CricSim Tennis: Newport [G] and Bogota [IH]

Did I not bother trying to qualify for this tournament or something?

 

I made a mistake and listed Ritchie twice. You are the one where JA Ritchie is.

 

ah cool

 

Newport - Singles

Last week, Jonty Rhodes produced the goods to claim his first singles title in 's-Hertogenbosch, and he had the test in Newport against Chad Ochocinco who was looking to recover from his double bagel terror against James McDougal in Holland.

• The first result through, though, was that between Bruce Force and fellow Englishman Marquis Deane. Deane had gained some valuable match practice in the qualifying draw, and showed some sharpness early to take an early break of the Force serve. While Force, the higher ranked player, continued to create chances on Deane's serve, the youngster held firm to take the first set 6-3. Force needed a comeback, and finally snatched a break of the Deane serve to open the second set. Unfortunately for him, though, Deane hit back immediately, and then set about causing Force all sorts of trouble with his consistent approaches to the net. The game-changing service break came in what turned out to be the penultimate game, as Deane cracked a second serve down the line to take a 5-3 lead, and then, ultimately, a 6-3, 6-3 win.

• His opponent will be another Englishman, as Eddie Morris produced an upset on centre court against fourth seed Clay Evans. Evans suffered a bad first round defeat in Hamburg last week, and his trip to the grass courts was not much more successful as Morris snatched early breaks in both sets to secure a victory. The 22-year old was firing on his forehand side, while his backhand wing gave Evans briefs glimpses at break points. Unfortunately for him, though, he couldn't convert any of them, as the unseeded Englishman advanced to the round of 8 with a 6-3, 6-4 upset.

• Jake Howe found himself in first round action for the second week running against Leumas Himann, and would have taken confidence from the manner of his victory in Den Bosch. Himann's start, however, was far more impressive than last week, as he took the first break of serve in the fourth game. The Asian representative served for the set at 5-3, but it was here that Howe hit back with one of his few break point chances before going on a streak of four games in a row to take the first set 7-5. Himann started the second set in a similar fashion, only this time failed to capture an early break despite BPs in the fourth and sixth games. He found himself in real trouble in the seventh game as Howe shot ahead 0-40 to secure a break, and was then broken again while serving to stay in the match, as Howe made it two-from-two against Himann with his 7-5, 6-3 win.

• He will play Den Bosch champion Jonty Rhodes in the quarters after he survived a first set scare to beat Chad Ochocinco. It looked like easy pickings from Rhodes early as he shot to a 3-0 lead, but the Asian player reeled him in quickly with some great counterpunching tennis and entertaining groundstrokes. The young Indian, though, faltered at the wrong time, as his first serve deserted him at 5-6 down, to allow Rhodes to escape with the first set without having to go to a tiebreaker. Ochocinco struggled to get a read on the big man's serve, and continually gave him too many opportunities to break back. In a one-sided second set, Rhodes made the most of the fast serve and short points to put a hurting Ochocinco, and advance 7-5, 6-0.

 

Bogotá - Singles

The big question of the day was always going to be how top seed Samuel Vimes would adapt off clay courts, and that question was answered first up as he played Joshua Ritchie of New Zealand.

• The answer? Pretty damn well. The top seed started well as he won a few points on the Ritchie serve from the baseline, before bringing up his first break point in the fifth game. He made no mistake there as he consolidated for a 4-2 lead, and then broke again with the 21-year old Kiwi struggling to win consistent points on serve against the always competitive Norwegian. After taking the first set 6-2, Vimes hit his stride against a woeful opponent, who buckled under the pressure and provided almost no opposition in a 2-6, 0-6 defeat.

• Vimes might face sterner opposition next, with his opponent James Torres playing good tennis in Colombia. Torres came from a set down to tame big server Heath Davis in qualifying, and started like a rocket against Asian opponent Jono Chewie. After dropping the first set in about half an hour, Chewie lifted in the second set, but lacked the firepower to truly match Torres, as the New Zealander kept up the pressure with a blistering array of groundstrokes. His 6-1, 7-5 victory was perhaps more one-sided than the second set would have suggested, but it will give him confidence heading into his showdown with Vimes in the quarters.

• There was a lot of interest in how third seed Ezequiel Ames would do on the hard courts, after his shocking first round loss in Hamburg last week. For the second week running, he was stopped in the first round by an unseeded opponent, as Shane Masters of Victoria produced his best form of the season to unseat his 29-year old opponent. Ames had a brief purple patch early in the second set, but failed to maintain the pressure, as Masters broke late with a wonderful backhand volley to secure a 7-5, 6-3 win.

• Fresh off a season-best win, Masters faces qualifier Lucas Schaw, after the New Zealander broke Samuel Yates twice in a relatively pedestrian showing. Neither man took all that many risks on their opponent's serve, with Yates in particular struggling to get a read on the hard-hitting Kiwi's point-starters. Schaw eventually got the better of Yates in both sets, and secured a 6-3, 6-4 win.

 

All straight sets. Riveting.

 

:sad:

 

I was actually good at the last tennis sim! Bring back old tennis sim

 

Howe & Morris sailing through as expected