Players in Bold are still active this week Players in italics advanced rankings places on Friday & Saturday Underlined players lost their match on Friday & Saturday.
-- Edited by RobC at 10:05, 2006-11-05 -- Edited by RobC at 21:42, 2006-11-05 -- Edited by RobC at 10:52, 2006-11-06 -- Edited by RobC at 20:38, 2006-11-06 -- Edited by RobC at 08:07, 2006-11-07 -- Edited by RobC at 16:54, 2006-11-07 -- Edited by RobC at 18:58, 2006-11-07 -- Edited by RobC at 07:21, 2006-11-08 -- Edited by RobC at 17:01, 2006-11-08 -- Edited by RobC at 21:51, 2006-11-08 -- Edited by RobC at 08:03, 2006-11-09 -- Edited by RobC at 22:03, 2006-11-09 -- Edited by RobC at 07:54, 2006-11-10
Alex starts the week with his highest ever points tally.
There's only three competitors behind Boggo not in action this week, and only five ahead. As a result it could be expensive if he were to go out early. Similarly, he's unlikely to advance far until the end of the week. With the points on offer in Bratislava, though, he could make it into the top 90 with a win, and the top 100 with a finals berth.
Bethan, I'm sure will let us know who to target with those world famous voodoo doll pins!
With Delic winning in Louisville, Alex starts the week at 120th, but instantly climbs to 119th, as Delic's 14 points from Nashville last year drop off.
Target number 2, Vik plays threat number 9, Kubot in Bratislave tomorrow. Target number 6, Dlouhy plays Teimuraz, "The shed" Gabashvili. Threat 12, Carlsen's up against Jan Minar.
In Buenos Aires, Threat number 2, Hartfield will overtake if he beats Marin Threats 8, 10 & 11, Fraile,Navarro- Pastor & Saretta also play tomorrow.
In Korea, target 4, Kim plays tomorrow morning, as does target 7, Muller. In Nashville, there's nly Rik deVoest (threat 13) playing, with no competitors playing tomorrow in Eckental.
So first targets would have to be Hartfield & Vik!
Alex plays today, as do Bolelli(threat number 3) and Economidis(threat 1) in Bratislava. Economidis draws level if he wins and Alex loses.
Target number 6, Waske, plays in Eckental; Vicente (target 2), Berlocq(threat 5) and Pashanski(target 7) play in Buenos Aires;
Threat number 2, Delic, along with target 1, Philippoussis and target 3, Kendrick play in Nashville. Lu(threat 5), Querrey(threat 4) and Kim(target 4) play tomorrow AM in Busan.
So plenty of pin- work required, ladies:
I'd suggest Econimidis and Sluiter today, then switch to Vicente this afternoon; then Philippousis, Kendrick & Delic this evening, with an overnight switch into Lu, Querrey & Kim......... phew - might wear the pins out!
I'd suggest Econimidis and Sluiter today, then switch to Vicente this afternoon; then Philippousis, Kendrick & Delic this evening, with an overnight switch into Lu, Querrey & Kim......... phew - might wear the pins out!
Excellent work on Economidis. Bolelli beat him 0 & 4, and promotes himself to Threat number 2 - ah well, that's for tomorrow or Thursday. OK, pins out of the Greek & into Sluiter!
Table updated for Alex's loss to Sluiter. He ends up with one less ranking point, as he was defending 5 from last year, which are replaced by his 19th score - a 4.
We should now concentrate on threats rather than targets, I guess:
Delic, Berlocq and Lu are the men to fear today and tonight. No- one can overtake with their next match, but Delic can if he makes the quarters.
Then there's Bolelli (SF, Bratislava), Querrey OR Lu (F, Busan), Berlocq OR Navarro-Pastor (F, Buenos Aires), Kubot OR Carlsen (F, Bratislava),Mello or Hernandez(W, BA), Bozoljac (W, Nashville), Peya (W, Busan) and Zib (W, Bratislava). 13 in total.
A maximum of 9 can overtake, giving Alex a worst case week- ending position of 128
- Of course, they could all end up losing before they overtake