Nottingham 25K+H Challenger

Sheddie · administrator

RE: Nottingham 25K+H Challenger

Sheddie · administrator

Richard now serving at 3-3

steven · Tennis legend

Bad news for Bloomers.

Results, in draw order:

QF: (1) Kristian Pless (DEN) WR 113 beat Stéphane Robert (FRA) WR 226 by 6-1 6-2

QF: (5) Kenneth Carlsen (DEN) WR 118 beat (3) Konstantinos Economidis (GRE) WR 121 by 6-7(6) 6-1 7-5

QF: (4) Alexander Waske (GER) WR 117 beat Richard Bloomfield (GBR) WR 232 by 6-2 6-4

QF: Alan Mackin (GBR) WR 301 beat Lukas Lacko (SVK) WR 234 ... 6-3 3-6 7-5

I hope 'the Avenger' (Mackin) can take Waske out tomorrow!

mkkreuk · Admin:Moderator + ATP qualifying

bloomers lost 62 64

only mackin left in the draw..

he plays richard's conquerer, Waske in the semi.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

lets hope mackin can win this time, by all accounts he should eb capable. my only concern is that he might get a bit tight as its a SF, what do people think?

-- Edited by Count Zero at 14:52, 2006-10-26

steven · Tennis legend

Delgado/Murray v Goodall/Hutchins 7-6(4)

Sheddie · administrator

Has the tiger decided to stay for the doubles steven or is it m-j-d ?

It's a shame that Richard lost. My guess is that Waske was able to read his serve or Richard didn't serve that well and Richard started to struggle as although he's consistent he doesn't possess a big weapon from the baseline to really hurt players.

I doubt Mackin will get particularly tight, he's very experienced now. It's a good chance for him to reach a final, he was the better player when they faced each other in Kolding and he was annoyed that he didn't come through that one, just lost his concentration at the end of the 3rd and Waske pulled out some massive 2nd serves to save bps. He's one of the best returners in Britain [not counting Murray or Henman], he really tamed the serves of Vico and Vacek this week and blunted Waske's power in Kolding.

Unlike Richard, he can hurt Waske with his forehand and he comes to the net a lot to finish off the points, like Boggo he's very good at working the rallies and outmaneouvering players.

steven · Tennis legend

It's MJD :)

Delgado/Murray beat Goodall/Hutchins 7-6(4) 6-4

They will play Prpic/Tourte in the Final after they beat Motti/Vico.

Sheddie · administrator

Great chance for the two Jamies to secure their 2nd challenger title. Delgado is ranked 112 and if they lose the final he'll move up to 105

If they win the final he'll move up to 104.

Jamie Murray's guaranteed to move up to 84 from 87. If they win he'll move up to 83.

Sheddie · administrator

Questions for the Tiger:

Why do you think Lacko's given the brits so many problems this week ? I've been surprised as I saw him play earlier this year and he didn't seem to have many weapons from the baseline though he plays with a high intensity and is good at working his opponent round the court. Has he been just outdoing the guys for consistency ?

Mackin's form has been superb since June, is he a different player to the Mackin you saw last year ? In what ways do you think he's improved, has he got more weapons from the baseline, is he attacking the net more ?

He must be returning extremely well this week, Vico and Vacek [in particular] are regarded as having massive serves yet Mackin completely outplayed Vico and destroyed Vacek in the final set. When Vico played Boggo last week in Kolding, he served Alex off the court in set 1.

How do you rate Mackin's chances against Waske ? I was surprised that Waske beat Richard so easily, did Richard not serve particularly well or was Waske just reading his serve ? Richard's got the big serve and he's good at the net when he mixes things up and serve-volleys but do you feel think his lack of weapons from the baseline could make it difficult for him to become a top 100 player ?

Regarding the matches earlier this week: Do you think that Delgado is mainly concentrating on doubles now. He's going to have a dilemma soon as in order to increase his doubles ranking he's going to have to play big challengers and ATPs. Do you think he'll do what Auckland does and play singles qualies or maybe just drop singles altogether.

Apologies for all the questions, now you know why Mike hasn't contacted me yet this week

Thanks again for all the scores this week, it's been great.

M-j-d are you going again tomorrow ?

mjd · Challenger qualifying

UltimateMackinFan wrote:

......................M-j-d are you going again tomorrow ?

No -not going again, 6+ hours on the road each day is a bit too much.

