Week 44 - Challenger ($75,000) - Charlottesville, VA, USA (hard)

paulisi · Tennis legend

RE: Week 44 - Challenger ($75,000) - Charlottesville, VA, USA (hard)

steven · Tennis legend

L32: (Q) Josh Milton WR 605 lost to (4) Donald Young (USA) WR 104 (CH 38 in 2012) by 0 & 1

L32: (Q) David Rice WR 355 lost to (7) Rhyne Williams (USA) WR 122 (CH 114 in Aug) by 6-3 7-6(4)

Pretty impressed with Dave there - just 1 break in it (Williams 1 from 6 bps, Dave 0 from 4) against a very good player who is on the rise.

indiana · Tennis legend

Actually, I was thinking Dave's singles was getting more on a par with his doubles with Sean. Their doubles doesn't seem to me to have greatly progressed from early challenger round level for a yeat or two, sort of plateaued.

So, if Dave can become competitive in singles challengers, all good. I'd say that it is Sean that has much more of an issue re his singles, but he may be prepared to accept that if they can push on again in doubles. Indeed, he may already have accepted it.

Salmon · Tennis legend

Perhaps Dave (and Shornley) should play a few Futures after the American Challengers. Then Dave can possibly boost his ranking up to the 300 mark, which will get him a DE into the odd Challenger. His current situation is unsustainable in Challengers - if you make it to the finals/semis in doubles, you cannot play singles qualies in the next tournament.

They'll not have to worry about it for a while, actually - there are no Challengers that they can play in weeks 2 and 3. So with a lot of luck, Dave will be ranked high enough to get into Challengers directly by the time he has to deal with the trade-off.

Salmon · Tennis legend

Impressive win for Saketh there.

Rik de Voest is attempting to win his... wait for it... THIRTY-EIGHTH Challenger doubles title.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Dave and Sean a break down in the first set

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

dave and Sean take the second set 6-2.

MTB time.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Sean and Dave were 3-8 down in the TB and then came back to win it 11-9 !

Salmon · Tennis legend

Rice is still 8 withdrawals away from making it to Knoxville as a DE, so he'll probably need to play qualies. BUT can he make it in time even if he loses his doubles QF?

They aren't on today's OOP, so they'll play their quarterfinal on Friday. I think you need to be physically present at the site, before 9pm, to take part in qualies. Or do I have it completely wrong?

-- Edited by Salmon on Thursday 31st of October 2013 02:10:05 AM

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

R1: David Rice & Sean Thornley CR 560 (232+228) defeated (4) James Cluskey & Maximilian Neuchrist (IRL/AUT) CR 302 (150+152) by 4-6 6-2 [11-9] biggrin

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

The top half of the doubles draw would have appeared to open up quite nicely, with Johnson & Smyczek having just seen off the top seeds, Sam Groth & John-Patrick Smith in straight sets, & Dave & Sean themselves having dumped out the fourth seeds...

Spectator · All-time great

Hmmm. Agree to disagree? Johnson/Smyczek seem underranked and on the way up ... Terrific first-round win, though, especially given that Neuchrist was half of an ATP final pairing recently.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Spectator wrote:
Hmmm. Agree to disagree? Johnson/Smyczek seem underranked and on the way up ... [...]

Possibly not, Spectator. I made that comment almost playing devil's advocate & knowing that someone like you might take issue. I have my doubts about Smyczek, but Johnson is certainly not to be underestimated &, as a partnership, they may well prove to be a handful, though for Dave's & Sean's sake, one with which I sincerely hope they can cope.

Spectator · All-time great

Jenkins' ranking is low because he only graduated from university in June (ranked number one in the country among university players) and only then started playing on the circuit. The fact that he's gone from UNR to 372 in four months suggests his confidence is justified.

The doubles tournament has lots of potential: Devvarman and Singh (both University of Virginia, both All-Americans) could be quite a pairing. Michael Shabaz was the only person at the University of Virginia to win two national championships in doubles (one with Mr Inglot and one with Drew Courtney) - while Angelinos probably isn't a very strong partner and their first round opponents are better matched, one still can't rule out an upset (though I hope not two). And Jenkins and Young is a pairing that, if they do well, would be interesting to see in the future.

-- Edited by Spectator on Thursday 31st of October 2013 07:48:27 AM

Salmon · Tennis legend

Jarmere Jenkins is through to yet another quarter final. I'm an admirer of his attitude - ranked outside the top 350, but confident enough to give priority to Challengers.