Week 42 - USA F34 ($25,000) - Harlingen, TX (hard)

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

RE: Week 42 - USA F34 ($25,000) - Harlingen, TX (hard)

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

That's a great result for Luke, his opponent is highly thought of in the States. A good week here could be a platform for a push in the 3 challengers coming up. The target should be to break the top 400 by year end and go from there.

steven · Tennis legend

This is the first time this year Luke has made a singles SF - the last one he made was also in Texas, in Waco last December, and the last one he won was here last year, so he needs to win another match just to stand still in the rankings on Monday week. Something about Texas seems to suit him though!

Just one seed (Luke), two qualifiers and a wild card left.

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Although on paper Luke will be the favourite it's probably really any one of 4 as these US futures have players rankings false in terms of level as we know, unlike Sharm and Turkey where it's a lot clearer.

steven · Tennis legend

Yes, I know what you mean, in the US, the Qs and WCs are often as scary as the seeds, and the fact that these three have made it to the semis means they are likely to be on the scarier side.

Oakland2002 · All-time great

I think its a great step up, fills the small void between winning regularly on the futures tour and being a viable challengers player. US futures through the summer and Autumn term where the best college players get a bit more flexibility to play are a really good test. I dont think it was a coincidence that Lukes best run in challengers until recently was the west coast Autumn Chalkengers after doing the US summer futures grind with some success, but whatever happened to his summer Nemesis Mitchel Franks ?

Spectator · All-time great

Looking them up, they're all underranked because they were or are at university, as is so frequently the case. Strong Kirchheimer has just finished at Northwestern; Evan Zhu is still, I think, at UCLA; and JJ Wolf is at Ohio State. The last of these was, if I remember correctly, regarded as one of the better juniors. I certainly remember Colette Lewis writing about him when he decided on university.

A little while ago, someone joined our board commenting that he was a TCU supporter - and therefore had an interest in the careers of Mr Norrie, Mr Gray and Mr Bambridge, whom he mentioned as a friend of TCU. I do not think it an accident that Mr Bambridge tends to do well in Texas; at a guess, it's a supportive environment. It does make you wonder what a more supportive overall environment in the UK might enable. All the best to him in the SF.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

And so it came to pass:

SF: (Q) Evan Zhu (USA) WR 1437 defeated (5) Luke Bambridge WR 539 by 3-6 7-6(5) 6-2 cry