ATP 250: Houston (Clay)

[C4iLL]

No topic for the tournament yet, so I opened it.

C4iLL (Simon) vs Vincetheprince (Gasquet) = 6-1 6-1
Well I knew Vince can be dangerous, so I took this match very seriously. I practiced before etc. Result : I was really in fire, I hit something like 16 winners for 4 faults in first set, and 19 winners for 6 faults in second set. Vince played well sometimes, but I completely broke his confidence early in the two sets.

C4iLL (Simon) vs Djarvik (Wawrinka) = 4-6, 6-3 6-4
1 hour and 10 minutes played, perhaps my longest match since I began playing TE, and the most tactical I ever played.
With his close victory against Fox, Djarvik proved he had now a good level, but with the match we've just finished, I can confirm he can be a real danger for everybody now.

At the very first point, we played a 66 shots point where I tried everything and a lot of accel and cross court. I told myself "ouch he's a wall now, he perfectly reads my patterns, it's gonna be tight !".
In fact it was totally stupid to play so agressively on this first point, because my stamina was completely **** afterwards. A fatal error I paid during 2 sets.

Except that it was globally very hard to hit a winner to him. I had the feeling I played well but he was ALWAYS on the good side, I had the feeling he was in my head, I rarely saw that ! I don't remember how but he managed to break in the first set, and despite 2 set points saved he won it.

2nd set, I began with an extreme concentration and motivation, thinking it will be a long war. I managed to get a break, and my objective was to get a second one because he was always dangerous on my service games.
This made me loose a LOT of stamina, and on my service games, I had then no opportunity to hit accel, so it was a nightmare to win a point : the match became extremely pushy, a true mind-game, where we just the other to make a fault. I finally won this set with experience and tactic, nothing more. At the end of the set, my stamina was almost empty with 3 bars left and my instant bar always empty ^^

Third set : well I told myself to win or loose quickly points. I didn't want to loose stamina against in long rallies.
I went then a lot to the net, and I managed to get a crucial early break. Afterwards, I mostly did SV on my service and this killed his rythm. I finally win the set 6-4.

To sum-up, he was as good as me today, I just won because I have currently more tactical options.

[djarvik]

Indeed an exceptional match. I was VERY motivated for this one and did my training all week. I felt better then I ever did going into the match with 12 match winning streak, but the competition at Futures is not the same...C4iLL showed it perfectly well.

I need to add SV and passing shots to my game, otherwise I will be paying dearly. I was completely lost that last set, surprised I was broken only once.

I did everything right in first set and had an almost 3 bars stamina advantage going in 3rd set. Even after losing the second set I felt I was in a way better situation, having the bigger serve and a big stamina advantage. But Kudos to C4iLL, he changed his tactics and basically ran away with it.

Well done.

[Martan]

Seems like epic game, you guys should make highlights and put them on youtube

[inseedious]

Well done djarvik! I see you're improving a lot, I hope my hints helped you!

[zaid137]

ok now show us the match ... upload please , i wanna see hoe c4ill changed his tactic in the 3rd

[Robbin92]

Well as I arrived in the final a report of how thing developed in this tournament for me.

First round: Robbin def. Fez 6-3 6-3
Can't remember a lot about this match, but I do remember it was pretty straightforward, with a lot of short exchanges. Made three break on his services and didn't faced a single break point.

Quarter final: Robbin def. ELTXETXU 6-1 7-5
I started of well and took the first set quite comfortable. However in the second set he raised his level and changed his tactics: things became more interesting. He showed good mental by breaking me back twice, at 4-3 and 5-4. Though at the third time I could hold on after my break and finished of the match.

Semi-final: Robbin def. Ugadalou 6-2 6-1
Match started a bit tensioned with both of us finding a way to play. I hadn't played with a righty for a few days (getting used to Verdasco for MC) and made some air swings in the first games. Though I created a break opportunity at his first service game, but he worked it away and got a break chance himself after it. I was really focused to get that point as I didn't wanted to give him more confidence cause I know how dangerous he can be if he has that. Luckily I worked it away and after that my engine started and I felt in control most of the time leading to a pretty solid win.

Now waiting for the other finalist, all having their own story. I'm curious to see who will be my puppet in the final

[C4iLL]

Give them a no match, and I make you taste the pusher style

[inseedious]

SF: inseedious (Haas) def. C4ill (Simon) 7-6(5) 7-6(4)

The score isn't lying, it was a very tough match, decided on a very few points. In the 1st set he first broke me and I managed to break him back, in the second one I broke him first but he came back from 3-0 to 3-3. He had more break opportunities than me, but I was way better to exploit the few ones he gave to me. The match was fine and smooth, but sometimes there were some annoying turtles coming from nowhere (we had a very good and stable ping, 40 ms). An important feature of the match was luck. Unfortunately, it influenced some very important points, but at the end I can say he helped and hurt both of us with the same intensity. On the one hand, he had luck with about 6-7 nets when he was volleying, and some turtles making my attacks less steady and letting him turn the point most times. I remember I lost a service game because of some lucky situations, but on the other hand I had some luck on my side during the tiebreaks, with some turtles causing some volley errors by him. In the last tiebreak, on my match point, he was at net and hit a ball that was going out, I didn't know what to do so I shot an easy lob to give him back the advantage, but he chose the wrong direction and made me catch it with the match.

I know he had lots of opportunities and still has regrets, but I'm satisfied about my match. I managed to be very aggressive and make lots of big accelerations to kill his high top spins and his defensive playstyle. I was very steady and carefully hit lots of lines to open up the court. Another key point were my bh short accels and my smart drop shots (I never followed them at net, I just used them to punish him staying behind). My weakness was my net play (35% points won at net), it was like a curse, lots of well built points were lost because of some volleys going out apparently without a reason.

