Week 21: Nice; Düsseldorf; Cremona

[roseboy64]

Quallies.

[ripper868]

If i'm straight in to the french i'll rest, if not, quallies.

Cheers SBI, good show etc etc.

[morgieb]

Originally Posted by morgieb

Odds on me getting a WC for Roland Garros? I'll go in the qualifiers anyway, else I'll play at Nice.

Well given that I don't need to qualify now, I'll go into Nice. Need some clay practise fast.

[morgieb]

Also, why is this ending?

[SirBloody Idiot]

Teams for the World Team Cup in Düsseldorf have been finalised:

Germany
Becker Haas
Gunther Heug
Manfried Manz
Walter Schiller

United States
Darcy Cowan
Jason Bradley
Hugh James
Ralph Robinson

West CWLand
Sven Oxenstierna
Heath Davis
Jojo Mustard

East CWLand
Spas Delev
Roy Daniels
Matt Bre

Hungary
Zoltán Varga
János Varga
Imre Medgyessy

Serbia
Danijel Micic
Srdjan Ivic
OUT Savo Petkovia
Dusko Milosevic
IN Viktor Bosich

Spain
Ion Andueza
Sanchez Emelio
Juan Manuel Cortés

Italy
Antonio Bachunelli
Michael De Kinsele
Sandro Bachunelli

West CWLand will operate on a rotational basis to give all players a go.

And the draw:

Blue Group
Hungary
Serbia
Spain
West CWLand

Red Group
East CWLand
Germany
Italy
United States

PTA Ranking Points

Singles 1
1st R: +35
2nd R: +35
3rd R: +35
*Finals: +95
**Bonus Points: +50

Singles 2
1st R: +25
2nd R: +25
3rd R: +25
*Finals: +50
**Bonus Points: +50

Doubles Deciding Match
1st R: +35
2nd R: +35
3rd R: +35
*Finals: +95
**Bonus Points: +50

Doubles Dead Rubber
1st R: +10
2nd R: +10
3rd R: +10
*Finals: +20
**Bonus Points: 0

* Player who only play the finals will be awarded points from the previous round

** Players must win all 4 matches and be part of the winning team in order to earn the Bonus Points

[HeathDavisSpeed]

In average ranking terms, which of these teams are the best? West CWLand must have a pretty decent team with the Ox (4), Jojo (14?) and myself (29?)

[SirBloody Idiot]

Westerners easily the strongest here, but the Blue Group is the tougher group. Hungary are OK, though.

[SirBloody Idiot]

Nice Preview

Full draw

A field that has been hit by a torrent of injuries now looks pretty weak in the last traditional tournament before Roland Garros. Jefferson Drake leads the back, but he joins two other Madrid quarter finalists in the top four seeds in a pretty strong top handful of players. Despite a disappointing exit late last week in Madrid, Drake was starting to show some real touch and could cap off a solid Open preparation with a tournament win here. He's on the first line of betting, and realistically should run himself into some form by the semis. Drake vs. Carlo Amato is the match I suspect most people want to see by semi final time, and I'm not sure there's many players standing in their way.

In the other half, Brett Read has a good chance of seeing second round and maybe even quarter final action. Mark Harmel has watched his ranking plumet with a string of bad results, while Toby Brookes makes a winnable second opponent. Although this is the first time this tournament has been held, Brookes is effectively the defending champion having won Pörtschach which was replaced this year by Nice.

