Boys: Les Internationaux de Tennis Junior Banque Nationale du Canada, hard - Grade 1 (Week 35)

DavidC · Tennis legend

Boys: Les Internationaux de Tennis Junior Banque Nationale du Canada, hard - Grade 1 (Week 35)

DavidC · Tennis legend

In today's early results there is a good win for George, but a disappointing loss for Jack

R1 (L48)

Igor Gimenez (BRA) d. Barnaby Smith 6-2 6-3
(Q) Drew Baird (USA) d. Jack Draper 6-4 6-2
Aidan McHugh v Jesper De Jong (NED)
George Loffhagen d. Stefan Palosi (ROU) 4-6 6-1 6-1

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Aidan made it two out of four through R1.

R1: Aidan McHugh(GBR) def. Jesper De Jong (NED) 6-4 6-4

DavidC · Tennis legend

Another nice win for George today against a seed (top 50, who some may have seen losing narrowly to Hamish Stewart at Wimbledon) - probably earning a crack at the second seed (top 10)

R2

(15) Alan Fernando Rubio Fierros (MEX) v Aidan McHugh
George Loffhagen d. (13) Tomas Machac (CZE) 6-4 6-1

DavidC · Tennis legend

Aidan also has an impressive scoreline against a seed

R2

Aidan McHugh d. (15) Alan Fernando Rubio Fierros (MEX) 6-1 6-0
George Loffhagen d. (13) Tomas Machac (CZE) 6-4 6-1

R3

Aidan McHugh v (4) Michael Vrbensky (CZE)
George Loffhagen v TBD

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

So pleased for the two 'faves' from Roehampton.

George L (born 2001) has really arrived with a bang (in terms of rankings). At the start of Dec. '16, he was ranked about 750. At the start of Jan 17, he'd just snuck into the top 500. And he's now JWR 71 and still on the way up.
And has an exciting game to boot - with still a lot of room for improvement, which is partly what makes it exciting.

There's a good chance that George will get the second seed, Shimizu, (JWR 10, CH 5) in the next round. Who is the Japanese lad (born 1999) that George played at the Bank of England, with George only losing the third set tie-break by a whisker. Brilliant match.

DavidC · Tennis legend

George gained his revenge for the Roehampton loss CD refers to, and makes his maiden G1 quarter-final. If he wins his quarter-final, or it is delayed, then he will be first in line for an SE (Special Exempt) into the US Open. That may be at the expense of Barnaby, who is currently 2 out - though I expect there will be at least one other claimant for the SE positions anyway, as doubles count here as well as singles (unlike Roehampton, where anyone still involved in doubles is expected to play both Wimbledon qualifying and Roehampton doubles)

R3

Aidan McHugh v (4) Michael Vrbensky (CZE)
George Loffhagen d. (2) Yuta Shimizu (JPN) 6-0 1-6 6-3

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Very nice result for George.

It's often difficult with the foreign junior players, to know the level, because one's only got the ranking to go on, as the youngsters are never/seldom on TV or livestream so one doesn't know their level, and the ranking doesn't always tell you much.

But I know that Shimizu (2 years older than George) is a very solid, technically competent player, quite adult in physique (not too tall but strong), calm-headed and focused. Difficult to beat.
He's got an adult ranking of about WR 1300, which would seem about right and is a good start for someone who's still a junior.

So Bravo to George for getting the win.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

And our very stylish, one-handed backhanded, volleys-like-an-angel, Glaswegian lad got the job done too

And against a player who is JWR 14, ATP 1422.

R3

Aidan McHugh def. (4) Michael Vrbensky (CZE) 2-6 7-5 6-3

(Aidan and partner lost 8-10 in the MTB in theis dubs QF though)

DavidC · Tennis legend

George faces a player of similar age who has only just broken into the top 100, but following up a big win against a lower ranked player is often challenging. The winner of their quarter-final should receive an SE into the US Open. Aidan will be familiar with his opponent, having lost to him in the European Summer Cups.

QF

(10) Alexey Zakharov (RUS) v Aidan McHugh
Matheus Pucinelli De Almeida (BRA) v George Loffhagen

DavidC · Tennis legend

It did turn out to be difficult for George unfortunately

QF

(10) Alexey Zakharov (RUS) v Aidan McHugh
Matheus Pucinelli De Almeida (BRA) d. George Loffhagen 6-1 6-3

DavidC · Tennis legend

Better news from the other quarter-final as Aidan exacts revenge for the European Summer Cup defeat

QF

Aidan McHugh d. (10) Alexey Zakharov (RUS) 4-6 6-4 6-3
Matheus Pucinelli De Almeida (BRA) d. George Loffhagen 6-1 6-3

SF

Aidan McHugh v Matheus Pucinelli De Almeida (BRA)

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

That's going to be nice extra points for Aidan (although he has his G2 victory coming off in October).

More importantly, great for him to beat the lad he previously lost to. Progress. And stringing together a good set of wins.

Allez, Aidan

steven · Tennis legend

Aidan needs to win one more match to match GB's best run in the boys' singles here since Liam lost to a certain Nick Kyrgios in the final in 2012 - revenge for the Aussie for Liam's 3 set win at Wimbledon juniors the year before.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Without knowing anything about the Brazilian boy, this has got to be a great chance for Aidan.
As David says, the young Brazilian has only just broken into the top 100, and has nothing of any real note on his results sheet, except a QF in a Grade A event in Brazil on clay, and lots of good doubles results.
It's true he beat George easily but that's just one match and, again as David says, that could well have been that George was not on song/was tired/whatever, following his excellent win before.

Good luck to Aidan - with tennis like his, he'll certainly get a lot of neutral spectators on his side.