On his side, his key points were his awesome (as always) net play, giving him most of the points he won, and his good defense, that drained me a lot of stamina (when he came back in the second set, there was a very long point and I felt like it could really be a turning point for him). His weaknesses were his too much errors for a defender and his low attention on important points. In fact, he made lots of gifts especially on my service games, where he could be even more dangerous. I honestly think he's way more a champaign than a vinaigr, he would probably bet me with his Llodra, cause he took too much risks when aiming.

Again, a very close match. It was a fight against my demon, the tiebreak w/l bad ratio. It's the 3rd tiebreak I win in a row

[C4iLL]

Yeah Inseedious sum up well the match (it lasts 1 hour for 2 sets !). He played at a good level throughout the match, on my side I was less regular, at least, less than what I used to be with Simon some weeks ago.

Globally, I have the feeling I could have done much better in the first set with this break in advance when I led 3-1. I could have even led 4-0 with other break opportunities.
I don't remember how he broke back, but what is sure is I didn't feel confortable during this set, while he really played well on his side.
Even in the tie break I had mini breaks, but I didn't conclude, doing stupid things at the worst moments ^^

On the second set, at beginning I was down mentally, led 3-0 and he could have even led 4-0 I think. But I fight and came back 3-3. And from that moment his services games were very tight while mine were more calm.
I think I had a break point at 5-5 but took a stupid ace due to lack of concentration ^^
Everytime he managed to save his service with talent and a true mental strenght so congratulations.

Another regret I have is the match point : after having saved 2 match points, on the third one, the ball was fault, but Simon automatically took it at the net -_- and Inseedious won the point and the match.
I have regret because he would have been under pressure on the following match point and it's possible I would have won the tie-break afterwards. This bug is really annoying !

Globally, I lost because I made a lot of wrong choices (on volleys sides, wrong foot, finishing points etc) whereas he made the good choices.

I'm happy to see he's back at a good level and hope he will be strong in final vs Robbin

[Robbin92]

How many money did I earn predicting this?

[C4iLL]

It's because of you Robbin, you made me curse, I was on my way to the title

[inseedious]

Final: inseedious (Haas) def. Robbin (Tomic) 6-2 4-6 7-5

Well, a very great fight. I have to admit that I played better vs C4ill (maybe I was forced to do it because he played as a defender), but still started focused. In fact, the first set was mine with no break points opportunities for him, as he didn't start very well. The second set was a Robbin show: he played insanely, hitting lots of excellent accelerations and dominating with his fh, despite it should Tomic's "weaker" side. The last set was very tied, with both of us holding our serves till 6-5*, but I felt I was deserving to win that set because I had at least one break point in every Robbin's service game, except two consecutive ones. I also deleted a break point on *4-4. At 6-5* I was very motivated for the reasons I explaned and I wanted to avoid a very hard tiebreak, so I exploited some errors from his side and managed to close the match.

My key was the right mixture of a great defense with still a good attack, so the ability to turn points on my side. On his side, I think he's among the best offensive players when he plays offensively, cause he has the ability to hit powerful and deadly precise accelerations in all situations. In fact the big pressure on my second serve made me lose the only service I lost in the match. His weakness, though, was the low pressure he made on my service games (under this point of view it was similar to my match vs C4ill), letting me go on 40-0 or 40-15 quite easily. This is the main cause of his loss, cause my better defending was balanced by his better net play and his awesome use of body services. In fact, I almost never come to the net, knowing that he's a volley killer.

Thanks for the awesome match, I took my revenge (even if, the previous time, you really dominated the whole match).

[Robbin92]

First of all congratulations to Inseedious. We were in three finals now and splitted it up nicely, one no-match (:()and both won one.First set was bad from my side, hadn't practiced with Tomic since my match against Ugadulou and that was noticeable. So Inseedious won this one quite confortable.I knew I had to focus more and I found a good level in the rest of the match. Second set I felt in control in most of the points, playing aggresively and it resulted in a good set, 6-4.

In the third set my plan was to take an early break, but it was Inseedious who put a lot of pressure on my service, I cancelled 3 break points till 3-3. At that point I felt control in most rallies again (though less than in the second set) and at 4-4 I had a break chance on his second service, he worked it away with a good mixed-up BH down the line. I completely gave away the match at 6-5. Got to 15-0, he hit a error for 30-0, but my Tomic decided to play a safe volley on which he passed me easily. He got to two match 15-40, two match points. I worked the first one away in a fantastic point with a BH which touched the line for maybe 2 milimeter. Second one worked away as well and felt relieved, got to advantadge, but there I missed a easy FH, off a safe shot, to open court. At deuce, I had the iniative, he hit a net cord, I had to go to the net where he played a lob and got to my smash and win the point due to a volley error. At his third match point it was the (if I remember correctly) the first point in this game where he was able to take the iniative and he finished it off. Quite dissappointing that I gave him this break as I felt that in a tiebreak I would have the mental advantage (with him not converting one of his BP/MP's).

I agree with the analysis done by Inseedious, I should have done more in your service games, but it is in my game to slack concentration a bit at early service games of my opponent. The iniative was mostly taken by the first one who used a short cross BH, which was not suprising Inseedious in the first set and me in second set. In the third set it was more or less even, but with me taking iniative a bit more I guess which in the end costed me. Need to improve my defensive play if I want to stay/become a top player.

Anyways, I'm happy with this match as I really enjoyed the fight and lost to a player who deserved this title looking at all the tough opponents he had to face.