Preseason Supertournament (Sim Testing) - Completed

Heath Davis def by Samuel Yates 6-7 (4-7), 6-7 (5-7), 6-7 (5-7)
Wow, massive upset here. Heef just couldn't contend with Yates' serve when it mattered, though Yates did have a few problems with Davis' too. A difference of just 4 points throughout the game here.

Benny Read def by Geraint Martyn 2-6, 2-6, 4-6
Very easy win for Martyn, almost no resistance from Read.

Bruce Force def Alex O'Driscoll 7-5, 6-3, 6-2
Force's tireless returning allows him to win with ease, still only dropped 3 sets in the entire competition so far. Don't think I've seen so few poor returns in a match either.

Reagan Wheelson def by Oscar Wood 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 1-6
Two average servers play off in this one, some rather poor serving percentages from both sides. Though 13 double faults somehow doesn't let Wood chuck the match away, he'll have to improve if he is to challenge Force.

Truman Lee def Ether Starris 6-1, 6-2, 6-2
Simple stuff for Lee, not much to say.

Chris Warrington def Gareth Weaver 6-1, 6-4, 6-4
Weaver only survives his first service game on a deuce before going down in straight sets to Warrington. Weaver actually played quite well in the second and third, but just couldn't break Warrington.

Jonny Ridd def Bosh Burger 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (10-8), 7-6 (7-1), 9-7
Ridd through by a whisker. A terrible game for the Englishman, if you looked at the stats you'd think Burger had taken this one, but Ridd somehow battled through. A wildly inconsistent serve regularly took points for him, but Ridd was plagued with errors throughout the game to keep Burger in it.

Jono Chewie def by Luka Popovic 6-7 (1-7), 1-6, 7-6 (8-6), 3-6
A relatively low error Popovic (half that of Chewie) sees off Chewie quite easily, despite this being one of the worst matches I have seen for serving. Luckily, the strengths of both lie outside the serve, perhaps giving them an advantage of a couple of the serve masters that they will face in time.

 

Quarter Finals
Samuel Yates def by Geraint Martyn 2-6, 2-6, 4-6
A very serve dominated game, with not too many points making it past one or two hits in each rally. Yates' returning troubles came back to bite him in this game, after such a good performance against Davis in the last round.

Bruce Force def Oscar Wood 6-2, 6-4, 6-4
Force cruises through again with ease. Wood continued his serving inconsistencies from the last round, which Force used to his advantage.

Truman Lee def Chris Warrington 6-2, 6-2, 6-0
Ouch. Warrington's serve was worse than usual, giving Lee a foothold into the game.

Jonny Ridd def by Luka Popovic 3-6, 2-6, 4-6
An easy win for Popovic, but questions still remain about his serving. Going at 41% with 16 double faults, he was lucky to have a low error game aside from that.

 

Interesting that no-one who lost the match picked up any sets.

 

Doubles Quarters
C. Warrington & B. Force def L. Himann & A. O'Driscoll 6-0, 6-2, 6-2
The British pair continue their unbeaten storm with another straight sets victory. The returning abilities of the losing side was what set the two teams apart, with the losers getting aced seven times to their opponents' zero. They also put a further 24 returns back into the net or out of bounds, the main reason why they went down so easily.
H. Davis & T. Lee def A. O'Neill & E. Starris 6-1, 7-5, 3-6, 6-4
A poor start for O'Neill and his partner was almost turned around in their favour with a break in the fourth set, soon after taking the third. But it wasn't to be as Davis and Lee went on to win the next four games to put them into the semis. A splendid serving performance on show from the victors, especially from Davis.
O. Wood & C. Raftery def by A. James & C. Dyer 4-6, 6-7 (7-9), 6-4, 4-6
Wood's trouble serving in the singles continued in the doubles, with the pair getting just over a quarter of their first serves in. This helped the Dyer/James combo, neither of which are strong returners of the ball, and put them on top. Their powerful serving ensured that only one break point was conceded, and in the tiebreak of the second set they pulled out the two aces of the match to take it.
B. Burger & S. Yates def R. Wheelson & C. Downes 5-7, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3, 6-3
Yates continues a very unexpected run, seems like he's found the right partner. He put his serving ability to good use, and with the open play being very balanced it seems that Yates' serve separated the two.

 

Semifinals
Geraint Martyn def by Bruce Force 1-6, 6-4, 6-1, 0-6, 3-6
Force for once actually looked weak on serve, something we've not yet seen from him in this tournament.

Truman Lee def by Luka Popovic 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, 3-6
A game told by errors. Popovic's were mostly on serve, Lee's in open play. Popovic winning certainly sets up an interesting final, it'll be a very close battle.

 

Doubles Semis
C. Warrington & B. Force def H. Davis & T. Lee 7-6 (9-7), 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-3
The British pair drop their first set of the tournament. In the first two sets, they actually looked like they could lose the match with error after error from the pair. Their opponents' ability to return the ball into the net consistently (51 times to be precise) from the third set ended any chance they had of winning.

A. James & C. Dyer def by B. Burger & S. Yates 7-6 (7-2), 5-7, 6-7 (5-7), 7-6 (8-6), 5-7
Close as you can really get here, never thought I'd see this pair in a final though. Every stat is very similar, until you reach the aces row. It's certainly handy to have one of the best servers in the game on your team.

 

The finals will be up when I get up tomorrow, semi-live (set by set).