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Aachen 50K+H ChallengerEntry list:
1 Vik, Robin CZE 85
2 Sluiter, Raemon NED 90
3 Norman, Dick BEL 98
4 Del Potro, Juan Martin ARG 99
5 Waske, Alexander GER 118
6 Bogdanovic, Alex GBR 119
7 Economidis, Konstantinos GRE 120
8 Kunitsyn, Igor RUS 122
9 Carlsen, Kenneth DEN 126
10 Bolelli, Simone ITA 127
11 Moodie, Wesley RSA 133
12 Wang, Yeu-Tzuoo TPE 143
13 Luzzi, Federico ITA 150
14 Vinciguerra, Andreas SWE 153
15 Berrer, Michael GER 152
16 Cakl, Tomas CZE 158
17 Zverev, Mischa GER 164
18 Labadze, Irakli GEO 165
19 Burgsmuller, Lars GER 167
20 Karanusic, Roko CRO 174
21 Haehnel, Jerome FRA 175
22 Stakhovsky, Sergiy UKR 180
23 (SE)
24 (SE)
25 (WC)
26 (WC)
27 (WC)
28 (WC)
29 (Q)
30 (Q)
31 (Q)
32 (Q)
Alternates
1. Cilic, Marin CRO 188
2. Vico, Uros ITA 197
3. Gulbis, Ernest LAT 201
4. Cipolla, Flavio ITA 203
5. Clemens, Tobias GER 206
6. Ungur, Adrian ROM 207
7. Ascione, Thierry FRA 208
8. Lopez, Marc ESP 213
9. Popp, Torsten GER 216
10. Elseneer, Gilles BEL 222
11. Istomin, Denis UZB 227
12. Stoppini, Andrea ITA 231
13. Robert, Stephane FRA 233
14. Beck, Andreas GER 237
15. Troicki, Viktor SRB 239
16. Kindlmann, Dieter GER 247
17. Schukin, Yuri RUS 250
18. Guez, David FRA 252
19. Ionita, Victor ROM 254
20. Ledovskikh, Mikhail RUS 255
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Alex will either play this tournament or qualifying for TMS Paris. It's most likely that he will play in Aachen as the qualifying cut in Paris is very high, in Madrid it was 105.
Alex will be seeded again, he could possibly be seeded to face Sluiter again in the quarters !! Of the other top 8 seeds, Alex has played Vik, Norman, Waske and Kunitsyn.
He lost 5-7, 6-4, 6-2 to Vik in the quarters of the Wroclaw challenger in Jan 2005. He beat Dick Norman 7-6, 6-4 in rd2 of the Wrexham challenger in 2003. He has a 2-0 record against Alex Waske, winning 6-3, 7-6 in the quarters of the Belgrade challenger in Feb 2005 and 6-3, 7-5 in rd2 of qualifying for ATP Stockholm in October 2005. Alex beat Kunitsyn 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 in the quarters of the Wrexham challenger earlier this year on the way to winning the title.
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Alex has a really tough draw in the Aachen 50K+H Challenger this week, in rd1 he faces 18 year old Croatian rising star Marin Cilic. Cilic reached no 1 in the juniors at the start of 2006 and in 2005 he won several of the world’s most prestigious junior titles and the junior French Open, beating Andy Murray along the way. This year, he has been concentrating entirely on the senior circuit and it has paid dividends, he’s currently ranked 185. He reached two futures finals in February and has gone from strength to strength since then. On the ATP tour, he beat Andreev in Zagreb before losing to Seppi in 3 sets. His best results have come on clay, he made the semis of ATP Gstaad and won a round in Umag. He’s competed entirely on the ATP tour for the indoor circuit so far, losing in rd1 each time; to Blake in Bangkok, Udomchoke in Tokyo, Wawrinka in Vienna and Pavel in St Petersburg. Alex will feel he has a chance as Cilic’s game is most suited to slower surfaces than the indoor carpet which they will be competing on in Aachen.
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I'd say that Cilic is probably the toughest rd1 draw Alex could have got, the Croatian has been giving the likes of Robredo and Wawrinka close matches this year. He's widely regarded as a star of the future.
If Alex does get through to rd2, big serving Wesley Moodie is likely to be lying in wait.
