Week 22 - Challenger (€42,500) - Manchester, GB (Grass)

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

RE: Week 22 - Challenger (€42,500) - Manchester, GB (Grass)

Ratty · County player

Broady 4-1 down in the decider, one break. A tennis match in front of two men and a dog on a freezing evening in Manchester seems pretty joyless.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Liam seemed to fade badly towards the end of the second set. cry

L32: Hiroki Moriya (JPN) WR 171 defeated Liam Broady WR 176 by 0-6 7-6(4) 6-1

******

L16: (WC) Josh Milton WR 355 vs Hiroki Moriya (JPN) WR 171

RJA · Hall of fame

Really disappointing result for Liam. For a tournament with a field this good he had lovely draw at what is effectively his "home tournament" and will really feel that he should have taken advantage.

On the plus side, very nice result for Josh.

Ratty · County player

Stircrazy wrote:
Liam seemed to fade badly towards the end of the second set.

I'm not sure I really agree. The score suggests that, but the games were close. Liam won 4/14 break points, and Moriya 3/3.

It's a funny thing, but I've been watching tennis for years, and just have no idea from watching players in the lower reaches of the pro game whether they've got what it takes to break into the big-time.

A131 · Intermediate Club Player

Ratty wrote:
Broady 4-1 down in the decider, one break. A tennis match in front of two men and a dog on a freezing evening in Manchester seems pretty joyless.

Were there really not many spectators? It has been a bit chilly here in the north west but Didsbury is about 30 miles away from where I live so to anyone that may have gone today - was it more of a soup/Bovril day than an Ice Cream one?

paulisi · Tennis legend

I watched the first set of Liam's match on stream, switched over to watch Josh and then back to Liam.

First impressions - Liam started very well, the Japanese player was making lots of errors and didn't look interested. When I turned back on Liam's serve was struggling, his ground shots were very inconsistent and he had no plan B. He kept trying to play from the back of the court and getting outplayed. Why no serve and volley or mix up?

As for Josh - surprisingly his serve got him lots of cheap points. He was very solid on the short points, but as soon as we had a longish rally, Austin dominated and looked a top notch serve and volley player, but struggled with his returns. Josh hung in, was behind early on in the tie break, but a net error and double fault gave him a match point. He missed that, but took the next. Excellent result, but I've seen Josh hit better ground strokes.

skibbarriz · Strong Club Player

I first checked in on this match near the end of the 1st and saw him take the set with a very dominant scoreline. Nest time i checked in, he was 5 down in the 3rd. It was pretty hard to believe things had changed that much. I didn't follow the bulk of it so can't say why it happened.

BradMarx90 · County player

Gutted for Liam, maybe the pressure of being in front of his "home crowd" (however many of them there were) got to him in the end? Feel he ought to have won that one and set up an all British tie in the Round of 16. Still, there's a few more Grass challengers to go yet.

Great result for Josh though, always nice to see Brits taking out seeded foreigners ;)

gazzpash · Club Coach

A131 wrote:
Ratty wrote:
Broady 4-1 down in the decider, one break. A tennis match in front of two men and a dog on a freezing evening in Manchester seems pretty joyless.
Were there really not many spectators? It has been a bit chilly here in the north west but Didsbury is about 30 miles away from where I live so to anyone that may have gone today - was it more of a soup/Bovril day than an Ice Cream one?

I live 5-10 minutes walk from the club but after speaking with some of our players I didn't think be worth getting down so well done to those who actually travelled.

goldenboy · Club Coach

watched a fair bit of liam's match - he found himself 4-0 behind in the tie break and was too much to make up, then the Japanese was much more consistent in the final set. Liam was rallying OK but then would hit a random bad shot. did come to the net a few times but perhaps not enough. though quality much better than klein-cox which was turgid at best. shame though - had he won 2nd set tie break def wouldn;t have been undeserved at all!

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Without checking is this a CH scalp for Josh?

Jaffa · Challenger level

I thought Liam went in to his shell personally. Fair enough Moriya did play a bit better but Liam lost the match rather than Moriya won it I'm afraid.

philwrig · Hall of fame

1st day at Northern tennis club in the lovely Didsbury area of Manchester.

Arrived late to cloudy skies and a howling wind, although club somewhat protected from the wind. Rain on and off had led to a late start to Coxy and Kleins match. Due to me taking time to suss the club out, and also to chat to lots of folks, and also primarily wanting to see the Skupski's play I didn't really get to see much of this match, so can't really comment. Although my impression was that the match wasn't high in quality ( very difficult conditions though ). The doubles is being played indoors all week, unless the saturated uncovered outside courts dry up quickly. There also no grass courts to practice on as the 2 main courts are being solely used for match play. The Skupski's were always in the match eventhough they were a set and a breakdown, Wardy and Ebden were frustratingly winning the big points. I then made a quick dash back to the hotel and was expecting the worst, when I checked the live scores. Somehow they had completely turned the match around, that made my day. Will hopefully catch up with them today to find out what happened to explain the massive change in momentum.

When I got back to the Northern club and sub zero temperatures, Liam was already a set up. So I was expecting to enjoy the 2nd set seeing Liam play some of his best tennis. However eventhough Liam was the better player and was creating all the chances there was no doubt that Moriya was starting to make a match of it spurred on by some vocal Japanese support. Liam's tennis at that stage was mostly good ( very impressive serving, some blinding BHDTL shots and some solid forehands ) but it wasn't perfect. It seemed that the 6th game of the 2nd was going to be crucial, Moriya was fighting hard to stave off countless bp opportunities, but finally Liam converted to take a 4-2 lead, job done I thought. THEN Moriya really moved up a gear, broke back straightaway, playing some really impressive error free tennis, lots of flat chirdectory shots perfect for grass. Liam wasn't able to respond, and from that moment on Moriya was on top. I'm not sure playing at home is always an advantage ( extra pressure etc., ). Josh was playing on court 1 was has no spectator seating and I was just about to turn my attention to his match, when I got distracted by chatting to a few friendly faces, so sadly missed the 2nd set TB. Speaking to Josh beforehand he knew it would be a tough match but also fancied his chances.

Northern's a very nice club, very compact but VERY limited car parking spaces. Going to be tricky to get my car parked there during the week ( you in theory need to be a guest and on the short list to be guaranteed a spot )

Shhh · Challenger level

Thanks Phil, excellent read, have a good day today (as will the Brits I think!)