Week 6: Joberg [Zhijun]; Santiago [Joaquín] ; Zagreb [Brdar]; Burnie [Natale]

[SirBloody Idiot]

SA Tennis Open
1st Round - Johannesburg (Republic of South Africa)

Men's singles (Seeds - Finals - Top Half - Bottom Half)
Men's doubles (Draw)

• Injury-plagued East CWLander Roy Daniels has improved his season II record to 1-1 after easily accounting for the United States' Randy Bruce. In his only previous match at ATP level this year, a 6-7(6), 6-2, 6-4 loss to Heinz Hainisch, Daniels was distinctly unimpressive as he failed to take advantage of a good start. Bruce was in good form following his semi final appearance in a Carson Challenger last week, but never really got going against the powerful Daniels who showed good form to move into the second round 6-3, 6-4. The Easterner now faces fifth seed Pascal Schmidt who came from a set down to smash Tu Haifeng of Chinese Taipei.
• In the big all-CWLand clash, Mat Mitchell got his revenge and arrested a recent downfall with a straight sets win over Matt Bre. Last week in Heilbronn, Bre came home with a wet sail to beat Mitchell 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-1; rising to No. 96 in the world as Mitchell fell out of the top 200. Nevertheless, the two were evenly matched as Mitchell took a break of service early in the first set with a classy backhand that was reminiscent of his early season I form. Whilst Bre broke back, he continued to give Mitchell opportunities to surge ahead and he did so in the ninth game to take a 5-4 lead. He took advantage of that to serve out the first set, but found himself in trouble in the second at 0-40 in his first service game. But two errant forehands from Bre allowed Mitchell back to deuce and he narrowly held to be at 1-1. From there he took control of the set, and there was no way back for the newest world top 100 player as Mitchell picked up a 6-4, 6-4 win and a second round match against third seed Jason Bradley.

• In the top half, Rick Langley's debut at ATP level was not smooth sailing as the Salinas champ was dealt a lesson by fourth seed Atthaphol Sae-ul. Despite an impressive qualifying period, Langley understandably experienced some real nerves as he blew two chances to hold his first service game to be down a break. There were three of those in the first set - all on the West CWLander's serve - and he was staring down the barrel of a humiliating loss. In the ninth game he was on the board, but he looked outclassed by the aggressive Thai player who boasts a win over world No. 1 Jason Hall. 6-0, 6-2 was the scoreline for Sae-ul.

• Just the one seed fell in first round action; Belarusian Denis Isaev to local wildcard Robert Isaacs 6-0, 7-5.

• Seeded players out:
  
  Denis Isaev.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Movistar Open
1st Round - Santiago (Chile)

Men's singles (Seeds - Finals - Top Half - Bottom Half)
Men's doubles (Draw)

• There was just one CWLander in action in Chile, and it was an unsuccessful day for Pierre Rose as he was comfortably dealt with by local wildcard Alex Rojas. The world No. 174 was heavily favoured in front of a home crowd, and started strongly to take a 3-1 lead with some confident baseline play. Whilst Rose managed a break back from a deep volley, he struggled to really get comfortable on a foreign surface and against a hostile crowd. The Santiago locals were right behind Rojas who took the first set 6-2, and in the second managed to help him through a tough spot from 2-3 to claim four games in a row to secure a confident 6-2, 6-3 win. Rose, meanwhile, continues to find his feet on clay next week in Buenos Aires and will be boosted by his great qualifying period here in Chile.

• Elsewhere, fifth seed János Varga gave up a massive lead to bow out to Chile's Jefferson Quezada. Up a set and a double break, Varga capitulated to continue his frustrating form as the local escaped 1-6, 7-5, 6-3. Eighth seed Javier Villaneuva also gave up a set lead to fall 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to Emelio Cobos.

