I nipped upstairs and when I got back the match had disappeared from livescore and wasn't in completed matches - Phew! Delighted he got the win.

Interesting game. Kyle served very well and was never in trouble from the back of the court. However in set 2 and most of set 3, Martin served some bombs down the tee and played some very good serve and volley tennis, until the last game, when his serve slipped and Kyle returned well.

The one thing I have noted over the last few weeks is Kyle's lack of anticipation for the short ball, mainly due to his limited movement up to the net. Kyle also is hindered because he is quite technical in his shot making and needs an extra 10th of a second to get into the correct position.
Thus if Kyle is controlling the rallies, he will dominate games, if Kyle is moved around(especially up and down the court) he will find it hard.

He needs to have some long practice sessions with a player who moves you around to improve this i.e Liam, Marcus etc.

well done Kyle :)

A win is a win as they say. Good to get back to winning ways after a disappointment in Miami. It would have been a travesty if Martin had nicked the third given as Bob says the massive differential in points won. Unbelievable serving stats but below par returning ones. Petchey pointed out during the commentary in Miami that Kyle was vulnerable to serves targeting his forehand, saying that he needs fractionally more time to be able to hit his big forehand and it's tricky to make a penetrating return given that issue.

Regarding Kyle's next match, he certainly won't have any fear, as he will have great memories of that match in Eastbourne when he played some unbelievable tennis. The crowd watching that day, marvelled at what they were seeing.

-- Edited by philwrig on Wednesday 1st of April 2015 10:22:11 AM

RJA wrote:

---

Coup Droit wrote:

---

Great stuff.

Fabrice will be really cross that he faltered just at the last and didn't force the TB.

Well played by Kyle, though. It's not easy for youngsters to play dedicated serve and volleyers - they don't get much practice playing them.

---

I think the last part is an often forgotten point. Martin does have a history of pulling out the odd big win, seemingly from nowhere, beating Coric in Dubai qualifying this year for example.

I also remember at the Shrewsbury futures last year when Liam Broady played Sander Arends. Now for anyone who hasn't seen him play, Arends makes Martin look like a base liner. He serves and volleys on pretty much every first serve and most second serves while on return games always looks to get to net at the first opportunity, often chipping and charging on the return. Liam eventually won in 3 sets but for the first set and a bit he was completely baffled by what he was facing and looked utterly clueless.

---

I saw a very similar thing this year in Marseille qualies where Alex Ward played Mischa Zverev. Alex hit the ball extremely well from the baseline but Zverev served and volleyed every single point leaving Alex struggling to come up with answers despite playing pretty well.

It was definitely a good win for Kyle he out served Matin and passed him frequently at the net. He got behind early in the tie break and never recovered but changed up a gear when it really mattered in the third, Martin blinked and he was out. De Schepper won't be under estimating Kyle, it will be an interesting rematch any idea of the time it starts I am watching in Woga Woga

Kyle v De Schepper is first up on the main court, 3pm local time (I'll let somebody else work out the UK time!) Should be streamed, then. Unfortunately I won't be able to watch.