The Championships, Wimbledon II

[SirBloody Idiot]

Top seed Hall bounced out of Wimbledon
London, 22 June II



WORLD number one Jason Hall has become the second top seeded player in as many years to fall in the round of 64 at Wimbledon after the tournament favourite was stunned 4-6, 6-1, 4-6, 1-6 by unheralded Norwegian Tom Vollan.

The three-time Grand Slam champion was an almost unbackable favourite after his dominant first round performance, but things looked awry early as Vollan broke in the first game. The world number 46 was always going to pose a different challenge for Hall, but it was clear that Hall had in some ways underestimated his opponent.

After dropping the first set, it looked like business as usual for the American star who stormed through the second set 6-1.

However, Norway's second best player had other ideas and refused to be bullied by the American. He fired down seven third set aces and broke serve twice to inch towards a most unlikely victory.

Despite going down a double break early in the fourth, Hall still kept his hopes alive as he snatched a break off the unflappable Vollan serve. Unfortunately for the top seed - and the tournament organisers - he was blown off the court by some sensational hitting from the Norwegian who converted his first match point with an almightly forehand down the line.

Hall's exit opens up the top section of the draw as Vollan now meets Spain's Ion Andueza. Andueza was taken deep into a fifth set before ousting 30th seed Dmitry Orlov of Russia 6-0, 3-6, 7-5, 5-7, 9-7.

Will have the rest of the day's play later.

[Samuel_Vimes]

Heef to take it out now.

[dontcloseyoureyes]

Ox the next seed to go out IMO.

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Originally Posted by Samuel_Vimes

Heef to take it out now.

Yeah. Chance would be a fine thing.

Even if it does open up the draw somewhat.

[SirBloody Idiot]

The Championships, Wimbledon II - Gentlemen's Singles
GRAND SLAM - Wednesday (2nd Round) - Wimbledon, United Kingdom - Grass

• Sixteenth seed Jojo Mustard has eased into the round of 32 with a straight sets win over Portugal's Tiago Matías. The 25-year old had a tough first round match, and might have been considered vulnerable against a player who dropped just two games in the first round. Both players were quite tentative early, but it was Mustard who produced the more consistent tennis in an entertaining start. Matías managed to save four break points before finally conceding as he hit a backhand long. The break was enough for Mustard to take the first set as he served it out to love. The second set proceeded in much the same way as neither player gave up a service game. Mustard had some troubles at 15-40 in his third service game, but recovered to hold before edging ahead 4-3 with a great reaching volley against the Portuguese player's serve. Down two sets to love, the 29-year old Portuguese veteran finally succumbed to Mustard's pressure as the sixteenth seed had everything go right for him. The 6-4, 6-4, 6-0 win sets him up for a third round showdown with CW Open finalist Oneil Stewart. Stewart was less impressive against Maarten Berg as he won 6-4, 2-6, 7-5, 4-6, 6-1.

• In the all-East CWLand clash, 31st seed Jarkko Maxum took a somewhat surprising win over unseeded opponent Spas Delev. Despite some disappointing results in lead up tournaments, Delev came into the match as a slight favourite against a player who has never looked at home on the grass. The bookies seemed to have it right early as, within ten minutes, Delev opened up a 4-0 lead. But the left-hander struggled to maintain the pressure on serve, and soon enough the set was back on service - albeit very briefly as Delev went ahead a break again and this time served out the set. The second set remained similarly close as the pair engaged in some intriguing baseline wars. Delev, however, came to the net more often - although not as often as one would have liked and he was beaten out by Maxum's consistency. Delev had clearly come in with a gameplan of unloading with his forehand, but struggled to adjust as Maxum got on top of him. That became obvious in the third set tiebreaker as the 31st seed shut Delev out to move to the cusp of the third round. Delev breathed some life into his chances as he snatched a break early in the fourth, but those were snuffed out as Maxum worked up a chain of four games to advance to the round of 32 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(0), 6-3. He now meets sixth seed József Boros who came from a set down twice to beat Germany's Gunther Heug 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 6-0, 6-2.