• Seeded players out:
  
  János Varga;
  
  Javier Villaneuva.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

PBZ Zagreb Indoors
1st Round - Zagreb (Croatia)

Men's singles (Seeds - Finals - Top Half - Bottom Half)
Men's doubles (Draw)

• Rob Bowenburg has finally picked up a much-needed victory on the ATP tour in Zagreb as he came from a set down to beat Finland's Lari Färkkilä. The world No. 69 took the first set 6-4 thanks to a deserved break of service, and had Bowenburg in trouble at 1-1 in the second with two break points. Bowenburg saved them, and went on to take the tense set to a tiebreaker. Forced to save two match points, Bowenburg went into the decider full of confidence and it showed as he loosened up considerably and ran away with a 4-6, 7-6(7), 6-3 win after having his back truly up against the wall. It gets tougher against Viktor Vuriak after the eighth seed overcame a spirited display from French qualifier Benoît Rio 6-4, 7-5.

• Unfortunately for Spas Delev, he was unable to capitalise on a barnstorming start as he was ousted in three by Sydney champion Dmitry Orlov. Delev, fresh off a fourth round run in Melbourne, expected big things inside the Zagreb complex and started beautifully to take the first set 6-2. But Orlov, who gave up a two-set to love lead a fortnight ago against József Boros, showed that his early season form was no flash in the pan as he controlled the second set to take it 6-3. Delev stuck with Orlov in the third, but had no opportunities to break and fell behind quickly in the tiebreaker. A late run of points wasn't enough and Orlov was through 2-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) in a disappointing loss for the East CWLander.

• Seeded players out:
  
  Nilikar Midid.

 

[Johnners]

 

[Matteh]

Yeahhhhhh

 

[NUFAN]

Really important win against Färkkilä.

 

[luffy]

**** you Mitchell.

 

[Jarquis]

12th Seed Marcuss Deane got off to a poor start before giving Irishman Eoin O'Malley a sound beating. Deane played awfully in the first set, his first serve only hitting 49%, but even so, O'Malley struggled to gain traction. It was never going to be good for O'Malley if Deane managed to get his game together, and it was no surprise that when the Deane serve managed to find its range that O'Malley hardly got a look in. With the pressure off his own serve, Deane piled in on O'Malley's game; systematically dismantling his technique to progress 4 - 6, 6 - 1, 6 - 1.

Heh.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

SA Tennis Open
2nd Round - Johannesburg (Republic of South Africa)

Men's singles (Seeds - Finals - Top Half - Bottom Half)
Men's doubles (Seeds - Draw)

• In what surely must be one of the bigger wins of his career, world No. 202 Mat Mitchell has stunned third seed and world No. 35 Jason Bradley in three sets to progress to the quarter finals of the SA Tennis Open in Johannesburg. Mitchell's form this season has been scratchy at best, but he showed real promise in his first round win over countryman Matt Bre. Bradley, however, looked the better player early as his typically solid game held up against a wayward Mitchell. But as has normally been the case for Bradley against top players, he was predictably consistent and struggled against an aggressive player. Mitchell started to find the lines he searched for in the first set, and by drawing an error from Bradley managed to take the second set 6-2. Bradley started strongly by holding to love in the third, but struggled to really hit winners against Mitchell and instead relied on unforced errors. Mitchell, though, is better than his ranking suggests and deserved more than that as he shocked the American 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.

• He might have been facing an all-East CWLand clash in the quarters against Roy Daniels had the American-born player not been played off the court by Swiss fifth seed Pascal Schmidt. Schmidt, who came from a set down to beat Tu Haifeng in the first round, had no troubles coping with the inconsistent world No. 138 in his comfortable 6-2, 6-2 win. The Swiss No. 2 will hope to make up some ground after dropping fourteen spots to No. 68 in the world after a poor Australian Open.

• In other big results, 20-year old Slovakian Mario Timko is through to the quarter finals after coming back from a horror start to oust eighth seed Li Ming-Wang. The Chinese player stormed through the first set 6-0, but gave up the match in frustrating fashion 0-6, 6-4, 7-6(2). He plays out-of-form second seed Zhijun Sun who has made the most of an easy draw as he beat Oliver Thursfield 6-4, 6-1. In the top half, Norway's Haiku Morkel advanced ahead of fourth seed Atthaphol Sae-ul 6-2, 5-7, 7-6(5), whilst defending champion Carlo Amato overcame a tough match against Austria's Martin Reiter 6-3, 4-6, 6-2.

• Seeded players out:
  
  Jason Bradley;
  
  Li Ming-Wang;
  
  Atthaphol Sae-ul.

