Despite all the Brits having gone out in singles, I've been still keenly watching as many matches as I can on the stream as I'm tennis deprived !! I've only seen the Davis Cup and Boggo v Henman since Wimbledon and have missed out on at least 7 live streams including the US Open which was incredibly frustrating.
Anyway, I've finally got Windows Media player to work on my computer Cause for a big celebration, it now means that I can watch all the streams. It's sods law that it's happened just as the tennis season is finishing but there you go. Hopefully I can watch next week challenger in the Ukraine aswell as Bratislava and maybe some nice guy will set up some stream for the Masters Cup.
These are my impressions of the matches I've seen, I've watched some of the upcoming prospects trying to make the breakthrough on the challenger circuit, so it'll be interesting to discuss them.
Mertinak bt Klizan 6-3, 6-4: Klizan is the no 2 junior in the world and is just 17. He won Roland Garros earlier this year. He's ranked 1225 in seniors. Watching the match; he's a bit like Dolgopolov - you know the flamboyant youngster who Murray beat on the first day of the tie v Ukraine; except with a bigger serve and more powerful shots from the baseline. He has a great serve, both 1st and 2nd serves look ATP standard, maybe just needs to get some more consistency on his 1st serve as when it goes in, it's big. He hit some absolutely massive forehands at times in the match and his return of serve is a big weapon - that's the most consistent part of his game and really hurt Mertinak on a regular basis throughout the match. However, he needs to work on his backhand which is a weakness - he made quite a lot of errors off that wing tonight and it let him down. His forehand is more consistent but still can be a bit hit and miss. Klizan tends to go for too big shots, too early in the rally and it really lets him down. He led 3-0 in the 2nd set and was really on top but gifted a break right back to Mertinak with a dreadful game. Two forehand errors into the top of the net on the 2nd shot, going both times for a booming winner into the corner which wasn't really the right shot and that put him 0-40 down. He was really angry with himself and then handed the break to Mertinak by double-faulting, going for a 2nd serve ace down the T which was harder than most of his first serves. All Mertinak did in that game was get the ball back in play. Then again at 4-4, 30-40 down, you'd think he'd play it relatively safe and play percentage shots. But no, he was in control of the point and forced Mertinak right out wide, Mertinak hit it hard back cross-court and Klizan could have won the point by playing the ball hard down the centre, giving himself a margin for error and then finishing it at the net. Instead, off a ball which was travelling very fast, he tries to completely change the direction and thrash a flashy winner down the line and catches the ball late and sends it wide.
Mertinak just basically served well and played a solid match very consistent from the back and retrieved well, Klizan did the rest. He's got lots of talent and all the shots, just needs to work on his backhand and shot selection. I reckon he'll be top 600 by the end of 2007 possibly top 500
I watched a bit of JMDP v Kubot. The match was actually very close despite the scoreline, Kubot just won all the big points. Kubot is a very aggressive player, big shots of both sides. JMDP was very solid and has a decent serve but didn't really seem to have any big weapons which surprised me and that told on the crucial points. Most of the time, Kubot seemed to get the first strike in the rallies.
Saw the beginning of the 2nd set, JMDP broke and I thought that the match would switch but came back to find that JMDP had retired, anyone know why ? One interesting thing I noticed is that for returning the first serve, JMDP stands miles behind the baseline - he actually goes out of picture on the streaming !
Sluiter just destroyed Bolleli, brilliant display of power hitting. To be honest I thought Bolleli was pretty ordinary, I'm amazed at how he's made the top 150. If he can do so, then guys like Bloomfield, Goodall etc definately can. He really seemed to struggle to cope with the power Sluiter was hitting the ball at and it was affecting his timing. He just made far too many errors from the baseline and it could quite easily have been 6-0, 6-0 , Bolleli's serve saved him from that embarassment, Sluiter had chances to get the 3rd break in both sets. You can tell that Sluiter is a top 100 player and plays on the ATP tour, what distinguishes him from lower ranked players in this tournament is the intensity with which he plays - he goes 100% for every ball and it wears opponent down. His movement about the court and defensive game is superb, he's so good at turning defence into attack. Whenever his opponents give him the chance to step up the court to a mid-court ball, the point's basically over, he's just clinical off both wings.
From what I've seen so far, I make Sluiter the favourite to win this tournament. I reckon he'll beat Tipsarevic in the quarters though that's going to be a cracker of a match - a shot-making spectacular.