Week 2 - Australian Open men's qualifying - Hard

airsmashers · County player

RE: Week 2 - Australian Open men's qualifying - Hard

airsmashers · County player

Tie break time

airsmashers · County player

Arnaboldi to start

*1-0
1-1
1-2*
1-3
*1-4
2-4

airsmashers · County player

2-5*
2-6

First set to Arnaboldi 7-6(2)

steven · Tennis legend

James had bps in the 2nd set but to no avail - he took 0 from 3, Arnaboldi 1 from 5

QR1: James Ward WR 166 lost to Andrea Arnaboldi (ITA) WR 213 (CH 206 in 2009) by 7-6(2) 6-4

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Kudla takes the first set 6-4

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

And Kudla nor double break up in the second 6-4 4-1

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

In short, great score by Dan E, a reasonable effort by Dan C. and a disappointing result from James. . . .

Can't help noticing that our Aussie friends only had one victory out of nine matches. It's a shame but, when some of the 'tennis journalists' gave our qualie guys stick for losing in the first round at W. this year, maybe they should see that it's not all that different elsewhere . . .)

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

Good news to wake up to from Dan E

Less good for the others though, whilst not unexpected from Dan C I was really rooting for him!!

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

Coup Droit wrote:
In short, great score by Dan E, a reasonable effort by Dan C. and a disappointing result from James. . . .

Can't help noticing that our Aussie friends only had one victory out of nine matches. It's a shame but, when some of the 'tennis journalists' gave our qualie guys stick for losing in the first round at W. this year, maybe they should see that it's not all that different elsewhere . . .)

Pretty much sums it up. Well put CD.

Yes, I bet it's the same in every country in all tournies. The fact is that if you're not there on merit ie a wild card, there's a reason for that. Maybe a reason to rethink the wildcard system so it doesn't bias the countries with the most big tournies.

Jiwan · Club Coach

Hi all, It's my first post on here so stick with me...lets see how it goes eh?

By the time I had gotten to Melbourne Park it was all over for Evo so can't comment on his match. Glad to see that he came out to support Dino for his match though. There really wasn't that much between Dino and his opponent, It really just came down to a few points here. He played great up until the tie break. The momentum def felt like it was with Dino as his standard def picked up towards the tie break. The first point of the tie break was a cracker and James nailed it for an early mini break. From there, James seemed to lose focus and made lots of unforced errors (and a code violation). As I said not much in it in the second either, James just didn't take his chances. It could have been a two set victory for James. I guess it just wasn't his day.

It's the first time I've seen Mr Cox playing live. He is the total opposite of James in stature, maybe one or two inches shorter (hmmm maybe more) but very muscular, he reminded me of pit bull strutting around the court. He had great energy about him and he looked like he deserved to be there. I wasn't sure how he was going to compete at this level but there was nothing between him and the no4 seed for the first 8 games in terms of talent. For a slightly shorter guy he was belting some serves and forehands. Then, the wind picked up a little and by Melbourne's standards ..it was a little. this seemed to really distract Mr C. He threw in 2 doubles and his serve from that point struggled through the rest of the match. He was quite patchy in the second, seemed to be going for the lines a lot, his game def dipped so perhaps that was his strategy to end the points quicker. I can certainly see Mr C climbing the rankings this season if the pit bull stays fit. Glad to see Judy M supporting Mr C

RJA · Hall of fame

Really disappointing result from James. Arnaboldi spends most of his time playing on clay and his best result last year was a one challenger SF, on clay in his home country.

Spectator · All-time great

Many thanks, Jiwan, for your report. Great to have an eyewitness account.

-- Edited by Spectator on Wednesday 8th of January 2014 10:27:42 AM

TMH · Futures qualifying

^Seconded. Always nice to hear a bit more about the match as often the scoreline doesn't really reflect the performance.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Doubt it will be of any consolation to Dan C & Dino, but Dustin Brown (q1) also fell at the first hurdle - & in straight sets (4 & 2) - against Damir Dzumhur (BIH/WR 188)! disbelief