Buenos Aries, Marseille, Memphis (R32) - Feb 16-22 Season I
Apologies for the lateness, hopefully once this week is out I can be more frequent in my updates.
Open 13
Round of 32 - Marseille
Tournament Information
Draw - Top Half
Draw - Bottom Half
The only CWLand competitor in the Open 13 tournament in Marseille bombed out in the first round as
Rob Bowenburg suffered a surprise loss to little known French wildcard
Christian Mary. The world number 74 came into the contest as raging favourite and quickly looked to stamp his authority on the contest as he raced out to a 2-0 lead. But the fighting Mary made up for the gulf in class with some real fight on the hard court, and stormed back into the match in front of a small crowd to take the first set 6-4. Bowenburg looked to set the match right as he punished Mary in the second set 6-1 and it seemed as if the first set was just a blip on the radar for "The Lob". But Mary showed impressive skill to fight back into the contest and send the decider to a tiebreaker - prevailing in a tight
6-4 1-6 7-6(3) victory.
The opening round seemed to be one of huge upsets as Australian Open finalist and top seed
Radek Špidla suffered a huge fadeout to be beaten by Finland's
Lari Färkkilä in three sets, whilst enigmatic fourth seed
Carlo Amato suffered a trademark shocked as he was beaten in straight sets by world number 59
Jason Schmidt.
Seeds Out: 1-Radek Špidla (CZE); 4-Carlo Amato (ITA).
Regions Morgan Keegan Championships
Round of 32 - Memphis
Tournament Information
Draw - Top Half
Draw - Bottom Half
CWLand had an impressive record of two players out of three advancing in the opening round of the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships in Memphis in an exciting day's play. World number 107
Brett Read pulled off the upset of the opening round as he edged clear of third seed
Patrick Pascaul in possibly the match of the day - take it in three sets. Read and Pascaul exchanged tight opening sets that were only decided by the smallest of mistakes from both competitors, but it was Read who managed to best the world number 24 in the third set to seal a stunning
6-4 5-7 6-4 victory.
Likewise, Memphis was a successful hunting ground for qualifier
Spas Delev who continued his good run of form to upstage Macedonia's
Nikola Todorovski in three sets. Delev looked a little overawed by the impressive crowd early, and it showed in his game as he failed to capitalise on many of the chances that Todorovski presented him. Delev paid dearly for the missed chances as he dropped the first set 6-3, but managed to find his confidence and hit his stride as the match entered the second set. With the set level at 5-5, Delev managed to break his opponent's service to edge ahead 6-5 - the CWLander sealing the opening set with a wide ace. From there Delev managed to exhibit all the shots in the book as he played the tiring Todorovski off of the court - sealing a come-from-behind
3-6 7-5 6-1 win.
The only CWLander to drop out was qualifier
Martti Korpinen who crashed out in three sets to Ukraine's
Roman Dorogan. Whilst being highly energetic throughout the contest, Korpinen was unable to match Dorogan for technical prowess despite taking the first set 6-4. The 19-year old Dorogan showed why he will be a player to watch in the future in a stunning second set effort as he broke the faltering service of Korpinen twice to level the match at a set each. The CWLander attempted to create another twist in the tale as he sent the decider to a tiebreaker, but Dorogan proved just too good to seal an impressive
4-6 6-2 7-6(5) with a crafty shot down the line to seal Korpinen's exit.
Seeds Out: 3-Patrick Pascaul (FRA).
Copa Telmex
Round of 32 - Buenos Aries
Tournament Information
Draw - Top Half
Draw - Bottom Half
World number 108
Randy Smeltz will be more than happy with his victory over his higher ranked opponent
Jean-Christophe Genghini in the opening round of the Copa Telemex tournament on the clay courts of Buenos Aries as he produced an impressive effort to defeat the Frenchman. Smeltz earlier stated his intentions to challenge
Daniel Páez Blanco as the pre-eminent clay court player but struggled to live up to his self-induced hype early as he fell behind 3-0. Despite the early troubles, Smeltz managed to work his way back into the contest by claiming four games on the trot to take a slight lead - eventually claiming a topsy-turvy set 7-5. The second set was just as close as neither man was able to surge clear. But it was the class of Smeltz in the tiebreaker which allowed him passage to victory - setting up a second round clash with third seed
Tom Vollan following a
7-5 7-6(6) nail biter.
Seeds Out: None.