• There's just two CWLanders in the doubles draw, and they both met in Thursday action. Matt Bre atoned for his early singles exit as he and doubles partner Jochen Sas produced a fine display to beat Roy Daniels and Mario Timko. After a singles exit the day before, Daniels was clearly searching for some form but could not fine it alongside the Slovak twenty year old as they were thumped in the first set. A much-needed break of service early in the second allowed them to somehow take the match to a super tiebreaker but they lagged behind to hand Bre and Sas three match points. Amazingly, some clutch serving from Daniels gave them a sniff as they drew back to 9-9, but they could not hold off the East CWLand-Belgian assault as they moved through to the quarters 6-2, 4-6, (11-9).

• In the shock of the day, highly-fancied third seeds Jason Bradley & Björn Donaldson were stunned by world No. 175 ranked Zimbabwean Boyd Mulenga and unranked local David Love 6-1, 4-6, (12-10).

• Seeded players out:
  
  Jason Bradley &
  
  Björn Donaldson.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Movistar Open
2nd Round - Santiago (Chile)

Men's singles (Seeds - Finals - Top Half - Bottom Half)
Men's doubles (Seeds - Draw)

• Belgium's Yves Parmentier seems to finally be showing why he's rated one of the top prospects in Europe after he thrashed sixth seed Paolo Mandonna in the most convincing win of the day. The 21-year old was awesome as he dispatched the world No. 53 in just sixty-five minutes 6-2, 6-0 to set up a quarter final match with second seed Sanchez Emelio. Emelio was unimpressive in his 6-1, 5-7, 7-5 escape act against Fernando Aguero. Elsewhere, Italian world No. 118 produced some of his best tennis to stun seventh seed Roberto Santos 6-2, 3-6, 6-4.

• Seeded players out:
  
  Paolo Mandonna;
  
  Roberto Santos.

• Three seeds tumbled in the doubles draw, but the biggest names were second seed Mark Harmel & Yves Parmentier. The second seeded Belgians were shocked 6-2, 6-3 by Brazil's Felipe Menon & Roberto Santos to crash out in the first round. Fourth seeds Marzio Claverini & Flávio Augusto Martins were awful, too, as they were thrashed 6-1, 6-0 by Jefferson Quezada & János Varga. Top seeds Ion Andueza & Sanchez Emelio were the only seeded team to advance; winning 6-3, 6-0 against Frank Brunet & Jeremy Chateau.

• Seeded players out:
  
  Marzio Claverini &
  
  Flávio Augusto Martins;
  
  Mark Harmel &
  
  Yves Parmentier;
  
  Denis Inomov &
  
  Rustam Toshpulatov.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

PBZ Zagreb Indoors
2nd Round - Zagreb (Croatia)

Men's singles (Seeds - Finals - Top Half - Bottom Half)
Men's doubles (Seeds - Draw)

• Surprisingly enough, Rob Bowenburg would probably be longing for the up-and-downs of his season I campaign that included at least a little bit of success as he was easily dealt with by the world No. 52 Viktor Vuriak. Giving further support for the West CWLand decision to exclude Bowenburg from their Davis Cup team, the world No. 72 was distinctly unimpressive as he succumbed to a 6-3, 6-4 defeat against the eighth seed. Bowenburg had four break points during the match and only got a racquet on two of them as he was easily controlled by Vuriak who moved to a second round showdown with top seed and heavily favoured local Miroslav Brdar.

• Just one seed fell in the second round; fifth seed Dmitry Orlov falling to quickly improving Czech 26-year old Petr Brožik. The strong Czech player has produced some great wins this year to advance to a career high No. 86 in the world, and ensured he'd go higher with a huge 7-6(5), 7-5 win. He now faces second seed David Champion who has made short work of some ordinary opposition; first Ivan Vuka 6-1, 6-1, and then, in a rematch of their Australian Open bout, Oscar Highsmith 6-2, 6-2.

• Seeded players out:
  
  Dmitry Orlov.

• It was an ordinary day all around for CWLand as CWLand DR's Spas Delev failed to back up his third round doubles berth in Melbourne alongside Romania's Bogdan Maurer. After a disappointing singles display, Delev was unable to advance any further in the week in opening doubles play as the two were outplayed by Gocha Berianidze & Lari Färkkilä 6-4, 3-6, (10-7).