• 23rd seed Heath Davis is the last seed standing in section 1 after cruising past Brazil's Flavio Augusto Martins. The 24-year old qualifier produced little by way of offence against Davis who never really made it out of first gear in a dominant victory. The scoreline perhaps flattered the Brazilian in some ways; he never had a break point and was lucky to only be broken four times. Davis eventually advanced 6-3, 6-3, 6-4 after failing to convert two match points and now meets World No. 77 Randy Bruce. The American produced a massive upset to defeat eleventh seed Danijel Micic 2-6, 7-6(2), 2-6, 7-5, 6-3.

• The best result for West CWLand? Rob Bowenburg. While Centre Court witnessed the end of Jason Hall, the seventh seed Rasmus Olesen was also sent packing in a tight match by the World No. 61. It was a tremendous display of clutch serving from The Lob as Olesen failed to convert a break point in the first set. Despite having six less of them, Bowenburg was the player with the decisive break as he took the first set 6-4. In a tentative second set, neither player managed to get ahead as they exchanged breaks early. But in a tiebreaker, The Lob inched towards and unlikely two-set lead as he produced some fantastic tennis to secure the set - capping it off with a running forehand winner down the line. The Dane now had his back to the wall, and was in worse trouble as Bowenburg led 5-3. The Westerner was unable to serve out the match, though, and was broken by Olesen who held on to keep his chances alive in a tiebreaker. From 2-5 down it looked like game over for the Dane, but he managed four points in a row to bring up set point. The two then exchanged set and match points in a fascinating tiebreaker with Bowenburg failing to convert at 7-6 and 9-8. Finally, at 10-9, he benefited from a backhand error from the Danish seventh seed to complete easily the biggest win of his career 6-4, 7-6(5), 7-6(9). He now meets Eastbourne champ Morgan Carter who survived a scare against Austria's Martin Reiter in a 6-2, 2-6, 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-2 win.

• Seeded players out: Jason Hall; Danijel Micic; Rasmus Olesen.

[Mister Wright]

Good to get through that 2nd round clash. A loss in the 3rd round will be very disappointing.

[SirBloody Idiot]

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Bloody hell. That opens things up massively. Now, from having a bloody tough run, I'm gonna look pretty **** if I don't make the Quarters. What a day of Tennis!

Great win from Bowenberg, and great to see Mustard through.

[NUFAN]

Awesome day of Tennis, huge win for my career, Carter is going to be difficult, I feel like I've played him a fair few times already, SBI could you check my record against the American?

Good to see Davis, Mustard and my buddy Maxum through to the third round.

[Samuel_Vimes]

Emsis vs Shpidla in R3 I see. The over/under line on longest rally is 4.5.

[ripper868]

Super stuff from the Lob - very winnable match against carter as well.

Stoked to get past Delev, unexpected as it is. Will be bloody tough to get past Boros, again hoping the 5 sets he played has an impact, would be great to play JOJO in the 16.

[SirBloody Idiot]

Originally Posted by NUFAN

Awesome day of Tennis, huge win for my career, Carter is going to be difficult, I feel like I've played him a fair few times already, SBI could you check my record against the American?

Good to see Davis, Mustard and my buddy Maxum through to the third round.

Doesn't make great reading, but two close matches suggests you aren't far away.

Tokyo, I
2R: Carter def. Bowenburg, 6-4, 0-6, 6-4

Canada Masters, I
1R: Carter def. Bowenburg, 3-6, 7-5, 6-3

[Johnners]

ffs

[SirBloody Idiot]

The Championships, Wimbledon II - Gentlemen's Doubles
GRAND SLAM - Wednesday (1st Round) - Wimbledon, United Kingdom - Grass

• Wildcard entrants Marcuss Deane and Oscar Highsmith are through to the second round of the doubles draw after a straight sets win over Croatian duo Ivan Cesljar and Nilikar Midid. The Croatian pairing were slightly favoured with the bookies, but it proved to be misguided as they were picked apart in straight sets by the English-born duo. After being level at 3-3, Deane and Highsmith dropped just three more games as they advanced to the second round 6-4, 6-0, 6-2. They now face tenth seeds Mark Harmel and Yves Parmentier who won 7-5, 6-5, 7-6(5) against French Open quarter finalist Mikel Fosdike and Christian Mary.

