Kremlin Cup

[p.napalm]

I won't give a summary about the match except the following: He was constantly fist pumping when I made errors. Ok, I made only 19 errors, but he did not fist pump only there -- most points he won, fist pump. When he made an error, smashed the racket.

From our match rules:

Continually use provocating gestures eg. victory ones especially
after the opponent misses.

Sorry, but how can I make any gestures? Just curious.

[VMoe86]

Sorry, but how can I make any gestures? Just curious.

After a point you can do them by pressing b1+b2 + a direction. If you win a point and do b1+b2 + UP, your player will jump happily, for instance. With b1+b2 + DOWN you do an apology gesture after winning a point (for example for net cord).

[C4iLL]

Aziz is in semi-final of this tournament and no one has written anything about his matches (especially him). That's not funny guys, wake up, write a bit it just takes a few minutes...

[iBullet91]

Ok c4ill here is my (brief) match report!:

Aziz_Ismail def iBullet91 7-6 (5) 7-6 (5)

I think the score is probably not realistic of the game play. Aziz pretty much dominated in rallies. I have just come back from a month out and so I'm pretty rusty.

My serving kept me in the game for longer...I hit 31 aces in the match!

Aziz served well too with around 18 aces I think. I couldn't get into his service games because my returning wasn't good enough. When I did get the ball back in play, a lot of the times the return wasn't deep enough or powerful enough to get back into the rallies. Especially against Soderling. I didn't get a single break point in the match Aziz did but only 2...and I saved them both.

Think in total Aziz got 80 points in the match and I got 75...so I'm happy with my performance.

As well, Aziz's drop shots helped him out. I think at one point he did 3 drops shots in a row in one game It seems other players find that he drops too much too:
viewtopic.php?f=1047&t=17197&start=15
I don't know if Robbin and Elias found the same problem in this tournament with drops?
Some drops are obviously ok...but I don't think so many are needed in a match.

Anyway, good luck Aziz in your next round (and don't drop too much! )

[Ugadalou]

Ugadalou (Baghdatis) vs. Slicer (Tsonga) 6-2/6-2.

We hadn't played each other for a very long time.
Slicer has a nice realistic tennis mindset and got a very good read on my game in the rallies.
I think Tsonga suits his offensive and risky gamestyle.His first serves were very hard to return ,most of them over the 205km/h line.If he could keep up this style with more consistency and cut back some cheap errors the match would have been much more competitive (which it was,most games going to deuce).

Next opponent,the man to beat,VMoe! Baghdatis vs Harrison a nice match-up!

Stats:

[Ugadalou]

Lost to VMoe 6-1/6-0.

Well not much to say,perhaps my worst performance for as long as I've played the tour.Of course VMoe had to do with it and deserves credit but I didn't give him the chance to deliver his A game.
With a dreadful 26% first serves in, there's not much you can hope for,especially against a good player.

Stats:

[VMoe86]

Indeed, 26% first serves in was simply not enough. I've seen you playing better in practice matches and some points you played very well, but overall you had an off day, which is unfortunate for our first meeting on the TE Tour. It seemed as if keeping the ball in play was enough today. I hope you have a good draw in Paris, because lately you have been facing all those "newcomers" using Tier 1 while you keep on playing with a variety of characters.

Next up is either Fox, the Murray of ITST playing as Murray , or Dimitrov. I think Dimitrov showed some good results lately, so maybe he can do something if Fox is not in a good rhythm with Murray.

[C4iLL]

It seems you're really not in confidence Uga currently. It's a pity because you used to play really well by the past ! Come on man !

[costiiforzaa]

TWM-Fox(Murray) def. G.Dimitrov(BUL) 7/6(3) 6/3
I'm very annoyed and ashamed that I lost the first set, but and happy than I played at my best.! I was playing great in the start! I was leading *0/3 and leading *15/40, but then he started to play his game! At *5/4 I had 3 SPs, but his mental is great and my telephone had to rang three times at one of the SPs. Then at *5/6 I was leading *15/40 and had 2 SPS, but... In the tiebreak he was great and I wasn't concetrated so he won it.

In the second set we were playing tied to 3/3, he said me before of the match that he had to do some work at 18.55 for 10 minutes and when he return he was playing like a superman and my service was ridiculous, so he beat me. My volley(best weapon) was just nothing against his lobs and passing shots!

I'm really sad, that I didn't won the first set(maybe and the match), because I really had the chance vs world #2. Fox is a great sportman and what a mental?!?!?! So good luck to the end of the season!


