Week 40 - Challenger ($100,000) - Stockton, CA, USA (hard)

christ · Futures level

Week 40 - Challenger ($100,000) - Stockton, CA, USA (hard)

indiana · Tennis legend

Cam 4-6 1-0* down.

Looks as if he got going much better as the first set progressed. But he has played a lot of matches, albeit successfully, and I guess it could be catching up with him a bit. Still all to play for in this match for now.

the addict · Tennis legend

Cam was a set and a break down when I started watching. Back on track now at one set all.

indiana · Tennis legend

Well done to Cam, got it together. On song he really is an impressive mix of getting the ball back well and deep when under a bit of pressure and positive shot making when in a decent position,

Cam wins 4-6 7-6(1) 6-4

Nix · Futures level

Cam wins in three but seemed like a very bad tempered match. Only saw the last set but Klein was complaining about everything and I don't think he shook Cam's hand at the end because he viewed he over-celebrated. Don't think they'll be partnering up for doubles any time soon!

Commentator said Cam didn't play well but still won!

the addict · Tennis legend

Yes, well done Cam. Not at his best, a bit inconsistent at times, but still the better player by far. The bad stats - 9 DF and only 5/22 break points taken.

indiana · Tennis legend

The top seeds Neal Skupski & John-Patrick Smith are up against it in their R1 match against Bangoura & King.

5-7 *0-2

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

L16: (8) Cameron Norrie WR 136 defeated Brydan Klein WR 235 by 4-6 7-6(1) 6-4
L16: (2) Tennys Sandgren (USA) WR 97 defeated Liam Broady WR 201 by 7-6(7) 6-4

*****

QF: (8) Cameron Norrie WR 136 vs (2) Tennys Sandgren (USA) WR 97

A repeat of last week's final in Tiburon. Let's hope for a similar outcome.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
The top seeds Neal Skupski & John-Patrick Smith are up against it in their R1 match against Bangoura & King.

5-7 *0-2

Normal service resumed:

L16: (1) Neal Skupski & John-Patrick Smith (AUS) CR 126 (73+53) defeated Sekou Bangoura & Darian King (USA/BAR) CR 319 (161+158) by 5-7 6-3 [10-2]

Took them a while to adjust to one another's style of play, I would venture to suggest... wink

*****

QF: (1) Neal Skupski & John-Patrick Smith (AUS) CR 126 (73+53) vs Stefan Kozlov & Freddie Nielsen (USA/DEN) CR 579 (312+267)

Spectator · All-time great

That QF should be fun to watch. I'm a big fan of both Neal Skupski (not just as a GB player) and JP Smith, who's wonderful at the net. And on the other side, Kozlov's inventiveness works better on the doubles court than singles (sometimes) and Nielsen is always interesting.

Unfortunately, other news not so good:

L16: (WC) Deiton Baughman & Alexios Halebian (USA/USA) CR 1294 (544+750) d (3) Luke Bambridge & David O'Hare (IRL) CR 276 (140+136) 7-6(7) 7-5

Oakland2002 · All-time great

Great win for Cam when not playing at his peak, it will be interesting to see how the rest of his he week pans out and how he schedules the remainder of the Autumn. I think one would want to focus on tennis in Stockton but he must be looking to take a week or two off tournament Tennis in the near future. He played Champaign and Columbus last year a local futures and then a break.

The results have gone so well he's in a position to plan out the next 12 months with some certainty around participation in all 4 slams, maybe looking at a schedule starting off in the way Kyle started 2015 and then morphing into his 2017 schedule after RG? I feel another British win in the Dallas challenger coming on add that to his win at Binghamton at that qualifies as the British certification of end of challenger participation.

stevemcqueen · Futures qualifying

I didn't watch Cam's match, but 9 DFs is a load. He has struggled with DFs these past few weeks - he served 5 in his very short 1st round match and loads last week and in Cary as well. He won't get away with it when he moves up to the next level. I'm sure some effort over the closed will put it right. It was a long match yesterday, I'm sure Cam is pleased to have a day to recuperate. And practise his 2nd serve!

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I know everyone sees it differently but I don't know why people get so fussed about double faults.

A lot of young players are encouraged to have aggressive second serves and told by their coaches that they would rather see double faults than overly safe second serves. Any player can serve zero DFs if they want and just roll it in. A lot of junior coaches used to go for the 'never make a fault' style of coaching and that's almost completely changed now. I don't think 9 is very high in a 4-6 7-6(1) 6-4 match. He was winning well over 50% of his second serves (one site says 66%, one site says 52%, but it's only one ball different) which would imply his second serve strategy, overall, was working (Klein's percentage is lower, despite less DFs). The percentage break points won seems to me the stat that's the most interesting - only 5 out of 22. Now Klein might have served really well on all those 17 points but I doubt it.

the addict · Tennis legend

Klein did save some break points with good serving, but also quite a few break points that I saw went begging when Cam missed the lines. Small margins, but as area to improve on. Another day, they'd have gone in, and the match would have been over in a flash.

And Klein was rolling in a number of second serves, but not getting punished for them as much as he should have been.

Jan · Hall of fame

Pleased to see that Cam won - I wasn't very optimistic when I checked just before heading to bed!