Week 14 - Challenger (€64,000+H) - Verrazzano Open, Sophia Antipolis, Côte d'Azur, France (clay)

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Week 14 - Challenger (€64,000+H) - Verrazzano Open, Sophia Antipolis, Côte d'Azur, France (clay)

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

L16: (1) Wesley Koolhof & Matwé Middelkoop (NED/NED) CR 97 (46+51) vs Ken Skupski & Neal Skupski CR 199 (93+106)

That may not be as bad a draw as it looks: the Dutch boys won their first two encounters (the final of the Brest Challenger in 2015 & the semi-final of the Bangkok 3 Challenger last year), but Ken & Neal won the last one, the first round of the ATP 250 in Sofia earlier this year, so fingers crossed...

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Unfortunately, it turned out to be just as bad draw as it looked:

L16: (1) Wesley Koolhof & Matwé Middelkoop (NED/NED) CR 97 (46+51) def. Ken Skupski & Neal Skupski CR 199 (93+106) 6-1 7-6(1)

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

L32: (4) Aljaz Bedene WR 94 defeated Enrique López (ESP) WR 173 by 3 & 4

*****

L16: (Q) Filip Krajinovic (SRB) WR 220 (CH = 86 in April 2015) vs (4) Aljaz Bedene WR 93

Jan · Hall of fame

Aljaz just served for the match, but got broken.
Currently 6-4 *5-6

Held. TB time

Aljaz came through 6-4 7-6(3)

-- Edited by Jan on Thursday 6th of April 2017 04:04:09 PM

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

L16: (4) Aljaz Bedene WR 93 defeated (Q) Filip Krajinovic (SRB) WR 220 by 6-4 7-6(3)

Such a shame that we can't call on his services this weekend! cry

JonH · All-time great

Good win and possibly plays Gombos in the next round which I would hope he would win. Shame indeed he isnt able to play for us in DC

theemptyvessel · Club Coach

Agree re the DC situation, I would definitely feel better with Aljaz replacing Dan for a tie on clay.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Not the expected quarter-final opponent!

QF: (Q) Mathias Bourgue (FRA) WR 158 (CH = 153 last June) vs (4) Aljaz Bedene WR 93

Surely he has a good chance of making the semis at least? The bottom half of the draw has opened up a bit: there he'd face the Belgian eighth seed, Arthur de Greef, or the Italian who put out the second seed, Nicolás Almagro, in the first round & is having a bit of a decent run on the Côte d'Azur...

indiana · Tennis legend

Good to see Aljaz getting these results recently. I hope he is finding it easier to get on with tournament life after seemingly generally effected by the Davis Cup comings and goings ( and yes, he would have been a natural for this week's clay tie ). He is up to #50 in the live race.

I'm not sure though if he is still fighting the good Davis Cup fight such as trying to take it to CAS ?

Edit : or has he already gone to CAS ? I 'm losing track a bit, but wasn't there an appeal that by its general conclusion wording seemed to be morally on Aljaz's side ( virtually saying that the ITF should maybe have a rethink ) without feeling it could overturn the ITF ruling.

-- Edited by indiana on Thursday 6th of April 2017 07:15:20 PM

Strongbow · All-time great

I thimk that Aljazis is better off where he is - a win tonight would be very handy biggrin

paulisi · Tennis legend

Don't think he has gone to CAS yet. He appealed again earlier this year and lost.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Stircrazy wrote:
The bottom half of the draw has opened up a bit: there [Aljaz would] face the Belgian eighth seed, Arthur de Greef, or the Italian who put out the second seed, Nicolás Almagro, in the first round & is having a bit of a decent run on the Côte d'Azur...

Cecchinato (WR 165/CH 82 in October 2015) is going like a bloody train at the moment: he's just beaten de Greef (WR 125/CH 120 in February) by 3 & 3!

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

QF: (4) Aljaz Bedene WR 93 defeated (Q) Mathias Bourgue (FRA) WR 158 by 6-4 7-6(5)

*****

SF: (4) Aljaz Bedene WR 93 vs Marco Cecchinato (ITA) WR 165 (CH = 120 in February)

That's not going to be as easy as it may look on paper!

theemptyvessel · Club Coach

This was the most recent step in the appeal and suggested he still had some more options to pursue if he chose to. As Indy mentioned, the arbitrator hearing his case seemed to conclude that technically the ITF were right but morally they ought to reconsider their position. I don't think anyone else is caught up in this in the same way as Aljaz and so allowing him to play would hardly set any kind of precedent and morally is far more justifiable than for example allowing a known drug cheat to step straight back into the worlds biggest events just because she is a box office draw.

www.bbc.com/sport/tennis/39143495