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Alex was broken in game 3 and is 5-3 down in the 1st set. Cilic has a really massive serve. However, Alex did manage to get to deuce in the previous service game
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Alex has been broken for a 2nd time to lose the set 6-3. At 30-15 he netted a swinging volley and double-faulted on set point 
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Currently 1-1 in set 2, Cilic to serve. Alex had words with the umpire about a dodgy line call in the last game
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Alex got to 30-30 on the Cilic serve but the Croat holds on
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Alex holds easily for 2-2
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Cilic holds to love
He leads 6-3, 3-2
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Alex holds for 3-3
He's 30-15 up on the Cilic serve
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Alex breaks the Cilic serve for the first time in the match to lead 4-3. He's right back in this now
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Alex goes 0-30 down with a couple of sloppy errors but fights back to hold and lead 5-3 in this set
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Alex is now 0-30 up on the Cilic serve, just two points away from the set
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Cilic holds on to make it 5-4. Alex will now serve for the set. I think Cilic saved some set points in that game
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Alex holds to level the match at 1 set all 
He's playing a lot better now, starting to read the Cilic serve and creating a lot more chances
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Hopefully Alex can keep his concentration at the start of the 3rd, mustn't have any lapses and hand the momentum back to the Croatian.
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Cilic holds to 30 at the start of set 3. Alex is keeping the Croatian to the back of the court in the long rallies and Cilic is making the errors. Alex is more consistent from the baseline and has more nous in how to work the rallies than Cilic.
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Danger moment: Alex is 15-30 down on serve
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KyDecHuk
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C'mon Alex!
It's only place in WWW, where I can see live result.
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Alex fights back and holds for 1-1
One of the tactics he's using a lot at the moment, is the backhand slice, keeping the ball very low and Cilic is struggling against it, netting a lot of his groundstrokes
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| KyDecHuk wrote: | C'mon Alex!
It's only place in WWW, where I can see live result. |
Hi KyDecHuk, welcome to this site
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admin
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Alex has two break points on the Cilic serve as the Croatian again makes two forehand errors, struggling to deal with Alex's slices.
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KyDecHuk
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Hello, Admin.
Thanks for your live ))
I need a specific result in this match, but mine chances decreases greatfully...((
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Alex breaks to 15 and leads 2-1 in the final set
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Alex struggling on serve though, 15-30 down.
Cilic breaks back for 2-2
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KyDecHuk
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6-3 in 3rd, only 6-3...[/list]
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Cilic holds relatively comfortably to 30 to lead 3-2
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KyDecHuk
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Can you give me a link onto Aachen live?
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There isn't a live scoreboard unfortunately
Alex holds to 15 for 3-3
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Some great serving from Alex in that game and a superb deep forehand into the corner to give him 30-0 after a great return from Cilic. He finished the game with a drop volley winner
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Cilic holds to 15 for 4-3
Alex takes the first point with a great passing shot but Cilic wins the next 4 points with big serves
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Alex holds to 30 for 4-4
He wins the first two pts as Cilic sends a backhand long and then Alex passes him. Alex gets to 40-15 with an unreturnable body serve and although Cilic hits a forehand winner, Alex clinches the game, forcing Cilic into a corner and the Croat nets
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Cilic holds to love to lead 5-4.
2 big serves, a forehand winner and a netted backhand from Alex
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Alex holds to 15 for 5-5, serving 3 aces !!!
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Cilic holds to love again to lead 6-5. 4 big serves, Alex got 3 returns back in play but Cilic powered them away for winners.
Best we can hope for is a tiebreak
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We have a tiebreak to decide this enthralling match with Alex responding with a love hold. 2 big serves, a backhand winner and a smash gave him the game.
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Alex wins 7-3 in the tiebreak, more to follow in a sec
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Full tiebreak information:
1-0 Cilic: Forehand winner from the Croat
1-1: Cilic nets a forehand
2-1 Cilic: Alex leaves a ball but it's a misjudgement and it lands in
2-2: Cilic nets
3-2 Cilic: Alex sends a 2nd serve return long
3-3: Powerful forehand winner from Alex
4-3: Alex has Cilic on the defensive throughout the rally and the Croat retrieves several balls but Alex proves stronger in the end
5-3: Alex chip-charges on Cilic's 2nd serve and the Croat nets
6-3: Alex smashes a forehand winner down the line to set up 3 match points
7-3: Backhand smash from Alex and he's won 3-6, 6-4, 7-6[3]
Superb victory against one of the game's rising stars
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Arka
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Great win for Alex! Cilic may call clay his favourite surface, but he has a win over a top 30 player on indoors, so there is now doubt about how effective he can be.
