Week 45 - Challenger ($50,000) - Knoxville, TN, USA (indoor hard)

philwrig · Hall of fame

RE: Week 45 - Challenger ($50,000) - Knoxville, TN, USA (indoor hard)

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

R1: Dennis Novikov & Eric Quigley (USA/USA) CR 479 (187+292) defeated David O'Hare (IRL) & Joe Salisbury CR 491 (239+252) by 6-4 7-6(2) cry

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

All fall down in the doubles:

FQR: (q2) Henri Laaksonen & Luca Margaroli (SUI/SUI) CR 789 (475+314) defeated (q1) Dan Smethurst & Darren Walsh CR 564 (387+177) by 7-6(4) 7-5 bleh

Spectator · All-time great

And a lousy draw for Mr Smethurst - though he's gone past strong opponents before.

Jeff Stelling · Club Coach

Really? Looks like the second best Q spot to me.

Surely anything at this level will be "lousy" if you're looking at Smetty's ranking disparity.

Spectator · All-time great

Novikov has been a trifle uneven, with two dodgy losses, but he's had quite a string of good results this Autumn: won the North Carolina Challenger, won the Columbus Challenger, made the SFs of the Las Vegas Challenger, and was in the QFs of Monterrey ... losing in a very, very close match to Victor Estrella-Burgos. While they are better known, neither Donaldson nor Fratangelo has had such a strong series of wins this Autumn. Donaldson did make the Finals at Sacramento (where, apart from Kudla, he had a relatively weak draw), but apart from that neither he nor Fratangelo has made it beyond the QFs this Autumn.

(And no, I didn't have all this in my head when I wrote that post - just knew that I'd seen some very good results from Novikov while looking at various draws. But checking it out confirmed the sense!)

-- Edited by Spectator on Wednesday 11th of November 2015 05:22:49 PM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Well,, good draw or lousy draw, Dan S loses the first set 5-7 :(

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Dan broke and served for the second set but got broken back and ended up losing the second set 5-7

Wasteful, really, it was a shame....

Spectator · All-time great

Quite a respectable scoreline given how little Mr Smethurst has played of late and the level of the tournament. A very encouraging tournament overall for him.

Jaffa · Challenger level

Liam is playing very well indeed against Falla, regardless of result. Currently 6-5*

Jaffa · Challenger level

Liam deservedly took the breaker 7-5.

I must go to bed now though!

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Things not looking quite so rosy in the second set: Falla leads by 3-0*. hmm

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Liam recovers the break on his fourth break point: *2-3. smile Now I'm off to bed. Hope I wake up to good news later this morning!

indiana · Tennis legend

Stircrazy wrote:
Liam recovers the break on his fourth break point: *2-3. Now I'm off to bed. Hope I wake up to good news later this morning!

Good news

Liam won 7-6(5) 7-6(5)

indiana · Tennis legend

Summary :

R1: (Q) Dan Smethurst WR 401 lost to Dennis Novikov (USA) WR 142 ( CH 138 earlier this month ) 7-5 7-5

R1: Liam Broady WR 312 beat (7) Alejandro Falla (COL) WR 118 ( CH 48 in July 2012 ) 7-6(5) 7-6(5)

R1: Dan Evans WR 271 beat Daniel Nguyen (USA) WR 222 ( CH 189 this July ) 6-2 2-6 6-3

Next up ...

R2: Liam Broady WR 312 vs Mischa Zverev (GER) WR 173 ( CH 45 in June 2009 )

R2: Dan Evans WR 271 vs (2) Austin Krajicek (USA) WR 101 ( CH 94 last month )

-- Edited by indiana on Thursday 12th of November 2015 03:51:02 AM