Paris (BNP Paribas Masters) 2013

[VMoe86]

A bit later, but welcome to Paris BNP Paribas Masters 2013 on the ITST Tennis Elbow 2013 Pro Tour! It is the last Masters 1000 of the season, the only one on indoor hard and all active top players are showing up in Paris:

Draw

The top half is featuring Richie, butcher, pidzi and myself, with potential QFs Richie vs. butcher and pidzi vs. myself. Now that butcher has a normal internet connection again I expect him to get back to his old form. The results of this half may influence who will land in which group at WTF.

The lower half shows once again C4iLL, isaldor and Florian together in a quarter -- I must have magical hands. In the other quarter there are Vramvrim, who is making an experiment with Llodra, and the last two players fighting for WTF -- tdbchess and Felipe -- are there with a potential R16 meeting. However, tdbchess will need to make at least QF here and make SF at either Basel or Paris to grab the last spot. Not impossible, but he has to play his very best in all his matches now.

Good luck everyone!

[tdbchess]

Hi all,

I lost alone my last match against MaGav.
I served for the match 5/4 on the second set ...
I played a lot of matches against my friend that I won and I lost someone who does not need

I'm very disapointed after that match ....
I hope I will rise again, because it is a huge disappointment.

Cya All
Enjoy

[VMoe86]

Tough luck tdb, I definitely know how you feel (I've had so many tough losses myself). All you can do is leave it behind and do better in the future! I think you will want to participate in ITST Open (I will create it this evening) and then you can focus on next season.

[C4iLL]

Too much pressure on your shoulders Diva, or maybe too many matches played recently in a short period, especially the exhibitions...

[MaGav]

Well... In the beginning I am really sorry that it was me who upset tdbchees in the situation he had chance to qualify for WTF. I know how can you feel when someone who "does not need" defeats you. It should be decided at your vs Felipe contest.

About the match... In the 1st set we had been winning our serve games till 4-4 when tdbchees broke me with the first break point and won a set in the next game. He was stable, often aggressive with good ball placement. I saw him confident.
Things started to change in 2nd set with 2-2 and 3 break points for me and taking the last of them. It started really nervous hitting from both (break back 3-3, tdbchees holding serve after 3 break points: 3-4). When he broke me back I lost concentration and confidence, so he broke me again easily to 3-5. He looked too chill while serving for the match. Few unforced errors including double fault. He was very shaky and was making mistakes that he hadn't been doing earlier. It helped me to catch him up and to win 4 games in a raw with getting the set 7-5.
In the 3rd set he was still nervous and angry I think. He stopped hitting risky shots especially down the line. I broke him for 3-1, later for 5-2. He broke me for 5-3 but it was not enough breaks in this set. I broke him for 6-3 ending the match.

Alas it was not a good performance from both (too many breaks), it was just a thrill.

[Florian]

QF Florian (Wawrinka) def. C4ill (Federer) 6-4 6-4

Weird match once more, we had to host through hamachi so the feeling was that chars were moving heavier than usual.

This time though i was comfortable at home and well in control of my movement, even if Wawrinka isn't Djokovic or Simon. Most points were rallies, sometimes very long and nice ones, but we never dared to finish at the net since it was too weird to control, at least with that connex.

1st set the connex was really difficult until 3-3, before that we broke each other once, with different luck on our service games. I was focused enough to break once more at 4-4 and secured the set with some good serving.
2nd set was a bit like 1st one, but the connex was better overall, except for a few glitches still pretty annoying. I broke first but couldn't confirm, so I broke him once more to love at 4-4, probably being more patient in most rallies than he was. This time he saved the 2 first mps but some good serving and cool rallies ended the match in my favor.

Globally a match where we didn't play our best once more, but I defended with much more control which helped me securing this win in straight sets, and where I took advantage of some of his unusual ues.

It's globally a good result since I feel Wawrinka is a pretty tough char to handle with his weight and tricky fh.

My next match will be very tricky against one of the most talented players here, with Vramvrim using Llodra which is probably most efficient indoors, but i'll be motivated to defend last year's points, and try once more to get a big title ^^

[C4iLL]

Yeah Florian played better than last time for sure and everything turned on his side at the right moment + the service (80% of first serve at 180KMh+ in second set). I played a good match but once again I'm too "generous" in terms of UE and I'm not really lucky I think.

First set at 4-4, I lost my service in a ridiculous way : at 40-30, I could finish the point easily from baseline but I go to the net and I do a air-volley... I think I've like one occasion more to conclude the game but he gets a let-winner whereas he's totally outside the court, stuff like that

After what I thought was a hold-up, I was still extremely confident for the second set, having the feeling to be in control in the exchanges, and exactly know what to do to win this Waw-Fed matchup but : he served well, so that gave him a few free points and sometimes, I make like 4 big UE with the court totally opened in a row just because I naturally want to reach the line (I even broke a racket one time as I didn't believe I could give so stupid points).

I made like 40+ UE and a good part of them could have been winner with 1cm more at left or right I'm still confident for the Barclays Masters, but I think I just need practice to be precise more regularly.

[Florian]

SF Vramvrim (Llodra) def. Florian (Wawrinka) 6-3 3-6 7-6(5)

What a cool match ! Except for the poor connex unfortunately which was very present from 2nd set 3-0 for me, even if we rehosted in the 3rd it was sometimes difficult to play with as much preciseness we wish.