We played some really great rallies in the first set, so if you want to watch it, download this:

[costiiforzaa]

TWM-Fox(Murray) def. G.Dimitrov(BUL) 7/6(3) 6/3
I'm very annoyed and ashamed that I lost the first set, but and happy than I played at my best.! I was playing great in the start! I was leading *0/3 and leading *15/40, but then he started to play his game! At *5/4 I had 3 SPs, but his mental is great and my telephone had to rang three times at one of the SPs. Then at *5/6 I was leading *15/40 and had 2 SPS, but... In the tiebreak he was great and I wasn't concetrated so he won it.

In the second set we were playing tied to 3/3, he said me before of the match that he had to do some work at 18.55 for 10 minutes and when he return he was playing like a superman and my service was ridiculous, so he beat me. My volley(best weapon) was just nothing against his lobs and passing shots!

I'm really sad, that I didn't won the first set(maybe and the match), because I really had the chance vs world #2. Fox is a great sportman and what a mental?!?!?! So good luck to the end of the season!


We played some really great rallies in the first set, so if you want to watch it, download this:

If you know the Dimitrov's QF is progressing like my QFs match vs Fox.

[C4iLL]

We finally played our match vs Spencarlos (Fed).

We only played one set and what set it was... Both of us won 48 points !

Against him today, my serve was complete shit, like 42% of first serves, 3 or 4 doubles faults during my first two services games and only 3 aces during the set...
I don't know why, maybe the ping but that was then a nightmare to keep my service in these conditions, but I suceed to give him 0 break point opportunity.

The big battle was at the baseline on his services : I never saw two characters so exhausted in the first set since I play this game.
We often played 30+ exchanges from baseline and it was extremely tactical. At the end, nobody dominated the other in that domain during the set.

Even if every points was a fight, I only got 1 break point during the set. We logically went to tie-break.

At the tie-break, the big rallyes started another time and I finally managed to dominate him a bit during those.

I then get a lot of break, but I always missed these advantages with my next service because of my low first serve percentage which allowed him to hit great passing shots.

He then saved 1 set point on my serve, another one and so on... 6 sets points saved ! I told myself "it's not possible..." and "the looser of this set won't win the second".

Finally I get another set point, and this time I concentrated a lot to hit a first service, it works and I conclude the set (11-9)

Carlos then stopped the match and told me he can't continue because he had to deal with a car issue and he has no time anymore to play currently and gave me the match.

If this would have continue, I don't know in which state Llodra and fed would have finished (their stamina bars were often empty during the first set ^^).

See ya on another tournament Carlos, always impressive matchs against you !

[C4iLL]

Quarter final C4iLL vs El Croato (Fed) = 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

A very high level match once again against El Croato ! We often played amazing points, I think Croato has recorded the demo, it should be interesting to watch

Firs set : I got a break at 3-1 and I got full confidence, beginning to hit a lot of shots on lines. At 5-2, it was 0-40 on his serve (3 set points) and I don't know how but he saved these 3 and won his serve.
At 5-3, I feel a bit the pressure on my serve, but I concluded the set.

Second set : I had the feeling to put the ball exatly where I wanted to and to be in control even if he played at a great and regular level. A lot of shots on the lines, several opportunities to break throughout all the set.
In my head, the match was a bit finished (at that moment I was so confident that I even hit B1+B2 serves on my second service ^^).

I served for the match, I was relax, but after surprising faults on a volley, 0-40 on my serve ! I saved one or two, but I made a double fault... 5-5.

He won easily his serve, and I made another bad service game... 7-5.

Third set : at that moment, I doubted a lot and wasn't able to think about tactic strategy, I just hit the ball without thinking ^^
El Croato lost his service after errors, so 2-0. He was hurt mentally by this loss and as I was not in good mental disposition too, I just try to get focus on my serve. I finally conclude the set, but without dominating this set at all ^^

[El Croato]

C4iLL said it all.

It was an amazing match, both of us delivered a very good performance, that is the least one can say. Besides, I suggest everyone in the forum to have a look at the video of the match that you will find below in attachment.

However, the beginning of the match was not looking promising for me as he got an early break and quickly led 4-1. At this point, I knew that I had just lost the first set, but I strove to play as best as possible; frutilessly, at least in the first set that ended 6-3.

In the second set, I lost my service game once again and slowly started losing hope, even if my level dramatically increased. I regained a bit of confidence when I realized that I could have several break opportunities the very first of which I was not able to convert, and this was due to my opponent's incredible skills not only at the net, but also on the baseline. Then, at 4-5, I succeeded in having three break points - yeah, you heard me well buddies - THREE BREAK POINTS against the master of volleys, C4iLL, something I have ever dreamed of He saved the first two, but -fortunately for me - not the third. After winning a service game of C4iLL for the first time ever, I was on cloud nine, won my next service game and even broke him twice in a row to take the second set: 7-5.

