Week 4: Dubai Tennis Championships (H, CSWT 500)

First Round - Bottom Half

Three out of four seeds were knocked out today, in what has been a quite poor tournament for many higher ranked players. Andrew James was the first to fall, though he was singled out earlier in the press as the seed most at risk given his opponent in Brett Hall. James didn't look comfortable during the match, and Hall well tand truly exploited that, finishing of the Celt in two sets. Arguably the best game of the day (if not certainly the longest) was between Jonny Ridd and Henry Daman. The match started off tightly, with chances of an early break for Ridd snuffed out quickly by some nice serve and volleys. The set eventually went to Ridd via a tie break. Daman then proceeded to give an entirely different outlook on the match by taking four consecutive games to put him in the driving seat. He had a chance of victory in the last set, continuing his run of games with another break at the start of the third, but the Englishman battled back to take the match. He was helped slightly by Daman fatiguing slightly and losing his serve a little though. South African Jonty Rhodes is out after getting smashed by Ritwick Chowdhuri, as is Aaron O'Neill after a sublime performance from Marcuss Deane. Os du Toit was the next seed to fall, not being able to match the in-form Alistair Son over two sets. Perhaps the biggest upset was the margin of defeat of Ivan Ryabovol. The world #2 won as many games in his loss to Truman Lee, an incredulous result. Maybe this allows Lee to go an another rampage in the tournament as he did last week.

Results
Andrew James def by Brett Hall 4-6, 4-6
Henry Daman def by Jonny Ridd 6-7 (5-7), 6-1, 4-6
Aaron O'Neill def by Marcuss Deane 2-6, 1-6
Geraint Martyn def by Bruce Force 2-6, 2-6
Os du Toit def by Alistair Son 4-6, 3-6
Jonty Rhodes def by Ritwik Chowdhuri 0-6, 1-6
Oscar Wood def by Ginger Furball 3-6, 4-6
Truman Lee def Ivan Ryabovol 6-1, 6-1

 

Second Round Draw

(1) Wes Welker v Joshua Ritchie
Ether Starris v (5) Rob Cribb
Jordan Logan v Chris Warrington
Gareth Weaver v (7) Reagan Wheelson
Brett Hall v Jonny Ridd
Marcuss Deane v (4) Bruce Force
Alistair Son v Ritwik Chowdhuri
Ginger Furball v Truman Lee

 

Yup, he smashed me. :sad:

 

Second Round - Top Half

Wes Welker is the latest seed to crash out in the Dubai heat, incredibly losing to Joshua Ritchie. It was so crazy and unbelievable, there aren't really words to describe it. I'll just post the stats.

Code:

Stats
Aces: 0 - 0
1st serve %: 47.3684210526316% - 78.4313725490196%
2nd serve %: 100% - 90.9090909090909%
Double faults: 0 - 1
Errors: 40 - 26
Points: 32 - 57
Point direct from serve: 4 - 17

Seeds Rob Cribb and Reagan Wheelson came through unscathed, as did Chris Warrington to round off an otherwise action-free day in the singles competition.

Results
Wes Welker def by Joshua Ritchie 0-6, 2-6
Ether Starris def by Rob Cribb 6-7 (2-7), 3-6
Jordan Logan def by Chris Warrington 2-6, 3-6
Gareth Weaver def by Reagan Wheelson 3-6, 5-7