Week 24 - Challenger (€127,000+H) - Aegon Open, Nottingham, Great Britain (grass)

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

RE: Week 24 - Challenger (€127,000+H) - Aegon Open, Nottingham, Great Britain (grass)

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Stircrazy wrote:
Stircrazy wrote:
L16: Ken Skupski & Neal Skupski CR 212 (105+107) defeated (4) Sanchai Ratiwatana & Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA/THA) CR 189 (98+91) by 6-3 3-6 [15-13]

L16: (WC) Brydan Klein & Joe Salisbury CR 333 (168+165) defeated Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan & Luke Saville (IND/AUS) CR 117 (94+123) by 6-1 7-6(5)
They served for the match at 5-3 & held three match points, but couldn't convert any of them.

L16: Marius Copil & Sergiy Stakhovsky (ROU/UKR) CR 595 (368+227) defeated (WC) Scott Clayton & Jonny O'Mara CR 569 (255+314) by 7-6(3) 4-6 [10-7] cry

JonH · All-time great

Stircrazy wrote:
Stircrazy wrote:
Stircrazy wrote:
L16: Ken Skupski & Neal Skupski CR 212 (105+107) defeated (4) Sanchai Ratiwatana & Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA/THA) CR 189 (98+91) by 6-3 3-6 [15-13]

L16: (WC) Brydan Klein & Joe Salisbury CR 333 (168+165) defeated Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan & Luke Saville (IND/AUS) CR 117 (94+123) by 6-1 7-6(5)
They served for the match at 5-3 & held three match points, but couldn't convert any of them.
L16: Marius Copil & Sergiy Stakhovsky (ROU/UKR) CR 595 (368+227) defeated (WC) Scott Clayton & Jonny O'Mara CR 569 (255+314) by 7-6(3) 4-6 [10-7]

That seems like a v strong result for Scott and Jonny against two experienced and effective players on grass. Good effort

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Stircrazy wrote:
Stircrazy wrote:
Stircrazy wrote:
L16: Ken Skupski & Neal Skupski CR 212 (105+107) defeated (4) Sanchai Ratiwatana & Sonchat Ratiwatana (THA/THA) CR 189 (98+91) by 6-3 3-6 [15-13]

L16: (WC) Brydan Klein & Joe Salisbury CR 333 (168+165) defeated Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan & Luke Saville (IND/AUS) CR 117 (94+123) by 6-1 7-6(5)
They served for the match at 5-3 & held three match points, but couldn't convert any of them.
L16: Marius Copil & Sergiy Stakhovsky (ROU/UKR) CR 595 (368+227) defeated (WC) Scott Clayton & Jonny O'Mara CR 569 (255+314) by 7-6(3) 4-6 [10-7]

Lambs to the slaughter:

L16: Sam Groth & John Millman (AUS/AUS) UNR (60+0) defeated (WC) Luke Bambridge & Cam Norrie CR 651 (170+481) by 0 & 1

the addict · Tennis legend

Now confirmed, Dan has withdrawn from Nottingham officially

LL Alex de Minaur (Aus) ranked 243 has taken his place in the draw and will play Brydan Klein WC

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Jay is certainly showing some decent tennis out there.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

L32: (LL) Alex de Minaur (AUS) WR 243 (CH = 228 in last month) vs (WC) Brydan Klein WR 209 (CH = 169 in September 2015)

****

L32: (PR) Yuki Bhambri (IND) WR 231 defeated (WC) Jay Clarke WR 394 by 7-6(2) 6-1

Spectator · All-time great

The Skupskis' result is lovely, but not a surprise. The Klein/Salisbury result is a very good one - well worth a banana! - though, like others, I think that the leaving out of David O'Hare is not particularly helpful. The Bambridge/Norrie result is worse than I expected, though I hadn't expected them to win: that was a genuinely awful draw. But the stand-out result for me is Scott Clayton and Jonny O'Mara. As JonH says, that's an excellent showing against two very good grass court players. Makes a strong case for some more support (WCs in particular).

indiana · Tennis legend

Certainly good looking effort in the first set by Jay and he had a set point. I still would have thought that he should have been seeking out more matches by playing qualifying, nice as it is that he is getting recognition with these WCs.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
Certainly good looking effort in the first set by Jay and he had a set point. I still would have thought that he should have been seeking out more matches by playing qualifying, nice as it is that he is getting recognition with these WCs.

Yes. But I guess it's difficult to turn down the high-profile wildcards when you get the chance, though.

I watched most of the match on livestream. As when a junior, Jay's serve and athleticism look good on the grass. And he's obviously very comfortable with his forehand. His backhand, however, has a weird technical issue as he tends to get the top half of his body all hunched over, so he can't hit through the ball well, and his head is in the wrong place so he's off-balance. But I'm sure he's working on it. In fact, it's always encouraging when there are clear technical problems that aren't too tricky to address.

All in all, a very decent showing. He should be pleased. But it's true he hasn't won a match at challenger level yet and it might be starting to press on him.

Allornothing · Newbie

I believe Jay has earnt the wildcards he has been awarded, looking at his results prior to the grass at his rate of progression he should be top 100 in no time

biggrin .

As for his backhand, looked pretty good to me on the day. I think he just came up against a more experienced tour player, Yuki was a junior grand slam champion (all 4 titles) and a former junior world number one, cant get much better than that and he is 6 years his senior... just imagine Jay in 6 years time, the futures bright for this one wink

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Hi, Allo, and welcome.

Yes, absolutely, the future's looking bright for Jay ! And he deserves it.

Can't agree about the backhand though - but, as said, I think that's a positive really. Some of the best players had quite serious technical issues to iron out when they were the same age, it's pretty common. Obviously everyone has their own natural version of a shot and you have to go with it to an extent but there's big room for improvement on that side.

And, yes, Bhambri is a seasoned player and it shows (mind you, he hit 75% of his shots to Jay's backhand

)

indiana · Tennis legend

Welcome, Allornothing.

You will certainly find many folk on here enthused and very hopeful about Jay based most particularly on what he has done in the last year. I don't think anyone has questioned his earning of his WCs.

If and when he gets to the top 100 time will tell, but he certainly appears to have very good chances. And he has broken into the top 400 within a few months of the same age as Kyle and Evo initially did.

Personally I was not arguing that he was undeserving of WCs, what I was suggesting is that he could maybe do with more matches. Taking a MD WC risked a very tough draw, which as you point out he got, and it could have been tougher than that.

Since his call up to join the Davis Cup team and then slightly delayed return to competitive action after a fall there, before this week he has just played and lost three matches since mid April, that's two on hard in Korean challengers and last week in the Surbiton challenger.

He appears to have been very well looked after by Yasmin and others around him. But I just questioned that it might have been more beneficial to Jay at this time, particularly on switching to grass, to actively seek out more matches by playing qualifying. More matches and winning matches certainly can't harm.

Jaffa · Challenger level

Lloyd all over Soeda so far. Set and a break up.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Stircrazy wrote:
L32: (LL) Alex de Minaur (AUS) WR 243 (CH = 228 in last month) vs (WC) Brydan Klein WR 209 (CH = 169 in September 2015)
****
L32: (PR) Yuki Bhambri (IND) WR 231 defeated (WC) Jay Clarke WR 394 by 7-6(2) 6-1

L32: (Q) Lloyd Glasspool WR 487 defeated (5) Go Soeda (JPN) WR 108 by 2 & 2

10 points & 2,180 guaranteed! smile

*****

L16: (Q) Lloyd Glasspool WR 487 vs Marc Polmans (AUS) WR 175 (= CH)