But my happiness related to my winning of the second set was shortlived as C4iLL broke me right at the start of the final set. Euphoria may have affect my concentration and I was quite angry with myself as I was fully aware that this was the key of the match whose rest was just routine, with both of us winning each of our service games till the end of the match.

In the end, I would like to congrat C4iLL again on his well-deserved victory. It is true that I was disappointed right after the end of our match, but with the benefit of hindsight, I understand that the most important thing right here is that I enjoyed playing this quarter-final in the Kremlin Cup with such a great player and sportsman as C4iLL, who enables me to improve my game. I am curious as heck to see how I will perform at the BNP Paribas Masters and look forward to getting out on the track.

[VMoe86]

Harrison reaches his first final: VMoe86 (Harrison) defeats TWM-Fox (Murray) 6-2, 6-1.

Well, what can I say about the match. I was more comfortable with Harrison than Fox was with Murray, that's one part of the story. So there were some air swings from Fox on the BH side, because that is the biggest positioning difference between switching from Federer to Murray.

On the other hand I feel like I have played one of my smartest matches. I was defending very well, using spins, varying with slices and attacking when I had the chances to. In the beginning we had quite long rallies due to that, but holding for 3-0 took quite some time, so that we both played more assertive afterwards. Funny that I was also leading 3-0, had 15-40 on Fox's serve and Fox held to get to 1-3, just like Dimitrov the other day -- with one difference being that I got the job done in the first set. We had some good rallies, also some attacks at the net from both of us.

Second set I was confident, especially on serve. Speaking of serve, Fox's percentage with Murray was too low, just 47%. So I could create more chances in the second set and in the end he made more of those positioning errors on the BH side.

Looking forward to the final, even though it's getting exhausting reaching the late stages of tournaments all the time, because it means I have to play one day with Char A, the next day with Char B and then with Char C.

Here are the stats:

[VMoe86]

First deciding set won: VMoe86 (Harrison) defeats C4iLL (Llodra) 3-6, 6-3, 6-4

Well, this was an extremely tough match, mentally. Really happy to have won it, especially since it was against C4iLL, who is in great form himself with Llodra. Oh, and it was the first deciding set I have won on this tour, which can be attributed to my improved mental game. It's a pity for C4iLL, his second final lost, but with this form he will continue doing damage on the tour, but tonight it wasn't meant to be. Keep it up!

About the match itself, we restarted a couple of times to find the right choice for delay. We tried with 117ms, but it was too laggy, but with 150ms it worked fine. Maybe I was not that focused when we then started the match (ten minutes after we actually wanted to start), but that's it. The first break he scored in the first set was full of netcords, I really had to control myself to not get upset (I was shaking my head). I got the break back in a similarly lucky way, because he made three or four double faults in one game, so luck was equal on both sides there.

So, I thought I was back in this set, but I got broken again at 3-4. It was a tight game, where I fought off break points, got to a game point and double faulted on this game point. So, back to deuce, it was. C4iLL returned well and hit good groundstrokes to break me then. He served it out without much problems.

Some time ago I might have lost it mentally, but I was highly focused to fight back. I sensed that C4iLL was making a bit more volley errors, so I just waited for my chance (a service game in which he barely got a first serve in) and took care of my service games. The latter was working really well at this point of the match, I had a good shot selection, mixed it up a bit.

It then went to a deciding set, where I started really well by breaking him immediately and consolidating the break. At 2-0 up, I had another double break point chance, which he got out of. One more break would have been decisive, but C4iLL stayed alive. I had another easy hold for 3-1 and then another double break point. I remember the first break point vividly: Second serve, good return, volley clips the netcord and I cannot do anything! Good for him, bad for me. He served then really well to get out of here. The next service game was more dangerous, but I managed to hold for 4-2 and then he was starting to increase his level, barely any volley errors, easy hold. The service game at 4-3 was crucial, as I had to fend off two break points. I don't remember the first one, but the second one I got a short return and simply hit a perfect FH winner on the line, phew. C4iLL then held to love and I had to serve this match out, which wasn't going without some struggles. It was 30-30 and we had a huge exchange, which I won. On match point we also had a longer rally, which I think C4iLL kind of dominated, but I managed to turn it around and then he made a BH slice error to conclude this match.

Here are the stats: