili (a combined age of 40 [17+23] & a combined ranking of 1771!), in the match to decide the boys' opponents in the final. They put out the third seeds in two tie-breaks in the first round & their fellow WCs by 4 & 4 in the QF.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Stircrazy wrote:
'Twill be interesting to see how the top seeds, Stefano Ianni & Dane Propoggia (CR 268), fare against the Italian WCs, Gianluigi Quinzi & Adelchi Virgili (a combined age of 40 [17+23] & a combined ranking of 1771!), in the match to decide the boys' opponents in the final. They put out the third seeds in two tie-breaks in the first round & their fellow WCs by 4 & 4 in the QF.

Just for the record, young Gianluigi battled for a few seconds shy of 2½ hours in a second-round singles match against the third seed (& WC), Flavio Cipolla, which finished just after midnight local time, but lost by 4-6 6-4 4-6. Clearly an opponent not to be underestimated, however...