What makes the win even more special is that Alex won the game when Cilic clearly had the upper hand - tiebreakers with that big serve!
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Jono
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Fantastic result in what read as a very close call. This will give Alex great confidence. Hope he is not too weary or spent. If it is Wes then Al can remember James Auckland beat him a few weeks ago.Anyway a semi plus result will really give him a great Xmas.
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Jono
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Great report Admin. You've done a wonderful analysis. Well done!!
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Match report: Bogdanovic bt Cilic 3-6, 6-3, 7-6
Alex recovered from dropping the first set to beat former world junior no 1 Marin Cilic in a 3rd set tiebreaker, and reach rd2 of the Aachen challenger. It was the Croatian teenager who made the brighter start, breaking in the third game to lead 2-1, with Alex double-faulting on break point. Things looked ominous for Alex with the Cilic serve firing on all cylinders. He didn?t get a sniff of an opportunity to break back until the 8th game when he reached deuce on the Cilic serve but the 18 year old closed out the game to lead 5-3. Serving to stay in the set, Alex led 30-15 but netted a volley and a loose shot gave Cilic his first set point and an untimely double-fault meant that Cilic had taken the 1st set 6-3.
Alex needed to up his level in the 2nd set and did so. Both players held serve until 3-3 but it was Alex who had the first half-chance of the set at 30-30 in game 3. He was starting to read the Cilic serve better and in game 7 he kept the Croatian pegged back to the baseline with some deep returns and the resulting unforced errors meant that Alex broke to 15. He went 0-30 down on serve in the next game with a couple of loose shots but some big first serves got him out of trouble and he held for 5-3. Cilic saved a couple of set points in the next game but Alex maintained his focus and served out the set comfortably in the next game, taking Cilic by surprise by serve-volleying on the 2nd point.
Both players opened the 3rd set by holding to 30, by this point it was clear that Alex was the stronger player in the baseline rallies. Cilic has a strong forehand but Alex has more power off both wings and is also more consistent and has more nous in outmanoevering an opponent in the baseline rallies. He was starting to cause Cilic a lot of problems with the backhand slice to the Croatian?s forehand, keeping the ball very low and drawing the error. That tactic gave him a break in the 3rd game as Cilic found the top of the net trying to hit a forehand down the line and then scooped another forehand over the baseline. Unfortunately Alex lost his concentration in his next service game and was broken straight back. Although Alex was looking the stronger from the baseline, Cilic?s serve proved as strong as ever, earning him point after point and setting him up for easy forehands. Fortunately for Alex his serve kicked into gear and Cilic never got close to breaking again in the set. Alex twice served to stay in the match but showed no signs of nerves, hitting 3 aces the first time. The set went to a tiebreak and it was Cilic who secured the early minibreak to go 2-1 up as Alex misjudged a shot, leaving it and it landed in. However, he got the minibreak straight back as Cilic netted a forehand to make things 2-2. At 2-3 down, Alex crucially won both his service points with a powerful forehand winner for 3-3 and then won a well-worked rally for 4-3. He moved Cilic all-over the court, outhitting him off both flanks despite some desperate retrieving from the Croat. Alex took Cilic by surprise by chip-charging his 2nd serve and Cilic netted to leave Alex just two points away from the match at 5-3. A forehand winner down the line set up 3 match points and Alex took the first with an athletic backhand smash.
In the end, Alex's extra power from the baseline made the difference and from 2-3 in the tiebreak he stepped up a gear, completely overwhelming Cilic with some superb attacking tennis. Next up in rd2 is either Wesley Moodie or a qualifier.
