Week 9 - Portugal F2 ($10,000) - Faro - Hard

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Week 9 - Portugal F2 ($10,000) - Faro - Hard

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Joel won this morning but needs 3 more wins over to next two days. 64 man draw for 1 WC spot. Matches played over 1 set to 9 games. TB if it gets to 8-8

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

Presumably this is for a MD WC? If he doesn't get it, will he still be in the Q draw?

indiana · Tennis legend

So we have 64 guys contesting one MD ( I assume it's MD ) (WC) place followed by however many contesting eight further MD (Q) places ... hmm ...

Do WC competitions maybe happen quite often and we are generally just unaware of them ?

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Bob in Spain wrote:
Joel won this morning but needs 3 more wins over to next two days. 64 man draw for 1 WC spot. Matches played over 1 set to 9 games. TB if it gets to 8-8

I think that's an excellent idea.

After all, the guys are all hanging around, Joel got knocked out in QR1 at the weekend, so no official tennis since then.

And playing a short match is perfect - not too tiring, more like competitive practice, doesn't really matter, and a very good training exercise anyway (most players practice doing short matches in various different formats - gets you out the blocks quicker, all or nothing in the first set).

Bob in Portugal · Social player

There have actually been two WC playoff this week. The first one wass held on Mon/Tues (ot sure on the draw size) and this one which is being held on Weds/Thurs/Fri. This 2nd one is definitely a 64 man draw with one place up for grabs. And YES, Indi, it is an MD WC on offer.

Beechy thinks it is a great idea as it is match practice, which is what Joel needs right now. He was injured in Turkey earier in the year - groin injury - and so is a bit rusty and the extra competitive practice is seen as the ideal scenario.

We were working out however, that it may be possible to play 15 matches over the 10 or 11 days. If you play in this playoff and lose in the final, that is 6 matches and then you can enter official qualies and play 4 more, before working you way through 5 more in the MD.

Just should add of course that Joel won again this afternoon 9-6 on this occasion against an Italian by the name of Antonio Terzo who is UNR but with a CH of 1242 about 18 months ago. In the SF tomorrow morning he will play Connor Farren from the USA with WR 1028.

Overall Joel has a very good game and is a very clean striker of the ball. He is stronger than I remember from last year, but he did look rusty and there were a few too many errors. Good enough for today though.

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

At some point, Bob is going to unleash his clone army for nefarious purpose, and we will be condemned for not having taken this opportunity to prevent the inevitable armageddon.

Spectator · All-time great

But on appeal we'll all be acquitted on the grounds that we were taken in because he/they seemed so pleasant and beneficent that we could never have guessed ....

-- Edited by Spectator on Thursday 25th of February 2016 08:12:44 PM

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

True

But, when we see the alias, 'Bob in His Island Volcano Lair', we agree to take action, right?

Spectator · All-time great

Island Volcano Lair's a definite tip-off. I'll be the first on the line to the FCO ... or 007 ...

Bob in Portugal · Social player

What a long and difficult day. After early rain, the courts dried out enough for the players to get on at 12 noon to complete the WC Play-off tournament. But as soon as the players started warming up, the heavens opened again and by 2pm, play was called off for the day.

So the decision was taken that the 4 players that had reached the WC Play-off SF (having already won 4 matches each over the last two days) were entered into a draw for the WC spot. The tournament director invited the 4 players and their coaches into a private meeting. However the drama didn't end there as the decision was taken to do the draw "by emlimination". If your name was drawn, you were out and the last name left in the hat was the winner.

Joel, superbly coached in the art of "not having his name picked out of a hat" by Jonny O'Mara, went on to win and will therefore have a WC into the MD.

Then the issue of money came up. The entry fee for the WC Play-off was 30 euros (decent additional sum for the organisers given the 64 man draw!!). Joel actually proposed that those who had made the SF and then lost by "lot" should have their funds returned as they hadn't actually lost a match and was rapidly supported by the other players (who hadn't even thought about it). The tournament director initially refused but after some persuasion eventually gave in and returned the entry fee to the other 3 players.

Finally, to add to the drama of a day when not a ball was hit in anger, the doping officials arrived and selected random players for drugs testing during the sign-in process.

Weather permitting, qualies will start tomorrow but the forecast isn't great.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Wow, what a whirl of shenanigans ......

Sounds fascinating.

And well done to Joel - for making it rain on order, for making his piece of paper get stuck to the inside bag so it didn't get drawn out and for showing business savviness and getting the fees wiped off - brilliant result, young man !

(Oh, and well done to that man with the false moustache in the corner, writing reports on it all !

)

Spectator · All-time great

Glad to hear that Mr Cannell - in addition to his luck - was so thoughtful of the others. Good stuff.

And thank you, BiP for the view inside what would have otherwise just looked like an uninteresting wash-out ...

-- Edited by Spectator on Friday 26th of February 2016 08:34:48 PM

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

QR1: (q1) Scott Clayton WR 757 v Angelo Ito Tost (BRA) UNR
QR1: Sizya Kivanda WR 2090 v Killian Davanzo (SUI) UNR
QR1: (q4) Jonny O'Mara WR 835 v Daniel Andrea Rodriguez Redondo (ESP) UNR
QR1: Harry Meehan UNR v Ivan Marrero Curbelo (ESP) UNR
QR1: Russell Henderson UNR v (q15) Vitali Shcherba (UKR) WR 1303
QR1: Marco Wright UNR v Antonio Terza (ITA) UNR
QR1: Harry Skinner UNR v (q16) Victor Poncelet (BEL) WR 1384
QR1: (q8) Robbie Ridout WR 1019 v (WC) Salvador Bandeira (POR) UNR
QR1: (WC) Nikki Roenn UNR v Chris Anguelov (BUL) WR 1781
QR1: Matthew Chadwick UNR v Matteo Siccardi (ITA) UNR

A little surprised not to see Matt Short playing as he was in the WC play-off this week

-- Edited by Bob in Spain on Friday 26th of February 2016 10:00:24 PM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I know it's a huge draw but still really good that none of them got drawn together (in the first round at least).

Do you think, just maybe, Matt Short got a WC whatever? He must be pretty well known to the tournament chiefs in Portugal and Spain.