Week 45 - Challenger ($35,000+H) - Yeongwol, South Korea (hard)

Salmon · Tennis legend

RE: Week 45 - Challenger ($35,000+H) - Yeongwol, South Korea (hard)

steven · Tennis legend

FQR: (q4) Alex Ward WR 345 beat (q8) Richard Gabb WR 414 by 6-1 3-6 6-1

Main draw with today's new rankings - Alex gets a player he upset very convincingly earlier this year ...

L32: (Q) Alex Ward WR 343 v Yannik Reuter (BEL) WR 273 (CH 259 in Sep) - H2H 1-0, 3 & 1, Fürth Challenger QR2 in June
L32: (SE) Brydan Klein WR 335 v (4) Bradley Klahn (USA) WR 118 (= CH) - H2H 0-1, last week's SF
L32: (6) James Ward WR 172 v Taro Daniel (JPN) WR 258 (CH 244 in May)

As Salmon predicted, Chen did the get the existing lucky loser place but Richard must be the next in line.

TMH · Futures qualifying

When was the last time both Ward's played in the same tournament?

Salmon · Tennis legend

Unfortunately Taro Dan broke Dino's serve immediately and then held his serve, so James is a set down.

Academy AWard is a break up in the second set. 2-0*.

Edit: It gets even better for Alex but worse for Dino.

Lex *3-0 Reuter.
Dino 0-1* Dan.

-- Edited by Salmon on Tuesday 5th of November 2013 02:47:44 AM

steven · Tennis legend

TMH wrote:
When was the last time both Ward's played in the same tournament?

The Nottingham Challenger in early June last year, though Alex only played in qualifying there. The last time they both played in the same main draw was at the Loughborough Challenger in November 2011, when they both lost in R1, so let's hope that won't be repeated here!

Their only pro meeting was at Bath Futures in March 2010, when they were both wild cards but James was seeded 4th and Alex upset him 2-6 7-6(5) 6-2 in R1.

Salmon · Tennis legend

Academy won the first set tie-breaker.

Dino 5 -5 Taro Dan.

DWH · Club Coach

Much worse... 0-4 cry

But well done A-wardy smile

LouieG · County player

James makes me cry

Salmon · Tennis legend

Alex will face Wu Di, who managed to beat Lajovic by 2 and 2. If Alex loses his second round match, this image should be fairly apt...

WuDi gets AWard. aww And I'll get me coat?

steven · Tennis legend

Two Wards, two rankings upsets ...

L32: (Q) Alex Ward WR 343 beat Yannik Reuter (BEL) WR 273 (CH 259 in Sep) by 7-6(1) 6-1 biggrin
L32: (SE) Brydan Klein WR 335 v (4) Bradley Klahn (USA) WR 118 (= CH) - H2H 0-1, last week's SF - Wednesday
L32: (6) James Ward WR 172 lost to Taro Daniel (JPN) WR 258 (CH 244 in May) by 5 & 1 bleh

L16: (Q) Alex Ward WR 343 v Wu Di (CHN) WR 241 (CH 161 in May)

Wu was the player who beat James 4 & 3 in Kun-Ming earlier this year (having lost to him in Shanghai in 2012) but he has never played Alex before.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Weird, isn't it ? Alex plays two 10k futures a couple of weeks back and gets knocked out in the first and second rounds by 'nobodies'. And then sails through into the last 16 of a Challenger . . . . ???

He's got 30 points to come off before the end of the year; that's a lot to defend; good luck to him !!!

PS LouieG - me too :(

steven · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
Weird, isn't it ? Alex plays two 10k futures a couple of weeks back and gets knocked out in the first and second rounds by 'nobodies'. And then sails through into the last 16 of a Challenger . . . . ???

He's got 30 points to come off before the end of the year; that's a lot to defend; good luck to him !!!

Yes, still quite a few points to come off, but he is now certain to finish 2013 ranked higher than he was at the end of 2012 with the points much harder-earned (last year, 42% of his points were picked up in Futures in Thailand and Cambodia from 29 October onwards) and thus providing a much stronger base going into next year.

indiana · Tennis legend

I would hope to see Alex really progressing up the rankings in 2014.

While his general non success in futures is quite bizarre, he consistently shows real ability in challengers. To me, certainly capable of being top 250.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

It didn't get any better for Dino in the doubles:

R1: Brydan Klein & Tsung-Hua Yang (TPE) CR 496 (138+358) defeated (WC) Ji Sung Nam & Sang-Woo Noh (KOR/KOR) CR 1023 (321+702) by 4 & 4
R1: (WC) Hyung-Taik Lee (37 years old & with a doubles CH of 97 in 2006!) & Danai Udomchoke (KOR/THA) UNR defeated Matt Reid (AUS) & James Ward CR 864 (117+747) by 4 & 1 bleh

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
I would hope to see Alex really progressing up the rankings in 2014.

While his general non success in futures is quite bizarre, he consistently shows real ability in challengers. To me, certainly capable of being top 250.

I agree, and steven's point is true too (of course!) - a great base for next year.

And, thanks to livestream, it's also been a pleasure watching some of his matches - a good, solid game, lots of things to like.

AND he seems a sensible, hard-working bloke with a good attitude.