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Rd2: match report: A Bogdanovic bt P Petzschner 6-3, 6-3
Alex avenged his 2002 Aussie Open juniors defeat to Petzschner with a routine 6-3, 6-3 win to progress through to his 9th quarter-final of the year. 4 years ago in Melbourne, Alex had been hampered by wrist cramps during the deciding set of his 3 set defeat to the German, but there was no danger of that happening this time as Alex produced the superb form he'd showed against Cilic in the latter stages of that match, regularly striking towering winners past the helpless Petzschner. Alex broke midway through the first set and was never in any danger of relinquishing the break, taking the set 6-3. He then broke again at 2-2 in the 2nd set and consolidated his advantage with a love hold to lead 4-2. Petzschner mounted a late rearguard action, forcing two break points in the 8th game but Alex held on to lead 5-3 and then broke the German to 15 in the following game to set up a quarter-final match with Dutch qualifier Jesse Huta-Galung. Petzschner has a pretty big serve and he occasionally serve-volleyed but most of the time he stayed back and tried to dominate with his forehand. He missed a lot of shots and was getting very frustrated by the end as Alex was dominating the points, serving well and his backhand proving particularly effective.
Speaking after the match, Alex's coach Mike Raphael said "Petzschner was a dangerous opponent, he's had a good tournament, knocking out Moodie in rd1 so it was always going to be a match where it was important for Alex to keep his focus. It was a pretty good all round performance from Alex, Petzschner lost a little focus during his service games and Alex took advantage by serving and returning well. He faced just two break points in the entire match, both in the 7th game of the 2nd set. He saved them with an ace and an unreturnable serve which Petzschner just got his racket onto."
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QF report: J Huta-Galung bt A Bogdanovic 7-5, 7-5
Alex wasn't at his best today, and the extra power of Dutch qualifier Jesse Huta-Galung paid dividends at the crucial moments and enabled him to edge a tight match.
Alex had the better start, getting to 30-30 on the Huta Galung serve in game 3 and he had a break point in game 5 with a stunning passing shot; but the Dutchman averted the danger in both games with some big serves. In game 6, Huta Galung started to find his range on Alex's serve and a stinging forehand from the Dutchman set up break point. However, Alex bravely attacked the net and the gamble paid off as a good deep volley forced an error and a couple of loose shots from Huta Galung made it 3-3. The set went with serve until the 11th game [though both players had had several half-chances at 30-30 and deuce but weren't able to force break points] with Alex serving to stay in the set at 5-6. Alex got to 30-0 with a superb topspin lob winner and a good first serve but was pegged back to 30-30 by yet another vicious forehand winner from Huta Galung and an attempted forehand down the line from Alex which was slightly mistimed and landed just wide. He manouevered the Dutchman all over the court using some nice angles to force the error to get to 40-30 but a forehand from Alex floated long and then Huta Galung smashed another forehand winner to set up set point which he took when Alex pulled a shot into the tramlines under pressure from a fierce baseline barrage from the Dutchman.
One of the key moments of the match came in the first game of the 2nd set with Huta Galung serving. He got to 40-15 but then lost concentration and let Alex back in the game with a double fault and a forehand which floated wide. At deuce, both players were involved in a long baseline rally which ended when a shot from Alex was called just wide. Alex wasn't very happy, he thought it had hit the line and it would have given him break point. Huta Galung went on to hold but if Alex had broken then, the momentum of the match could have completely turned. Instead Huta Galung upped his level, his powerful forehands causing Alex more and more problems. Huta Galung came close to breaking in game 6 when a couple of loose forehands meant that Alex slipped to 0-30. At 15-30, the Dutchman netted a 2nd serve return to let Alex off the hook and he closed out the game with 2 aces to make it 3-3. Both players held easily until the tenth game with Alex serving to stay in the match. Nerves took hold and he was down 2 match points but his serve again got him out of trouble and he held for 5-5. Unfortunately he couldn't repeat the feat 2 games later, Alex slipped 15-30 down with a weak forehand into the net. He recovered to 40-30 but 3 successive unforced errors meant that Huta Galung was in the semis.
Alex didn't get his tactics right in this match, Huta Galung's big weapon is his forehand and too often Alex fed mid-court or 3/4 length balls to that wing and the Dutchman took full advantage by smashing winners. Galung's backhand is his main weakness, often when Alex peppered that side with some deep shots, it broke down, unfortunately Alex didn't do it often enough. The big area which let Alex down was his returning game which was off-key in this match. Huta Galung didn't get many 1st serves in but Alex was unable to capitalise and attack the 2nd serve, not attacking enough with the return and Huta Galung was immediately able to force him onto the back foot with big groundstrokes. The main positive Alex can take out of this match is his serving, which was superb and kept him in it - overall he hit about 12 aces.
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