Week 33 - ATP Masters 1000 - Cincinnati, OH, USA - Hard

Montana Doug · Futures qualifying

RE: Week 33 - ATP Masters 1000 - Cincinnati, OH, USA - Hard

BeefyDeedz · Pro player

I'm pretty sure it's on a non-televised court according to Twitter.

Montana Doug · Futures qualifying

Alas....I was really looking forward to this....

Jan · Hall of fame

a set and a break down unfortunately

Jaffa · Challenger level

He's served at 69% and only won half of those points! Either Bennetau is returning really well or Wardy just hasn't got going at all :-/

Jan · Hall of fame

James lost 2-6 2-6

Montana Doug · Futures qualifying

Too bad, but a great week.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

Oops 2-6, 2-6. Oh well a good run in any case. Well done Wardy!

Oakland2002 · All-time great

Great week, time for a bit of R n R then full on crack at US qualys.

stevemcqueen · Futures qualifying

Even though some of his performances may not have been great, Dino got the W on three occasions and has the points and cash for his efforts. He'll go up to approx 130 when the new ranking come out next week. He has only 73 points to defend between now and the end of the year. His autumn was quite poor last year, he got a Challenger semi in Aus and very, very little in Asia. Maybe this year he'll try Europe or the US instead - there is plenty of choice, esp in France. He could try and qualify for a couple of main tour events, he'll make the cut for qualies for nearly all ATP250 tournaments. I'm sure he'll improve his career high, but top 100 by the year end (as some have suggested) is a big ask. It would require him winning around 200 points: A challenger win and a handful of challenger semi final appearances would do it nicely though...

goldenboy · Club Coach

3 successive top-100 scalps is not to be sniffed at, and benneteau must be playing OK judging by his result last night.

should give james confidence going into the US open qualies next week - and he should be seeded fairly high too. just hope he's not too knackered.

I agree, top 100 might be a shade too far this year, but if he qualifies for US open and does well in a couple of other tournies, he might be knocking at the door come the start of 2015.

indiana · Tennis legend

As someone who has fairly consistently been rather pessimistic / to my mind realistic re James being unlikely to make the top 100 this year, I have to admit that I do now more acknowledge the possibility.

That said, I do agree that with how his ranking counting points this year are weighted towards the last month or so, the bigger likelihood of that breakthrough I think is by midway through next year.

Current counting points to come off :

September to December 2014 : 60
January to June 2015 : 194
July to August 2015 : 193

Total ranking points : 447

So big opportunity for real progress in the remainder of this year, and then possibly push through into the top 100 by the midpoint of next year.

Though simply be great if he can do it some time, and the sooner the better :)