Prediction: Jefferson Drake def. Patrick Pascaul
Smokey: Pierre L'Estrange

[SirBloody Idiot]

Düsseldorf OOP - Sunday & Monday

SUNDAY
CENTRE COURT 1
1:00 PM
Red: (1) Haas vs. (1) A. Bachunelli
Red: (2) Heug vs. (2) De Kinsele
not before 4:00 p.m.
Blue: (1) Oxenstierna vs. (1) Z. Varga

CENTRE COURT 2
1:00 PM
Blue: Ivic (1) vs. Andueza (1)
Blue: Micic (1) vs. Emelio (1)
not before 4:00 p.m.
Red: Bre (2) vs. Bradley (2)

MONDAY
CENTRE COURT 1
1:00 PM
Red: GER vs ITA Doubles
not before 2:30 p.m.
Red: (1) Delev vs. (1) Cowan
not before 5:00 p.m.
Blue: FRC vs. HUN Doubles

CENTRE COURT 2
1:00 PM
Blue: (2) Mustard vs. (2) J. Varga
followed by
Red: SRB vs. ESP Doubles
not before 5:00 p.m.
Red: CDR vs. USA Doubles

[Johnners]

Haha, quality team from the East 8|

[SirBloody Idiot]

Originally Posted by Clapo

Haha, quality team from the East 8|

Not quite the team we were three months ago game time (and about 18 months real time).

[SirBloody Idiot]

Cremona Preview

• Full draw

Oh man, a dog of a draw with most of the 100+ ranked players looking to qualify later this week. Scotland Rivers leads the high ranked guys who are allergic to clay, guys with rankings above 200 and Rob Bowenburg. Rivers should sleepwalk into the semis at least, and in reality should coast into the final. He can tune up against ordinary players before facing bigger tests like Jeremy Natale and Tu Haifeng later on.

Bowenburg has it a bit tougher with no qualifiers or wildcards to pad out his section, but he'd be disappointed with anything less than a semi final. He's in the best form of any one in the draw, but a week out from the French Open this is a puzzling choice to play here. Ivars Emsis has played a lot of tennis on hard courts and could spring the surprise.

Prediction: Rivers def. Emsis.

[SirBloody Idiot]

I'll put up the qualifying draw for Roland Garros (kill me now ) after the first round of action in Nice and Cremona, and Tuesday in Düsseldorf. I just whacked pretty much every CWLander old and new in there.

[SirBloody Idiot]

ARAG World Team Cup II
PTA 250 - Sunday (Day One) - Düsseldorf, Germany - Clay (Red)

• Sven Oxenstierna vs. Zoltán Varga promised a lot but delivered little as the World No. 4 gave West CWLand a 1-0 lead after Sunday in Düsseldorf. Arguably the two best clay players in the draw and certainly the pair in the best form, Oxenstierna would have expected a tough hitout to perfect his Roland Garros preparation. But it wasn't Zoltán Varga at his best as the Hungarian struggled for rhythm throughout the match as Oxenstierna coasted to a 6-3, 6-3 win. The scoreline flattered the Hungarian as Oxenstierna never looked troubled in his dominant straight sets win.

• There was less to be happy about for East CWLand as Matt Bre was thrashed by the USA's Jason Bradley. Sending the East down 0-1, Bre's lack of form was shown up by the American journeyman who eased to a 6-3, 6-1 win. It doesn't get any easier tomorrow with Spas Delev facing top ten player Darcy Cowan who appears for the first time since Miami.

• Elsewhere, Germany and Italy are tied at one rubber each with Serbia and Spain locked at the same score.

[SirBloody Idiot]

Open de Nice Côte d'Azur II
PTA 250 - 1st Round - Nice, France - Clay (Red)

• Brett Read has made an unblemished start to his week in Nice as the West CWLandish qualifier made light work of Belgium's Mark Harmel. Harmel's form has been rat**** as of late, but he and Read employ similar styles as the two engaged in a largely uneventful baseline affair. But the World No. 141 was clearly too good as a baseline war against a player without dangerous ground strokes is well in his comfort zone as he cruised to a 6-3, 6-3 win to move to the round of 16. He now plays Alex Peters after the German tamed Toby Brookes 6-2, 6-3. Interestingly, Brookes won the now defunct Pörtschach tournament this week last year and in the semi finals ousted Read 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 on the way to his title.

• Seeded players out: Toby Brookes; Sergio Joaquín.