Week 39 - Challenger (€50,000) - Fergana, Uzbekistan (Hard)

steven · Tennis legend

Week 39 - Challenger (€50,000) - Fergana, Uzbekistan (Hard)

steven · Tennis legend

James is 1st up tomorrow at 05.30 BST

DWH · Club Coach

James was a break up but was broken back. Scoreboard stuck at 3-2 0-40

Edit: I think the score's catching up. Now at 6-5

-- Edited by DWH on Tuesday 24th of September 2013 05:23:18 AM

DWH · Club Coach

Uh oh! At least two double faults in his last service game and James is broken at a crucial point which the Russian takes advantage of with a hold to 15 to take the second set.

One set all. Come on Wardy!

Kudryavtsev has only lost 4 points behind his first serve so I'm assuming he's nowhere near as wayward as he was against Dom.

-- Edited by DWH on Tuesday 24th of September 2013 06:04:28 AM

korriban · Challenger level

Coup Droit wrote:
L32: (2) James Ward WR 179 lost to Alexander Kudryavtsev (RUS) WR 286 (CH 123 in 2011) 6-7 6-3 6-4

Very disappointing. Very low BP conversion - too passive or opponent just played well on those points? And his second serve wasn't effective. This is often the case with James. When James is good he's very very good. When he's bad, well he can start slowly but he's rarely awful. However he simply plays far too safe in matches where he ought to win, or in matches where he's the underdog but near the winning line.

-- Edited by korriban on Tuesday 24th of September 2013 08:11:59 AM

Shhh · Challenger level

James was 3-1 40-15, then lost 7 points in a row and scoreboard stuck as DWH said for sometime. Injury timeout maybe? Thankfully all running again now (5-5) as I type.

DWH · Club Coach

Yup was thinking about that wrist... but thankfully everything seems to be ok. Maybe just a technical fault?

Also the first set went to a tiebreak which James took 7-2. smile Come on Wardy!

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

L32: (2) James Ward WR 179 lost to Alexander Kudryavtsev (RUS) WR 286 (CH 123 in 2011) 6-7 6-3 6-4

RJA · Hall of fame

Terrible result. The field here is awful and James really should have gone deep.

steven · Tennis legend

Absolutely gutting given the draw James had here - Kudryavtsev gets a qualifier ranked outside the top 900 (and never ranked in the top 500) in R2, whose win against a wild card in R1 broke a 6-match losing streak.

korriban · Challenger level

steven wrote:
Absolutely gutting given the draw James had here - Kudryavtsev gets a qualifier ranked outside the top 900 (and never ranked in the top 500) in R2, whose win against a wild card in R1 broke a 6-match losing streak.

With respect to Dominic Inglot, the Russian was beyond awful when Dom beat him easily last week in St Petersburg. I'm sure his serve was working a little better today than last week, but Dom didn't even have to play well to beat him, and James is obviously much better off the ground than "The Bomb".

Look, I didn't watch, so it's unfair to be too critical in case the Russian had an inspired Rosol/Darcis day (are you listening Adrian Durham?), but these frustratrating results happen all the time with James don't they......he has weeks of playing well, then loses to journeymen.

steven · Tennis legend

korriban wrote:
steven wrote:
Absolutely gutting given the draw James had here - Kudryavtsev gets a qualifier ranked outside the top 900 (and never ranked in the top 500) in R2, whose win against a wild card in R1 broke a 6-match losing streak.
With respect to Dominic Inglot, the Russian was beyond awful when Dom beat him easily last week in St Petersburg. I'm sure his serve was working a little better today than last week, but Dom didn't even have to play well to beat him, and James is obviously much better off the ground than "The Bomb".
Look, I didn't watch, so it's unfair to be too critical in case the Russian had an inspired Rosol/Darcis day (are you listening Adrian Durham?), but these frustratrating results happen all the time with James don't they......he has weeks of playing well, then loses to journeymen.

As do most players, to be fair ... and maybe he was beginning to feel his wrist as the match went on. It's just particularly disappointing this week with such a nice draw having appeared to give him the opportunity to pick up lots of points.

Jeff Stelling · Club Coach

Desperately frustrated to wake up to this. Effectively 17(ish) points begging to be taken. It's all very well Dino winning the odd challenger, until he stops semi-regularly throwing in these losses the top 100 is no more than a pipe dream.

korriban · Challenger level

Jeff Stelling wrote:
Desperately frustrated to wake up to this. Effectively 17(ish) points begging to be taken. It's all very well Dino winning the odd challenger, until he stops semi-regularly throwing in these losses the top 100 is no more than a pipe dream.

Tell me you haven't just woken up, Jeff! smile smile smile

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Well I have just woken up (got an excuse though) and I am as disappointed as Jeff