Basically in the 1st set I felt overwhelmed by the unusual rythm Vramvrim using Llodra put, risking as many shots as possible, playing 100% attack and I was totally suffocating. I my first service game i think i saved 4 or 5 bps, and got broken at *2-3, saved again a sp at *2-5, but I was already starting to handle his amazing rythm at the end of this set where I didn't have any occasion to break him.

2nd set was a weird one, I took an early advantage since I could handle rallies with more patience, some of those were 30+ and he was having trouble with stamina so sometimes his net rushes weren't very well prepared, and thanks to a ping pong net cord I was able to break a second time, for a 5-0 lead.
From that moment on he started to play better, and he broke once, and had an occasion to get back on serve, but this time I managed to hold and take the 2nd set despite a game where I hit only one 1st serve out of at least 7 points.

Then we rehosted since the glitches were very annoying, so of course his stamina was back to normal and mayb that helped him at the end of the set to keep precision and pressure for longer moments.
I had 2 bps on his first 2 serve games, then he had twice a 0-30 lead on mine, and I think we held without much trouble until *5-6 where he had a first mp (or two maybe). Once we reached the tb, he had the first mini break but I came back with a great crosscourt bh passing shot. That gave me even more confidence but towards the end when I was ahead 4-3, I couldn't take advantage of the first rally and on his 2nd serve point I hit a slice 2nd serve return into the net.

I felt stupid because that was a big opportunity considering the tension and his low stamina, but I couldn't put pressure there. Then at *5-5 I hit a disappointing 2nd serve and he hits a winner return, and finished with an ace.

We globally played at a nice level, he hit some great counters and smashes, while I had some nice bh passes, but in the end he was more focused in the tb and deserved it.

Anyway that was once again a great fight and I'm glad to be able to compete and produce good battles again against the most talented players !

Go Vram and GL against Richie

[Vramvrim]

Time to summarize my tournament in Paris. I took Llodra for fun, but I had no intention of throwing away my matches. Given the draw, my objective was QF/SF.

First match vs Sedas, some nice points and attack from him, but too much guessing in defense, allowing me to hit winners with some margin. Won 6-2, 6-3. A good occasion to gain some rhythm with Llodra.

Then second match vs FelipeM, always a little special since I have to adapt to the delay, but went pretty well too, the serve of Llodra allowing me to have easy points on my serve and be aggressive on return games. I was pretty poor in BP conversion (3/12), still enough to get the win in straights sets, 6-4, 6-3.

Then it was already the SF, I knew it would be difficult since Florian came back at a very good level, so it was the real test for Llodra. I could overpower him a bit in the first set, and managed to get the break. I had a bit of trouble to conclude the set, but got it done. Second set, a bit of a sloppy start, Florian got accustomed to Llodra's power and upped his level, so he broke me logically. I was down 0-3, then some bad lags appeared, didn't help to focus, and poof, down 0-5. I fought back to 3-5, 30-0 on his serve, but he managed to hold for the set in the end. It was pretty laggy, so we decided to rehost for the final set. Probably played in my favour for the beginning of set 3 at least, since my stamina was much more hit than his.

So final set, full stamina, some lags but less than in set 2. The set was very close, both managing to hold in close situations. At the end of the set, my services games were a bit easier, so I tried to put pressure while he was serving to stay in the match. I even got a match point, but I think the return wasn't good enough and he managed to hold. Final tie-break, pretty tight, I had the first mini-break but missed the opportunity to go up 3-0, I hit my volley on his side of the court, he managed to make a great pass of it. We both held service points until 5-5, including some tight rallies and a crucial error from him when I was hitting a second serve at 4-4. 5-5, the second serve allowed me to hit a good return and win the point, and I managed to avoid any tension during the match point by hitting an ace, winning in a very tight 6-3, 3-6, 7-6.

In the end, the serve was crucial and helped me a lot during dangerous situations. The match had some nice rallies, just a shame that some turtles appeared at some point, but it was great having a tight match with Florian again. Hopefully we can meet once more at the WTF, since it would mean I got out of my group


Now the final against Richie, well, I was pretty relax, I mean I got to the final with Llodra, I just wanted to put a good show for the French public
We both started by holding our serves. He started better than me from the baseline, but as always with Llodra the serve was working well. While I found some of my volleys to be shaky, progressively I was holding my ground better than I expected with Mika, which gave me some confidence. I felt good moving around the court, managing to defend and counter well even with Llodra ; Simon's weakpoint is here, sometimes lacking of power and hitting flat, allowing Llodra to take control of rallies.

Good attack and some errors from Richie gave me the break at 4-3. I took the set next on my 2nd set point. In the second set, he got twice at 15-30 on my first two service games, but good serves came and got me out of trouble. Then at 2-2, I could take control of the rallies which got me to a break point on his serve, where he served a double fault and gave me the break. I managed to hold my next service games and at 5-3, concluded on my first match point to win the title : 6-3, 6-3.

3/3 on break points, could not have been better. Well, it wasn't the most serious match between us in our rivalry, but it's still nice to win a Masters 1000 title, especially at home with Llodra At first it was for fun, but as I played with him, I realized it would be a good opportunity for myself to play aggressive tennis, and improve my placement with lefty players, the latter being a great weakpoint of mine until this tournament. With such a good serve and powerful strokes as well as great net abilities to cover my average personnal net skills, it was a nice experience to play with him.

Now, time for the World Tour Finals with Federer, I will try to stay offensive to get out of this tough group.

[C4iLL]

Sincere congratulations for this victory, you manage to do something I never achieved with Llodra despite some SF/Finals !
I think it's your 4th victory in m1000 ! Next step, a slam with Llodra ?