Week 1: Heineken Open (H, CSWT 500) & Apia International Sydney(H, CSWT 250):Complete

Auckland: Semifinals

Luka Popovic has been on the wrong end of an upset today, losing his first match against newcomer Wes Welker. Welker took the set at the last possible opportunity, coming back from 30-0 down on the Popovic serve to break the NSWman and serve for the set. After a nervy double fault (of which there was a few in the match), Welker composed himself and took the first set. Popovic responded in the second as he did in his last match when he dropped a set, returning strongly to take the set. But in the third, as has happened in many of his games, Popovic's poor serve put him under a lot of pressure, allowing Welker to get into the game. Welker doesn't have the best serve either, but he managed to hold out long enough to break Popovic in the 13th game of the set. He then held serve to take his place in the final, and guarantee at least second seeding for next week's Australian Open. Facing him will be Gareth Weaver, who not being content with one upset in a day, made the most of home advantage to cruise past Bruce Force. After losing the first set, there were a few cries of "Come on Tim!" to the Englishman, who duly complied by crashing out of the set 6-1. It was not to be Force's day, as the crowd got behind kind of home pairing Leumas Himann & Joshua Ritchie. There were more shouts alluding to the English ex-pro, which given that this was a semifinal meant only one thing. Hopefully "semifinal syndrome" won't be affecting anymore Brits anytime soon. In the final match of the day, Heath Davis & Truman Lee made light work of Chad Dyer & Andrew James to progress to the final. Unfortunately for Dyer + James, Dyer forgot how to serve, and James forgot how to return, ending what had been a decent tournament for the pair.

Results
Luka Popovic def by Wes Welker 5-7, 6-3, 6-8
Bruce Force def by Gareth Weaver 4-6, 1-6
H. Davis & T. Lee def C. Dyer & A. James 6-2, 6-1
L. Himann & J. Ritchie def C. Warrington & B. Force 6-3, 6-2

 

Nah m8

Just too bad.

 

Sydney: Semifinals

Samuel Vimes & Ivan Ryabovol have had a great start to their doubles career, after a hard fought victory over "Allstar" pairing Jake Howe & Alex O'Driscoll. Despite being aced many, many times, the two merely worked to break the serve of O'Driscoll, though that too was tough. Their error free game will be an interesting one to watch against Ginger Furball & Brett Hall, who have a player who serves well (Hall), and one who works better off serve. Expect a close contest if Furball isn't serving lots of double faults, which he did do today when beating Morgan Burridge & Henry Daman. The Aussie pair were unable to contend with the serve of Hall, and looked a little out of shape as a team leading to a error filled match. In the singles, Alex O'Driscoll made up for his shortcoming in the doubles with a straight sets win over Matt James, where he is to face Englishman Oscar Wood, the only one to not choke at the semifinal stage. Mind you, for the way he plays he did have a slightly easier match for him than the others. He even managed 6 aces this match.


Results
Alex O'Driscoll def Matt James 7-6 (9-7), 6-3
Samuel Yates def by Oscar Wood 3-6, 3-6
S. Vimes & I. Ryabovol def J. Howe & A. O'Driscoll 7-5, 5-7, 6-3
M. Burridge & H. Daman def by G. Furball & B. Hall 5-7, 5-7

 

Darn it.

 

Auckland: Finals

Wes Welker became the first player to win a CricSim World Tour Tournament today, beating his doubles teammate Gareth Weaver in a match that was a bit closer than the scoreline suggests. Of course, Weaver was completely obliterated in the first set, going down 6-0. But in the second set, Weaver played a bit better to win that set. If Weaver could have handled Welker's serve a bit better, he would probably be the one with the trophy today. For all Welker's skill on court, he still fluffed some really easy points, and was almost a break down in the third, but Weaver put Welker's serve into the net. In the doubles, Heath Davis & Truman Lee emerged victorious with a very easy win. They kept their errors low, unfortunately something something Joshua Ritchie & Leumas Himann couldn't do. They also needed to replicate the almost faultless serving of Davis and Lee, but that didn't happen today (60& FS, 9 double faults). Congratulations to both winners, who receive 500 ranking points and top seeding for next week's Australian open. Mr Welker also gets a grand sum of £316,400.

Results
Wes Welker def Gareth Weaver 6-0, 3-6, 6-4
H. Davis & T. Lee def L. Himann & J. Ritchie 6-2, 6-1

 

Sydney: Finals

Alex O'Driscoll takes his first title on home soil, with an easy win over Oscar Wood. Wood's poor serving clearly lost him the match, as when he was not serving double faults (of which he did 14 times) the game looked pretty even. Wood returned well, just about matched his opponent for errors. He just needs to improve that serve as we've said a couple of times now, to be a real contender. Doubles too was a quick affair, Samuel Vimes & Ivan Ryabovol taking the crown over Furball & Hall. It was an easy win, as the stats show below.

Code:

Vimes - Furball
Aces: 0 - 2
1st serve %: 57.1% - 62.1%
2nd serve %: 100% - 59.1%
Double faults: 0 - 9
Errors: 34 - 39
Points: 68 - 60
Point direct from serve: 13 - 17

Results
Alex O'Driscoll def Oscar Wood 6-4, 6-2
S. Vimes & I. Ryabovol def G. Furball & B. Hall 6-4, 6-3