• The sole seeds out were Viorel Iftime & Marius Micu after the fourth seeds were beaten in three sets by Becker Haas & Gunther Heug. Haas and Heug are two of five Germans in the quarter finals alongside David Kestenholz, Daniel Zwygart and Alex Peters.

• Seeded players out:
  
  Viorel Iftime &
  
  Marius Micu.

 

[Matteh]

Cool stuff.

My form's not been that bad! Made the Semis in one challenger.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Burnie Challenger I
First Round - Burnie, Australia
Singles

• Jake Loughman was despatched in straight sets by a solid looking Kim Roger Olsen of Norway. Loughman certainly wasn't outclassed by the 16th seed, but he couldn't gain any traction on the Olsen serve whilst the Norwegian continually pressured the CWLander's service game. After failing to convert his first 5 break point opportunities, it was no surprise that Olsen did convert one at 4 - 3 to the good. Loughman fought back in the 2nd set, but still was unable to put the Olsen serve at risk. A late break for Olsen sealed the win 6 - 3, 7 - 5.
• Marcuss Deane struggled to overcome a tenacious opponent in the form of Lithuanian Aleksander Alitspritsin. Deane lost a tight first set in a tie-break and only snatched the 2nd as it too was on the verge of going to a tie break. Still, Alitspritsin wouldn't cave in, attacking the Deane serve at every available opportunity. However, with the third set level at 3 - 3, Deane took the decisive break against the run of play to squeeze through 6 - 7 (5 - 7), 7 - 5, 6 - 4.
• Randy Banks gained significant momentum during his match with Khaled Moussaoui. The first set proved tricky to negotiate as Banks showed signs of rust with a high unforced error count and a misfiring service. However, he showed too much to allow the Algerian player to dominate. Entering the tie-break, Moussaoui surged to a 4 - 0 lead, before 6 straight points for Banks earned him set point. Moussaoui saved one, but not the 2nd as Banks took it. The momentum shifted immediately in the 2nd as Banks finally hit his straps; destroying the Algerian player 7 - 6 (7 - 5), 6 - 0.

• Seeded players out: Taavi Aleksejev (10, EST), Jordan Mutch (15, GBR)

(1)Pat Hewitt (AUS) 		def. Declan O'Keefe (IRL) 6-1 6-1
(16)Kim Roger Olsen (NOR) 	def. (Q)Jack Loughman (FRC) 6-3 7-5
Davis Allani (AUS) 		def. John Standish (AUS) 6-4 7-5
(5)Harry Thompson (AUS) 	def. (WC)Nathan Hannah (AUS) 7-6(3) 6-1
(3)Jeremy Natale (AUS) 		def. Karl King (NZL) 6-1 3-6 6-1
Henri Ducard (FRA) 		def. Nick De Koning (NED) 7-5 7-5
(12)Marcuss Deane (FRC) 	def. Aleksander Alitspritsin (LIT) 6-7(5) 7-5 6-4
(7)Carlos Gonza (COL) 		def. Omar Allali (MAR) 6-3 6-4
(8)Randy Banks (FRC) 		def. Khaled Moussaoui (ALG) 7-6(5) 6-0
(13)Scott Whitehouse (GBR) 	def. Petros Pangalos (GRE) 6-1 7-5
Sam Cunningham (NZL) 		def. (15)Jordan Mutch (GBR) 7-6(5) 7-5
(4)Waylon Jones (USA) 		def. Robert Franklin (AUS) 6-4 6-4
(6)Takis Georgilas (CYP) 	def. (Q)Lucas Edgely (AUS) 6-3 6-4
(11)Rod Bosnar (AUS) 		def. Frank Smith (CAN) 6-2 6-4
Steve Cole (AUS) 		def. (10)Taavi Aleksejev (EST) 7-5 7-5
(2)David Jones (AUS) 		def. Leon Skinner (GBR) 6-1 7-6(6)

