Week 30 - Challenger ($50,000) - Kentucky Bank Tennis Ch., Lexington, KY (USA) - Hard

RJA · Hall of fame

Week 30 - Challenger ($50,000) - Kentucky Bank Tennis Ch., Lexington, KY (USA) - Hard

Jaffa · Challenger level

Can literally not believe what I am watching

6-6

thejester · Satellite level

Dan saves 4 straight MPs from 2-6* down

DF · Tennis legend

Tense

thejester · Satellite level

But not the 5th :(

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

L32: (WC) Brian Baker (USA) WR 384 defeated (3) Dan Evans WR 80 by 7-5 4-6 7-6(6) bleh

It could all have been so different, had Dan not been broken while serving for the match at 5-4 or served a double fault to give Baker 15-40 in the twelfth game!

Jaffa · Challenger level

He served 4 doubles in 6 service points if you include the loss of serve.

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

I have no words. With Evo *6-5 up, he then serves 3 DFs in the game, opens the TB with another DF and then gets a point penalty for smashing the ball out of court. Goes 6-2 down in the breaker, saves 4 MPs in pulling it back to 6-6 and then loses it 8-6.

Would someone explain that to me please.

RJA · Hall of fame

Serving for the match at *6-5 he served 3 double faults because he allowed himself to be distracted by the people taking too long to take their seats. At *0-1 in the tiebreak he served a double fault and then got a point penalty (missed his first serve and then smacked the ball out of court). If he had got himself out of jail it would have been undeserved.

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Imagine those that backed Dan to win won't like to here these reports. I only followed the live scores while watching Naomi but I did wonder if it was the old Dan coming through.

I have a feeling he maybe didn't want to play here especially a battling 1st round 50k match little reward for ranking etc. Convenient he can now go to Atlanta fresher for qualies or main draw if he gets in. Or am I being cynical?

RJA · Hall of fame

Bob in Spain wrote:
Would someone explain that to me please.

Looked pretty simple to me. He allowed himself to get distracted at the start of the *6-5 game and instead of putting it out if his mind he was practically looking for further things to distract him. It was only when he was match points down that he finally got his head together again but once you get to 6-6 in a deciding set tie break it is a bot of a lottery.

I am not actually that bothered that he lost the match because the ATP main tour is where he now needs to prove himself but the way that he lost it was just ridiculous. Yes the ball kids were hopeless, the officiating was pretty bad, they were closer to the adjacent court than you would like, and various other things but he threw the first and third sets away and bottom line is that the only one to blame for that is himself.

-- Edited by RJA on Wednesday 27th of July 2016 12:07:48 AM

RJA · Hall of fame

Jaggy1876 wrote:
Imagine those that backed Dan to win won't like to here these reports. I only followed the live scores while watching Naomi but I did wonder if it was the old Dan coming through.

I have a feeling he maybe didn't want to play here especially a battling 1st round 50k match little reward for ranking etc. Convenient he can now go to Atlanta fresher for qualies or main draw if he gets in. Or am I being cynical?

I can accept that there was part of him that didn't see this week as a priority but he clearly wanted to win the match.

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

On the plus side gives Liam a chance of a quarter final now it he plays to a decent enough level you'd think. Which could be vital for US Open qualies.

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Agree with pretty much everything there RJA. Lots of distractions that he shouldn't have let distract him.

Last night when Kyle was unexpectedly beaten, most were disappointed but accetped it as just a blip. So, I for one, am going to give the same benefit of doubt to Evo and suggest that this is just a one-off, based around him having become used to ATP levels of organisation and getting frustrated at (pretty poor) challenger level organisation. Best to just write this one off as a bad day at the office and move on.

RJA · Hall of fame

Bob in Spain wrote:
Agree with pretty much everything there RJA. Lots of distractions that he shouldn't have let distract him.

Last night when Kyle was unexpectedly beaten, most were disappointed but accetped it as just a blip. So, I for one, am going to give the same benefit of doubt to Evo and suggest that this is just a one-off, based around him having become used to ATP levels of organisation and getting frustrated at (pretty poor) challenger level organisation. Best to just write this one off as a bad day at the office and move on.

Yes, a good week in Atlanta and this will all be forgotten. However the one thing that does concern me is just how many times he has been broken when serving for sets and matches in the last couple of months.