Basically I think Waske (he is a big man with a big serve) just powered his way through today against Richard although I know that Richard is feelin tired - he's had a busy month but I believe may still fly out to Canada, however with the uncertainty of the outcome earlier today has no flight yet!

Bladetiger · Pro player

UltimateMackinFan wrote:

Questions for the Tiger:

Why do you think Lacko's given the brits so many problems this week ? I've been surprised as I saw him play earlier this year and he didn't seem to have many weapons from the baseline though he plays with a high intensity and is good at working his opponent round the court. Has he been just outdoing the guys for consistency ? No idea about Josh because I didnt sdee it, but I just thought Boggo had a poor day at theo ffice, Lacko's got a pretty accurate serve, and is solid and doesnt make many mistakes he also moved both Alan and Alex around the court pretty well. When he was outdoing Alan it was when he was making Alan do all the running, as soon as Alan starting moving him he got on top.
Nonetheless for a youngish lad I think LL has good potential.

Mackin's form has been superb since June, is he a different player to the Mackin you saw last year ? In what ways do you think he's improved, has he got more weapons from the baseline, is he attacking the net more ? Yes, really didnt think he had much more to come, but his intensity's improved and he's hitting more winners, finishing points rather than just waiting for mistakes.

He must be returning extremely well this week, Vico and Vacek [in particular] are regarded as having massive serves yet Mackin completely outplayed Vico and destroyed Vacek in the final set. When Vico played Boggo last week in Kolding, he served Alex off the court in set 1.

How do you rate Mackin's chances against Waske ? Think it's a very tough game Waske looked really good today, but Alan's so totally different to Richard it's maybe not a great guide. Alan will work Waske whereas Richard tends to finish points quicker, whi9ch I think auited Waske. I thought Richard played pretty wqell today but he couldnt get close on Waske's serve, and served pretty well to hold throughout the second set until (apparently) playing a couple of sloppy points to go 0-30 down in his final service game.

I was surprised that Waske beat Richard so easily, did Richard not serve particularly well or was Waske just reading his serve ? I thought Richard served pretty well, but Waske tended to win most of the rallies, there were some great rallies but despite good play from Richard Waske usually ended up on top. Richard's got the big serve and he's good at the net when he mixes things up and serve-volleys but do you feel think his lack of weapons from the baseline could make it difficult for him to become a top 100 player ? I think it's difficult for anyone to become a top 100 player these days, we've talked about tons of players becoming top 100 in the last 2-3 years but so far we've still only got Andy. Richard's game has certainly developed this year, he has more variety from the baseline, and he's mad egreat progress this year, but as I said in my forecast, there's no evidence yet that he's going to be any better than he is (top 200) but maybe he will.

Regarding the matches earlier this week: Do you think that Delgado is mainly concentrating on doubles now. Yes, I know so.

He's going to have a dilemma soon as in order to increase his doubles ranking he's going to have to play big challengers and ATPs. Do you think he'll do what Auckland does and play singles qualies or maybe just drop singles altogether. No idea, there's a lot of people at the LTA that are finding Jamie's new found fascination with Doubles hilarious as he has (Allegedly) tanked/ withdrawn from more doubles matches than he's had hot dinners over the last 4-5 years and yet now he's suddenly doubles mad!

Apologies for all the questions, now you know why Mike hasn't contacted me yet this week

Thanks again for all the scores this week, it's been great.

M-j-d are you going again tomorrow ? I might be.

steven · Tennis legend

This year, the mid-October Challenger is in Nottingham, last year it was in Southampton and a week earlier, but it seems, "plus ca change ..."

Last year we had 9 in the main draw, this year we had 8.

Last year we got one to the semis (Bloomers), this year one (Mackin)

Last year we got one more to the QFs (Boggo), this year one more too (Bloomers)

Last year we got one more into R2 (Martin Lee, i.e. 3 in total), this year one more too (Josh Goodall, also 3 in total)

Last year one of the top two seeds went out in R1 (Baghdatis), this year one of the top two seeds went out (Boggo)

All I can really conclude from all that, curious as it is, is that we should expect to see Boggo is next year's Aus Open Final!

steven · Tennis legend

Blade should be in Nottingham from about 11.30, so I'll be putting score updates on the Mackin semi on MTF if anyone would be kind enough to relay them to here.

Sally · Grand Slam Champion

steven wrote:

Blade should be in Nottingham from about 11.30, so I'll be putting score updates on the Mackin semi on MTF if anyone would be kind enough to relay them to here.

I will