Doubles

• After their impressive first round victory, Randy Banks and Koal Kao came unstuck in a nailbiter against unfancied local duo Thomas Cartwright and David Jones. Neither pairing was able to surge away from the other at any point in the match and, as if to demonstrate how evenly matched these teams were, the number of break points earned by both teams was significant. The pairs exchanged breaks early on in the first, before the decisive break in the 1st set being earned by a well placed top-spinning forehand from Kao on the Jones serve. The 2nd set followed a similar pattern, but the key moment came at 3 - 4 to Banks/Kao again on the Jones serve. The CWLanders had earned three break points, but Jones saved all three in a key hold. The confidence Jones took from that hold carried forward into the next game as the Australian duo broke serve to take the 2nd. In the match tie-break, the pressure was high, but the Australians drew away at the very end to progress 4 - 6, 6 - 4, [10-8]

• Seeded players out: None

(1)Doug Plunkett/Anthony Weatherby(GBR) 	def. Jesse Adams/Harry Thompson (USA/AUS) 6-1 7-5
(4)Rod Bosnar/Steve Cole (AUS) 			def. David Cain/Lucas Golec (AUS) 6-3 6-4
(WC)Patrick McCorkindale/Craig Jurkovic (AUS) 	def. Sam Cunningham/Karl King (NZL) 6-7(5) 6-1 (10-6)
Thomas Cartwright/David Jones (AUS) 		def. Randy Banks/Koal Kao (FRC) 4-6 6-4 (10-8)

 

[Jarquis]

Always drop a set. Always.
Happy to progress though.

 

[NUFAN]

Giving further support for the West CWLand decision to exclude Bowenburg from their Davis Cup team

Lies, Bowenburg actually pulled out before the 4 were announced.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Always drop a set. Always.
Happy to progress though.

You need to be on song from the first ball against 7th Seed Carlos Gonza in the next round. None of this start **** and comeback stuff, or he'll eat you alive.

 

[Jarquis]

Sheesh, tough draw. I'll get to the court early, play a warm up set with my coach, get the direness out of my system and then hit Gonza from the off.
Get the serve going and then break him.!

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

SA Tennis Open
Quarter Finals - Johannesburg (Republic of South Africa)

Men's singles (Seeds - Finals - Top Half - Bottom Half)
Men's doubles (Seeds - Draw)

• Former world No. 55 Mat Mitchell has produced the biggest win of his career thus far by advancing to the semi finals of the ATP tournament in Johannesburg with a 6-4, 6-3 win over Switzerland's Pascal Schmidt. Despite dropping out of the world's top 200 last week, Mitchell ensured he'd jump straight back in as he comprehensively outplayed the world No. 68 to move further inside a tournament he was forced to qualify in. The Swiss No. 2 had been impressive this week, but struggled to string points together against the world No. 202 who took advantage of his opportunities to break three times. Schmidt, meanwhile, returned well but could not secure much-needed breaks of serve as he fell to a straight sets loss. For Mitchell to advance to the final, he needs to beat former world No. 5 and Season I Johannesburg semi finalist Zhijun Sun who came from a set down to beat Slovak Mario Timko 3-6, 6-3, 6-0. Zhijun's early exit in Melbourne saw his ranking slump to No. 37 in the world on the PTA Rankings.

• In the top half of the draw, defending champion Carlo Amato was again forced to three sets as he outgunned Swedish sixth seed Björn Donaldson. The world No. 18 was ordinary in the second set, but for the second match in a row dusted himself off to run home with some aggressive tennis 6-3, 2-6, 6-2. He'll face the grand old man of Norway Haiku Morkel following his 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 win over Henrikk Henrikkson in a bad day for the Swedes. Morkel's win marks his first semi final at PTA level after having already made his first quarter final since Chennai last season.

• Seeded players out:
  
  Björn Donaldson;
  
  Pascal Schmidt.

• In the doubles draw, Matt Bre and Jochen Sas were unable to capitalise on good start as they gave up a set lead against fourth seeds Dusko Milošević & Savo Petkoviä. The Davis Cup winning duo started very sluggishly as Bre and Sas combined well to take the first set 6-2, but managed to fight back strongly with a late break in the second set to send the match to a super tiebreaker. It was tight early, but a missed forehand from Bre gave them the minibreak and they ran away 2-6, 7-5, (10-5).

