Week 35 - Croatia F14 ($10,000) - Bol (Clay)

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Week 35 - Croatia F14 ($10,000) - Bol (Clay)

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

SF: (1) Alex Ward WR 389 vs (Q) Abdullah Maqdes (KUW) WR 1631 (CH = 496 in February 2013)

For the second round in a row, Maqdes progressed earlier courtesy of his opponent's retirement!

paulisi · Tennis legend

With no play yesterday, Alex has taken the first set 6-1

Constant · Lower Club Player

SF: (1) Alex Ward WR 389 beats (Q) Abdullah Maqdes (KUW) WR 1631 6-1 6-1

BradMarx90 · County player

SF: (1) Alex Ward WR 389 bt (Q) Abdullah Maqdes (KUW) WR 1631 by 1 & 1

F: (1) Alex Ward WR 389 vs (2) Miki Jankovic (SRB) WR 471

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Hoping I don't jinx anything by saying this but Alex is storming to victory in the final as well.

He leads 6-2 *4-0

Constant · Lower Club Player

Ward up 6-2 5-1 serving for match and gets broken. 5-2 now

Madadman · Masters Series Champion

Takes the final 6-2 6-3

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Had me worried there just for a moment, but congrats to Alex on another title.

adamwatson · Newbie

Where will this take Alex in the rankings?

Madadman · Masters Series Champion

Shoud move inside the top 340.

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

I make it about 360 and not 340. He has another 3 weeks here where he will be top seed. Tough ask to win 4 titles in a row but if he does he ll be ranked about 260-270 I'm assuming to then hit challengers in October/November to get to Aus open qualies.

Topemp · Strong Club Player

Really pleased with Alex's choice of tournaments generally, and think he's doing right thing getting a solid base of points after his injuries, delighted by how convincing his victories have been.

He only has 7 tournaments that he has won more than 10 points at, so picking up 18's (apparently reasonably easily) at these 10K's is a good idea. To be in top 250 by end of year he'll need around 195 points; to be at #275 which would probably be enough to get into Aussie Open Q he'll need around 175 points.

He has 25 to come off in the next month, which means gaining 91 points between now and end of November for #250 or 71 points for #275- a tough task.

So long as his game isn't affected too much by playing a lower standard of opponent, Alex has been happy to do the hard slog of Challenger Qualies before, I think another 3 weeks of 10K's makes perfect sense, before heading back towards 15K's/ Challengers.

I suspect he won't make Aussie Open Q, but if not, then French Open Q should be within his reach and a Wimby WC for being in top 250 by next June.

indiana · Tennis legend

All the best to Alex ( and yes, based on the current rankings, his 18 ranking points from this title would take him to about WR 360 ).

We have quite a number of players in the 300s in the rankings, who each individually could make Aussie Open qualifying. But in reality it is a pretty tough ask. Clearly Evo is a great shout, but he's kinda out of position rankingswise. If one or two more made it from these 300ers to Aussie Open qualifying that would be a result.

-- Edited by indiana on Monday 7th of September 2015 11:20:04 PM