Week 41 - Challenger ($100,000) - Fairfield, CA, USA (hard)

paulisi · Tennis legend

Week 41 - Challenger ($100,000) - Fairfield, CA, USA (hard)

steven · Tennis legend

L16: (Q) Brydan Klein WR 329 beat Ruben Bemelmans (BEL) WR 227 (CH 84 in 2015) 6-3 5-7 7-6(4)

It was a really good win - I only saw the last few games but the standard looked high and the tiebreak is well worth a watch, particularly the match point.

indiana · Tennis legend

Very good. Bemelmans is much better than his ranking, but then so is Brydan with his first half of the year injury issues largely the cause of no ranking points added this year until June. He is well capable of getting back into the top 200 at the very least.

If he can continue in good vein at the back end of this year largely covering or even bettering his late 2015 scores he will be very well set for 2017.

-- Edited by indiana on Thursday 13th of October 2016 09:40:32 PM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Well, that was a very proficient first set from the Brit (of NZ extraction)

6-1

I've only seen Tommy Paul play live once and wasn't too impressed by him then (as in, very well balanced and decent but not 'exciting') but he's had good results and it's not to take anything away from Cam - it was pretty one way.

Hope he can continue....

wolf · Tennis legend

I didn't realise Cam was 21. Thought he was 19 maybe. Did he go to college a year or two late?

Oakland2002 · All-time great

He's a junior, ie in his third year in college, well on a sabbatical from his junior year

wolf · Tennis legend

I thought he had just completed his first year, must have gone doolally.

When does an American school year run from?

paulisi · Tennis legend

Turned on at the end of the first set and Cam is getting totally outplayed now.

I've not seen Cam play for a while, but first impressions are:

Serve could do with some work to add a bit more pace.
Forehand is very loopy and quite unusual
Double handed backhand is very strong.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

paulisi wrote:
Turned on at the end of the first set and Cam is getting totally outplayed now.

I've not seen Cam play for a while, but first impressions are:

Serve could do with some work to add a bit more pace.
Forehand is very loopy and quite unusual
Double handed backhand is very strong.

I like Cam's forehand - far prefer it to his backhand

He gets a huge amount on spin of it which allows him to drop it in when the trajectory looks like it'll go out.

There was some nasty unforced errors in that set but it was far closer than the first.

But because of the spin and his wrist position he doesn't deal with the short ball as well as he might....

3-6

On to the third...

paulisi · Tennis legend

The forehand improved as the set went on. Good mix of flat and top spin when playing well.

Tommy Paul is not as good as all the hype. Looks like a standard challenger player who will struggle to go higher.

Cam looks like he has picked up a leg injury at a key time.

wolf · Tennis legend

He looked like he landed a bit funny and twisted his knee a little bit.

indiana · Tennis legend

Tommy Paul is just 19 and clearly still fairly raw but talented. To my mind he has a lot of upside as has Cam, both should become much more than standard challenger players. They have quite different games but games that worked on, improvements made and more consistency found should make two players worth watching out for.

paulisi · Tennis legend

I thought Cam was much more consistent than Tommy, but not to be. Cam's serve was under pressure for long periods.

wolf · Tennis legend

L16: Tommy Paul (USA) WR 248 (CH = 191 in April) beat (Q) Cam Norrie WR 278 1-6 6-4 6-4

QF: (Q) Brydan Klein WR 329 vs Tommy Paul (USA) WR 248 (CH = 191 in April)

davidn · Junior player

unfortunately Cam rolled ankle at break point to him mid way through third set, had medical time out but realized it was very sore and couldn't really engage in long rally's after that. Tight match, has had to withdraw from Las Vegas alas