• Seeded players out: None.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Movistar Open
Quarter Finals - Santiago (Chile)

Men's singles (Seeds - Finals - Top Half - Bottom Half)
Men's doubles (Seeds - Draw)

• Unbelievably, Denmark's Kasper Buur is the only player standing between Spain and a Movistar Open winner after he sensationally shocked top seed and World No. 12 Juan Moreno in the quarter finals of the tournament in Santiago. Ranked 98 in the world, Buur was not expected to trouble the Argentine and did not early as he was easily accounted for in the first set 6-1. But the French Open semi finalist was not looking in all that good touch, and when Buur finally shook off early nerves he was well on the backfoot as the Dane captured a big break in the fifth game of the set. Despite five break points in the one game, Moreno could not get back in the set and it went to a third. Serving first, Moreno started horrible and dropped service immediately and quickly fell away in dramatic fashion allowing Buur an unlikely 1-6, 6-4, 6-1 boilover. Buur now faces one of three Spaniards in the semis after third seed Ion Andueza advanced over Emelio Cobos 6-3, 7-5.

• The other final is an all-Spanish affair after second seed Sanchez Emelio and fourth seed Sergio Joaquín recorded victories. Emelio survived a tough three-set match with Yves Parmentier to win 7-5, 2-6, 6-4, whilst Joaquín overcame a slow start to beat surprise packet Michael De Kinsele 3-6, 6-3, 6-2.

• Seeded players out:
  
  Juan Moreno.

• Much like the singles, there is just one set of competitors capable of stopping the Spaniard from taking the doubles after three teams moved into the semi finals. Increasing their clay court monopoly, the Spanish top seeds Ion Andueza & Sanchez Emelio led the way with a 6-1, 6-2 thrashing of Julio Rodriguez & Diego Rodriquez. They'll face compatriots Marc Carretero & Sergio Joaquín in a match including three players in this Saturday's singles semi finals.
• In the bottom half, the onus is on Brazilian pair Felipe Menon & Roberto Santos to break up the Spanish affair when they face Juan Manuel Cortés & Javier Villaneuva. The latter pair were impressive in a 7-6(0), 6-3 win over Jefferson Quezada & János Varga.

• Seeded players out: None.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

PBZ Zagreb Indoors
Quarter Finals - Zagreb (Croatia)

Men's singles (Seeds - Finals - Top Half - Bottom Half)
Men's doubles (Seeds - Draw)

• Meanwhile in Zagreb, there was a distinct lack of real upsets but perhaps the biggest surprise came from sixth seed Tom Vollan who continued a good week for Scandinavian players right throughout the world with a 6-2, 6-3 thrashing of world No. 30 Becker Haas. The third seeded German is holding onto his place inside the top 30 by the skin of his teeth following a series of awful results, and was uncompetitive against the Norwegian 28-year old as he slumped to a frustrating straight sets loss. The win for Vollan sets up an intruiging semi final matchup against Aussie second seed David Champion who continues to scythe through the draw with a 6-0, 6-4 win over the up-until-now impressive Petr Brožik. Brožik had been in good form this week, but against the big serve of the Australian left-hander was left with little chance as he slumped out in ninety minutes.

• In the top half, Miroslav Brdar, the top seeded local, continues to toil but also win in straight sets as he beat eighth seed Viktor Vuriak 7-5, 7-5. He is a raging favourite to make the final after fourth seed Ivan Genov was swiftly dealt with by Turkey's Aksu Emrem 7-5, 6-3 who won his first first PTA quarter final on his third attempt.

• Seeded players out:
  
  Ivan Genov;
  
  Becker Haas;
  
  Viktor Vuriak.

• Top seeds Andrej Konc & Evgeniy Maximov are the last seeds remaining in the doubles draw after they came from a set down to beat locals Davor Golub & Nilikar Midid 3-6, 6-3, (10-8). They weren't joined in the final four by second seeds Mikel Fosdike & Christian Mary or fourth seeds Ivars Emsis & Alex Peters who were both beaten.

• Seeded players out:
  
  Ivars Emsis &
  
  Alex Peters;
  
  Mikel Fosdike &
  
  Christian Mary.