Week 47 - Challenger ($100,000+H) - Bengaluru Open, Bangalore, India (hard)

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

Week 47 - Challenger ($100,000+H) - Bengaluru Open, Bangalore, India (hard)

Michael D · All-time great

Bob in Spain wrote:
1 break each. Did anyone else notice, that after Nagal hit a tremendous passing shot to get to Ad Out, before serving the next point, Jay just gave him a little clap of approval. Lovely touch. Such sportsmanship in the heat of battle is great to see.

Yes, I did notice... I also like Jay's calm temperament too, not letting the crowd, some unlucky net cords, and his opponents increasing agitation disturb him. The match remains nevertheless too close to call.

Michael D · All-time great

Two massive games, each with plenty of deuces. Unfortunately both go Nagal's way. He is in the driving seat now *1-4 second set.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Great effort by Jay. Good match. Nagal was just slightly the more aggressive and enterprising player, overall, in the third set. Jay had trouble when he was flattening out his shot and still has technical issues on the backhand but it was lovely to see the good spirit between them, and so many positives to take away.

Michael D · All-time great

A good performance and a good week from Jay, but not to be in the final, as he is broken again to lose the final set 2-6. Still a great deal to be proud of. smile Not clear yet whether he has done quite enough to reach Aus Open qualifying.

Jan · Hall of fame

Nice hug at the end of the match.
Well done on a great week Jay!

Bob in Spain · Tennis legend

I think it shows how far Jay has come over the last 12 months that I feel so disappointed that he has lost a Challenger Final. In the end, Nagal played a very good match and was the more consistently aggressive player and I am sure he will treasure the moment of a victory in front of a home crowd. So congratulations to him for that.

What a great week overall though, to end what has been a breakthrough season. Jay's progress has been phenomenal and all the signs are there for a very bright future indeed. Well played young man. You did yourself, your team and your country proud all season. Enjoy some well earned R&R.

indiana · Tennis legend

Pity couldn't go all the way but what a great it still was

Missed the final, which I will try and catch up on. But did earlier catch up on the SF and was impressed with Jay's nous, particularly in coming back in the second set of an admittedly bit scrappy match. Yes, he was being conservative, but on a slow big bouncing court against an opponent trying to be the aggressor it worked well, as Jay's good movement and defense, careful play and Yang's own errors, as he often tried too much to get the ball away, left him frustrated.

Those European clay futures, while not I think his best surface, again look to have been good scheduling in his development, and looked to have been useful on these slow hard courts. He seems to be a very quick learner.

I do hope his Australian Open qualifying position ( now that he is likely to be around WR 250 at cut-off ) clarifies before going too close to the wire ( and hopefully in the positive ) so that he can more clearly plan the early weeks of next year ( and I don't imagine that Jay would at least initially have subsidised travel if not in the initial cut though not sure how that all works for the Aussie Open ).

Spectator · All-time great

He seems a really good egg, as well as talented, doesn't he. Congratulations to him on a fine week ... and I do hope the situation clarifies so that planning the start to the year isn't a hassle.

JonH · All-time great

From an old thread I found here where indy quoted Steven, the highest (best) AO qualifying cut off in the past 5 years was 247 initially But 261 eventually once all folks had dropped out etc. 250 should be fine, albeit maybe not at the initial cut off...

indiana · Tennis legend

Cheers Jon.

Live rankings currently shows Jay's new total of 236 points giving him a CH 220 on Monday ( 221 if Andrew Whittington wins the Hua Hin Challenger final.).

His 203 points after deductions and substitutions ( 236 - 18 - 18 + 2 + 1 ) convert to a current live ranking 253. Could shift slightly either way by the 18/12 cut-off, but with no further challengers should be very close to that.

-- Edited by indiana on Saturday 25th of November 2017 10:37:19 PM

Oakland2002 · All-time great

Exciting times for Jay, to put things in perspective he will move up to about no 12 in the ranking in players not yet 20 and that top 200 as a teenager is beginning to look a distinct possibility!

JonH · All-time great

indiana wrote:
Cheers Jon.

Live rankings currently shows Jay's new total of 236 points giving him a CH 220 on Monday ( 221 if Andrew Whittington wins the Hua Hin Challenger final.).

His 203 points after deductions and substitutions ( 236 - 18 - 18 + 2 + 1 ) convert to a current live ranking 253. Could shift slightly either way by the 18/12 cut-off, but with no further challengers should be very close to that.

-- Edited by indiana on Saturday 25th of November 2017 10:37:19 PM

This was the detail from a year ago:

Indy wrote:

Steven advised on recent cut-offs in the Columbus Challenger thread :

"Here are the initial -> final AO qualifying cut-offs for the last 5 years:

2016: 252 -> 269
2015: 248 -> 261
2014: 263 -> 286
2013: 247 -> 304*
2012: 259 -> 288

After 2014, the final cut-off seems to have got a lot tighter. I would guess any reasons for that are likely to continue, so we should probably work on the assumption that the initial cut-off will be around 250 and the final cut-off somewhere in the 260s. In other words, another win might be enough, while making the SFs this week would definitely secure him a place in qualifying.

* I think there must have been 3 very late withdrawals that year because WR 304 and 2 players in the 290s got in after lots of players above them had already withdrawn (presumably having decided that making the trip wasn't worth the risk), making the true cut-off 276."

And here is the thread

http://britishtennis.activeboard.com/t62693102/australian-open-2017-qualifying-points/?page=2

indiana · Tennis legend

2017 matches 2016 for the most total GB challenger finalists (11) this century and also most different finalists (5), and with 6 titles is just one short of the whitewash 7 titles in 2015.

2015 : 7 finalists with 7 winners and 0 runners up. 4 different winners from 4 different finalists.
2016 : 11 finalists with 5 winners and 6 runners up. 2 different winners from 5 different finalists.
2017 : 11 finalists with 6 winners and 5 runners up. 2 different winners from 5 different finalists.

The record of Brits in challenger finals since 2000 is in the Ranking Tables & Stats section :

britishtennis.net/gbtop25m/challfin.htm?n=1

Topemp · Strong Club Player

Great week for Jay, he's an exciting prospect, lots more to come from him.