Disappointing for Liam. Doesn't seem to be too far away in a lot of these matches but is losing the big points at the business end of sets. Horrible grass court season for him so far, let's hope he's saving his first win for when it really matters!
Liam has dropped the first set on the tie break. He led *5-2 in the breaker but lost the next 5 points
Going by what one of our number was saying last week about Evo ( lost 5 points in a row from *6-3 as I recall ), such events as this in a tiebreak are so rare that Liam must have "choked".
In truth of course all we have is a run of points lost by Liam - 2 on serve, 2 against and finally with serve. such runs of points in tennis, including in TBs, even in otherwise close matches, being so very far from that rare.
Pity though that he didn't manage to seal that first set.
-- Edited by indiana on Saturday 20th of June 2015 03:43:59 PM
Ok fine, I will take the bait.
Statistically speaking, losing 5 points in a tiebreak is very rare. Losing a match from a set and *6-3 up in TB is also very rare, however you want to dress it.
Given that Evo capitulated in the 3rd set he either choked it and lost interest in getting back in to the match or lacks sufficient professionalism to acknowledge he was outplayed from 6-3 up to make a go of the final set.
Either way, if losing 5 points in a row is so common in TBers, you should really have a word with the bookmakers, because they must be losing a fortune on the odds they give players from winning sets from such losing positions.
Liam has dropped the first set on the tie break. He led *5-2 in the breaker but lost the next 5 points
Going by what one of our number was saying last week about Evo ( lost 5 points in a row from *6-3 as I recall ), such events as this in a tiebreak are so rare that Liam must have "choked".
In truth of course all we have is a run of points lost by Liam - 2 on serve, 2 against and finally with serve. such runs of points in tennis, including in TBs, even in otherwise close matches, being so very far from that rare.
Pity though that he didn't manage to seal that first set.
There has been a weary predictability to Liam's recent matches. Compete well for 90% of the match but losing the big points. Whether that is a case of Liam being tight on the big points (choking?) or a case of superior opponents simply upping their game at the right time is impossible to say unless you have watched the matches but my guess would be a bit of both.
What I do know is that as of Monday Liam's race ranking is going to be 343 and unless he finds some form soon his actually ranking will soon start to fall. I also suspect that if he loses first round at Wimbledon his getting a wild card after 4 straight first round defeats on grass will be questioned HM gutter press.
-- Edited by RJA on Saturday 20th of June 2015 05:40:30 PM
Watched Liam's game v Rola, I'm afraid he was rather the architect of his own downfall in 1st set.
2 mini breaks ahead, serving at 5-2 up, he suddenly looked very tight and hit 3 unforced errors and a double fault (just about his only one of the match)
Having had 4 break points in first game of the match, I don't think he had another one the whole match, and whilst he hung in there on his own serve in 2nd set, he (unsurprisingly given his recent form) doesn't exude a lot of confidence, and it was no huge surprise when he was broken at 6-5 to lose the match, though he had saved other break points.
He was up against a decent player, but when you're in a rut, it is hard to get out. Hope he can do soon.
Watched Liam's game v Rola, I'm afraid he was rather the architect of his own downfall in 1st set.
2 mini breaks ahead, serving at 5-2 up, he suddenly looked very tight and hit 3 unforced errors and a double fault (just about his only one of the match)
Having had 4 break points in first game of the match, I don't think he had another one the whole match, and whilst he hung in there on his own serve in 2nd set, he (unsurprisingly given his recent form) doesn't exude a lot of confidence, and it was no huge surprise when he was broken at 6-5 to lose the match, though he had saved other break points.
He was up against a decent player, but when you're in a rut, it is hard to get out. Hope he can do soon.
You might want to be careful who you say that to - some people don't buy into the notion that being 5-2 up on serve and losing the TB could be attributed to the player failing to serve it out from a winning position. Please refer to the forums guidelines on acknowledging all perceivable chokes as normal parts of tennis that are 'so very far from rare.'
For some reason Liam's year feels worse than it is. True, his race ranking is poor but if you look at the losses, the overwelming majority are to higher ranked players, and they were all close matches.
For me, there are still reasons to be positive. Considering the incredble strides he made last year he looks to be consolidating his tennis in the top 250 (performance not ranking). If you look back at his year and the players he's lost to - one or two tiebreaks going the other way and we'd be content with his first 6 months.
At the very least Dan has 3 points to show for his efforts although he was fortunate that Muller's withdrawal led to Jaziri's promotion to the main draw and Udomchoke taking the latter's spot allowing Dan to get this far without facing a seeded opponent.