CricSim Tennis Tournament: Monte Carlo

Evans to go on and win the whole thing.

 

MATCH OF THE DAY
Bots through, Ginger blushes

Tennis' most androgynous player Hillary Bots is through to the quarterfinals of the singles draw following a tough four-set win over "Ginger" Furball of the Celtic Provinces.

In a quick start, Bots jumped out of the gates with his easy and flat hitting style causing Furball troubles at all turns. The Scot struggled to get a read on his serves out wide, and also failed to adjust to the depth of Bots' ball-striking.

But after dropping the first set 1-6, Furball looked to change things up as he tried to run Bots around the court, and force errors from him. For the most part it worked, as the New Zealander refused to depart from his first set tactic of trying to end points early. It didn't work for him, as Furball broke service three times (being broken once himself) to secure the second set 6-2.

Bots, however, was also ready to adjust, and came into the third set looking far more patient than before. Furball was looking typically solid on his own serve, and the pair exchanged just one service break each as the third went to a tiebreaker. It was here that the Scot brought up two set points with a fantastic backhand winner, but was chased down by Bots who managed to crack a couple of winners of his own to head to the change of ends level at 6-6.

After that, the New Zealander drew and error from Furball's forehand side to bring up set point, and then prevailed in a long rally with a cool forehand down the line after pushing Furball deep into the other side of the court.

Having missed a huge chance in the third set, Furball set about earning an early break of service to start the fourth set. He had three opportunities in one service game, but again Bots proved very strong with his back to the wall. Furball, who had been so good on serve for nearly three sets, gave Bots his first break point chance at 3-3, which the New Zealander accepted as he finished the point with another forehand winner.

The Scot needed to find a way back in, but was shut out in the next two Bots service games, with the Kiwi advancing to the quarters 6-1, 2-6, 7-6(6), 6-4.

Bots will now play Queensland's Ivan Ryabovol, after he came from a set down to oust Jonty Rhodes 4-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-1.

Bits and Bobs:

• After cruising through his first round match, James McDougal met sterner opposition in the form of Englishman J.H. Ridd. The 22-year old, however, proved too good for the man ten years his senior, as his fourth set was full of sparkling tennis from him, and a complete lack of fight from Ridd - McDougal advancing 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-0.

• McDougal's opponent in the next round will be Victoria's Matt James, as the 34-year old routined fellow Victorian Shane Masters in straight sets. Masters, coming off a grueling five-set battle to open his week, was competitive in the first two sets, but was unable to come up with the points when he needed them. The wily James proved far too good in the third for his 30-year old opponent, and eased into the quarter finals 6-4, 7-6(4), 6-2.

• While Morgan Burridge and Alex O'Driscoll prevailed in their match over five sets, with the latter again showing his mettle over the distance, spare a thought for Aby Dforum whose week ended without a set in his favour, as he and partner Ritwik Chowdhuri were beaten 5-7, 1-6, 2-6 by English pairing Bruce Force and Paulson Reframe.

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Age is done randomly (just to give me something to write about). So, James is the oldest at 34, while Reframe is just 17.

 

Men's Doubles Quarter Final Day

With the competitors' arduous schedule putting them to the test, the doubles teams came out for quarterfinals day in Monte Carlo.

In the first match of the day, two sets of straight sets first round winners took the court as Ezequiel Ames and J.H. Ridd did battle with Jonty Rhodes and Gareth Weaver. While the English pairing combined well to get off to a good start and claim the first set, they were blown away in the second by some great doubles tennis from the New Zealand pairing, who combined well at the net and drew countless errors from their opponents to bagel them. Ames and Ridd picked up the pace substantially after the second set nightmare, but were pipped in the course of two tiebreakers with Rhodes and Weaver advancing 3-6, 6-0, 7-6(3), 7-6(4).

To decide their opponents, Chad Dyer and Jordan Logan looked to build on their dominant first round victory, as they faced another successful pairing in the form of Andrew James and Siege Morgan. In a back-and-forth affair, both teams encountered sterner resistance than they met in their dominant first round fixtures, and the third break of serve in the fourth set for James/Morgan sent the match to a deciding fifth. Following the rhythm of the match thus far, the English pairing ensured no team would string two sets together as they set up a showdown with Rhodes/Weaver with a tight 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 win.

