Morgan faces 27 year old naturalised Argentinian, Manuel Jorquera who's ranked 300 places higher at 473. They've never played before.
Jorquera has been competing on Moroccan clay for the past month. His best result was in early April when he reached the final of Morocco F4. Apart from that his other highlight this year has been reached the satellite on week 2 of the hard court satellite in India in Feburary.
Wow, what a win for Morgan Phillips A superb victory over a player ranked so many places higher, it must be a career best win for him. He did extremely well to recover from being totally outplayed in set 1.
Morgan has been making promising strides forward this year and he's now got a great opportunity to reach the quarters.
Rd2: M Phillips [GB] v M Capone [It] [q]
Capone is an unranked qualifier who's just won his first ever main draw match. This is his first tournament since March.
Baccanello is ranked 360, with a career high of 129 in November 2003. Highlights this year include a final in Australia F3 (l. to Economidis) and a semi in GB F17 (retired against Sarstrand).
Great result for Morgan, it can be tough to come back down to earth after a fantastic victory and win the next match. Reaching the quarters here will see him jump about 50 places to 704
Here's some info on Baccanello:
Australian Paul Baccanello is ranked 360 with a career high of 129 reached in Nov 2003. He was a relatively late starter to tennis - at 13 !! He's now something of a tennis veteran at the ripe, old age of 29. He was 1 of only 3 people to beat Andy Murray in challengers after Wimbledon 2005. Baccanello won 2-6, 7-5, 7-6 in the quarters of the Vancouver Challenger in August and went to to reach the final, taking advantage of Murray's growing frustration and unforced error count that day. Unfortunately for Baccanello he got injured the next week and was out of tennis until March this year. His return to tournaments went well, he reached the semi-final of a 15K futures in Australia. He also reached the semis of GB F7 in Bournemouth a couple of weeks ago.
He and Morgan have already played this year. Baccanello won 6-3, 6-3 in rd1 of GB F7 as both players made a rare appearance on British shores.
Accardo is ranked 469 (career-high of 426 in June 2005). He`s a leftie. According to his ITF profile, his favourite surface is actually hard, so Morgan might have a good chance in this match. However, Accardo has played in Italian Futures for most of 2006 , and has made the SF in Italy F8, the SF of Italy F12 and the QF of Italy F13, all on clay.
He won the semi-final - copying and pasting from a post I did on another forum (hope you don't mind!)
NAPOLI (ITA) 10K Future - clay
R1: Morgan Phillips WR 751 beat (7) Manuel Jorquera (ITA) WR 474 by 2-6 6-4 6-1 R2: Morgan Phillips WR 751 beat Massimo Capone (ITA) UNR by 3-6 7-6(0) 6-0 QF: Morgan Phillips WR 751 beat (3/WC) Paul Baccanello (AUS) WR 360 by 7-6(5) 6-7(4) 6-4 SF: Morgan Phillips WR 751 beat Alessandro Accardo (ITA) WR 469 by 4-6 6-2 6-4
FI: Morgan Phillips WR 751 v Nick van der Meer (NED) WR 507
Naples kept us waiting for QF results for a couple of days and to be honest, since Morgan had lost 3 & 3 to Baccanello in Bournemouth two weeks ago, I assumed he'd have lost again, but this is jaw-dropping stuff!
A Brit playing a tournament on clay in Italy beats not one but THREE seeds ranked between 250 and nearly 400 places above him to reach his first-ever Futures Final. How good is that! He's been taken to three sets in every match too, but had found a way to come through. A fantastic performance, probably the best tournament performance by a Brit relative to their ranking this year.
Morgan will play the Final on Sunday. Can he go all the way?
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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
He won the semi-final - copying and pasting from a post I did on another forum (hope you don't mind!) NAPOLI (ITA) 10K Future - clay R1: Morgan Phillips WR 751 beat (7) Manuel Jorquera (ITA) WR 474 by 2-6 6-4 6-1 R2: Morgan Phillips WR 751 beat Massimo Capone (ITA) UNR by 3-6 7-6(0) 6-0 QF: Morgan Phillips WR 751 beat (3/WC) Paul Baccanello (AUS) WR 360 by 7-6(5) 6-7(4) 6-4 SF: Morgan Phillips WR 751 beat Alessandro Accardo (ITA) WR 469 by 4-6 6-2 6-4 FI: Morgan Phillips WR 751 v Nick van der Meer (NED) WR 507 Naples kept us waiting for QF results for a couple of days and to be honest, since Morgan had lost 3 & 3 to Baccanello in Bournemouth two weeks ago, I assumed he'd have lost again, but this is jaw-dropping stuff! A Brit playing a tournament on clay in Italy beats not one but THREE seeds ranked between 250 and nearly 400 places above him to reach his first-ever Futures Final. How good is that! He's been taken to three sets in every match too, but had found a way to come through. A fantastic performance, probably the best tournament performance by a Brit relative to their ranking this year. Morgan will play the Final on Sunday. Can he go all the way?
Wow, great week for Morgan! Hope he wins the final now