• Also through were one of Europe's continental allocations as Brett Read and Scotland Rivers came from a set down to advance. Drawn against North American CA pairing Donovan Burbach and Ben Turner, Read and Rivers always had a good chance of moving into the second round, but dropped the first set 5-7. From there, though, they recovered very well and took the second set in a canter before opening up a 2-0 lead in the third set. The Americans kept it close, but could not take a second set as Read and Rivers won 5-7, 6-1 6-4, 7-5. They wait on their opponents tomorrow as Manfried Manz and Walter Schiller meet third seeds Hayden and Ross Onwye.

• East CWLand duo Spas Delev and Jefferson Drake are into the second round after withstanding a late assault by David Kestenholz and Daniel Zwygart. The unseeded duo led two sets to love before the Germans took the third set 6-3. Despite that, it looked curtains and they brought up two match points on serve in the fourth before Kestenholz saved the second with a great reflex volley and sent it to a tiebreaker. Dropping that 2-7, Delev and Drake recovered to secure the decider and the match 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 6-7(2), 6-4. Thankfully they face another team coming off five sets after Diego Hurtado and Paolo Mandonna bested twelfth seeds Artem Krohmal and Merab Shvelidze 7-5, 6-7(3), 2-6, 6-3, 9-7.

• Qualifiers Roy Daniels and Ishan Narang were beaten 6-2, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 by Jurgen Boniek and Jerzy Kosecki.

• Defending champions Sandro Bachunelli and Hicham Hadir survived a close call against a local duo as they came from a set down to oust Liam Bailey and Matthew Charnock 3-6, 6-1, 6-7(0), 6-0, 6-0.

• Seeded players out: Artem Krohmal & Merab Shvelidze.

[SirBloody Idiot]

The Championships, Wimbledon II - Gentlemen's Singles
GRAND SLAM - Thursday (2nd Round) - Wimbledon, United Kingdom - Grass

• Eighth seed Jefferson Drake has won his second round clash at the All England Club; recovering from a rough start to beat World No. 66 Petr Brožík. The top ranked East CWLand player had a number of opportunities to surge ahead in the first set, but was unable to take has chances and watched as Brožík broke late. Down a set, Drake began to find his rhythm more consistently and began to create chances on the Brožík serve. The Czech player stayed planted to the baseline and struggled to match Drake's firepower as he dropped the second set 6-3. Brožík began to mix it up more in the third, and had a chance to go ahead 5-2. He couldn't convert the break point, though, and Drake stole the set with a dominant tiebreaker 7-2. The fight was out of Brožík by then and he wilted under the pressure of Drake who put it all together to move into the round of 32 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(2), 6-2. He meets Valter Cordiero of Portugal who has made an unlikely appearance in the third round of a grass major after his 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 thrashing of Denis Rodrigues.

• The news was less enjoyable for Scotland Rivers as the World No. 42 was pulverized by thirteenth seed Patrick Pascaul. Despite pushing Pascaul in the semifinals last week at Eastbourne, Rivers was diabolical at the All England Club as he was beaten in straight sets. The signs weren't great for the Westerner after his first round win on Tuesday, and those signs became flashing neon as he was hit off the court 6-1 in the first. He put up a better fight in the second, but was too passive as Pascaul made all the play. The flashy Frenchman ensured there would be no comeback in the third as he shut Rivers down effectively to coast into the third round 6-1, 6-3, 6-1.

• Fifth seed Sven Oxenstierna met his match in Fok Zhenyu before ultimately prevailing in straight sets. The Halle champion suffered with the jitters on serve for most of the match as Fok played out of his skin on return. Unfortunately for the Chinese player, his serve was also lacking and between them they managed nine breaks in the first two sets. Those went the way of Oxenstierna who showed more composure when needed, and although there was a late surge from Fok he held on to a break lead to win 7-6(5), 7-5, 6-4. He now plays Israel's Tal Cohen after the 28th seed beat Thomas Velten 7-6(0), 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

• Finally, the biggest upset of the day came from qualifier Ishan Narang who stormed to a five-set win over fourteenth seed Miroslav Brdar. After a great week of qualifying, Narang belied his $6 outsider rating to produce some tremendous tennis to overcome the Croat. He saved his best for last as, serving second, he hung on to hold six times and break once to secure the victory 4-6, 6-2, 2-6, 6-2, 7-5. The win sees him play France's Christopher Durand for a place in the fourth round in a section where Radek Špidlá is the last seed remaining.

• Seeded players out: Miroslav Brdar; Sergio Joaquín.