In the first quarterfinal, Morgan Burridge and Alex O'Driscoll played out a humdinger of a doubles match against inter-provincial pairing Samuel Vimes and Ivan Ryabovol. With three players still active in the singles draw, none of them wanted a drawn out contest, even with doubles tennis being significantly less demanding on their tiring bodies. Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for the crowd, five sets was the order -- despite Burridge/O'Driscoll dropping just two games in the first two sets. Where they could have easily laid down, Ryabovol/Vimes stormed back into the match to take the next two sets, and to send the match to a deciding fifth. O'Driscoll had been on the other side of a two-set comeback in the singles draw, where he beat Eddie Morris, and was clearly keen to ensure that he wouldn't taste the disappointment of defeat. A fantastic bit of work from the New South Welshman at the net saved match point at 5-6 in the fifth set, and eventually the Aussie pairing secured a fantastic victory 6-0, 6-2, 3-6, 4-6, 9-7 to move to this weekend's semi-finals.

In the final contest, Asian duo Jono Chewie and Leumas Himann got off to a great start against English pair Bruce Force and Paulson Reframe, as they took the first set 7-5. From there, though, they managed just three games as the English pair looked significantly more in sync, and benefited from the consistent serving of Force, and Reframe's tidy work both at the net and from the baseline. Setting up a showdown with Burridge/O'Driscoll, Force/Reframe advanced 5-7, 6-0, 6-3, 6-0.

 

well what was the point of that

 

Ugh. Missed out on doubles glory.

 

Men's Singles Quarter Final Day

After a big day of doubles action yesterday, the question was whether some of those players could back it up as the final 4 in Monte Carlo was decided.

In the first match of the day, Aussie Matt James competed against in form Celtic Provinces player James McDougal. James looked impressive in his second round contest against Shane Masters, but was caught off-guard by McDougal, who snatched an early break of serve to lead 3-1. The Scot maintained that lead, and secured the first set 6-3 without so much as a break point opportunity to the Victorian. James hit back well in the second set, as he showed some real fight to create chances on the McDougal serve and capitalise on them. Still, though, he was looking shaky on his own service, with his first serve percentage dipping below 60. That only went further south, as the normally dogged Victorian capitulated over the next two sets, as McDougal became the first man through to the semi-finals 6-3, 4-6, 6-0, 6-1.

In the top half, the question was whether Ezequiel Ames' impressive run would continue, or whether it would be stopped by comeback king Alex O'Driscoll. In what was clearly his biggest challenge this week, Ames fell behind a break of serve early as O'Driscoll served his way to a 4-1 lead. But the early scare was quickly extinguished by the Englishman, who fought back to level pegging, and then capitalised with a second service break to the take the first 7-5. The second set largely went on serve, but it was the Englishman who yet again proved too good at the crucial moment, as he forced O'Driscoll into the position of needing to come from two sets down again. He gave himself, and the crowd, hope that he could, as his third set saw him play the best tennis of the match - his heavy hitting drawing errors from Ames who was forced further and further behind the baseline. Despite dropping his first set of the week, Ames was not about to drop a second, as he broke serve early in the fourth and eventually snuffed out any chance of a comeback with a 7-5, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 win.

In the third match of the day, Ivan Ryabovol faced Hillary Bots, with the winner set to face James McDougal in the semis. The Queenslander Ryabovol shot out of the blocks, and within half an hour had the first set under his belt 6-1. Tennis' enigma Bots, keen to avoid a repeat of the first set, was far more competitive in the second set, but despite numerous opportunities it was him who was broken first, as Ryabovol took advantage of a poor second serve to absolutely unleash a forehand winner; wrongfooting the Kiwi. Down two-sets to love, Bots clearly needed to do something different, and he found that something in the third set as he threw Ryabovol off by coming to the net more often during Ryabovol's service games. That saw him earn two breaks of service in both the third and fourth sets, to help him send the match to a decisive fifth and final set. Unfortunately for Bots, the fifth started in the worst possible way as he came to the net too early, and Ryabovol was easily able to pass him off his backhand win. That gave the Queenslander his first lead since the second set, and saw him rise in confidence as he managed to regain his serving mojo. Bots had chances in the seventh game, and also managed to save two match points, but it was the Australian who advanced to the semifinals, as he narrowly avoided a capitulation 6-1, 6-3, 3-6, 4-6, 6-2.

In the final match of the evening, the aptly named Clay Evans met the Celtic Provinces' Samuel Vimes, with the winner set to play Ezequiel Ames in the semis. With both players coming off testing second round victories, Vimes barely gave Evans a chance in the first set in a clinical display that saw him break twice and give Evans just one look at a break point. Evans couldn't take advantage of that - nor the one to start the second set - as Vimes professionally moved to a two-set lead. Evans staged a brief fightback with his first break of the match to take a 2-0 lead in the third set, but he was a broken man on serve -- literally -- as the Norwegian star broke with alarming regularity in one of the better returning performances of the week. He sets up a showstopper of a semifinal against Ames following his dominant 6-2, 6-2, 6-3 win.