Dnepropetrovsk 125K+H.

Arka · Dnepropetrovsk 125K+H.

Entry List:

1 Becker, Benjamin GER 59
2 Johansson, Thomas SWE 64
3 Bracciali, Daniele ITA 67
4 Tipsarevic, Janko SRB 66
5 Koubek, Stefan AUT 78
6 Lopez, Feliciano ESP 80
7 Vik, Robin CZE 81
8 Sluiter, Raemon NED 84
9 Korolev, Evgeny RUS 88
10 Del Potro, Juan Martin ARG 91
11 Starace, Potito ITA 97
12 Marach, Oliver AUT 98
13 Andreev, Igor RUS 100
14 Pavel, Andrei ROM 106
15 Dlouhy, Lukas CZE 108
16 Llodra, Michael FRA 109
17 Muller, Gilles LUX 114
18 Waske, Alexander GER 117
19 Carlsen, Kenneth DEN 118
20 Kubot, Lukasz POL 119
21 Bogdanovic, Alex GBR 120
22 Economidis, Konstantinos GRE 121
23 (SE)
24 (SE)
25 (WC)
26 (WC)
27 (WC)
28 (WC)
29 (Q)
30 (Q)
31 (Q)
32 (Q)

Alternates
1. Bolelli, Simone ITA 124
2. Kunitsyn, Igor RUS 128
3. Ulihrach, Bohdan CZE 139 @
4. Luzzi, Federico ITA 146
5. Minar, Ivo CZE 152
6. Rusedski, Greg GBR 154
7. Stakhovsky, Sergiy UKR 159
8. Chiudinelli, Marco SUI 161
9. Labadze, Irakli GEO 163
10. El Aynaoui, Younes MAR 165
11. Cakl, Tomas CZE 168
12. Cilic, Marin CRO 185
13. Crivoi, Victor ROM 191
14. Okun, Noam ISR 195
15. Istomin, Denis UZB 211
16. Lisnard, Jean-Rene MON 218
17. Elseneer, Gilles BEL 224
18. Craciun, Dacian ROM 228
19. Lacko, Lukas SVK 234
20. Lee, Martin GBR 238

Arka

Alex chose Dnepropetrovsk ahead of Helsinki. I appreciate the fact that he is going for bigger Challengers. He will soon compete in fields that contain people like Federer and Andy Murray, so it will be much better if he tries playing Tour standard players in these few weeks.

Jac

wow that is a tough line up, i've seen easier atp's, making any head way there would be great.

admin

Rd1: R Sluiter bt A Bogdanovic 3-6, 6-2, 7-6

Alex found himself in familar territory in the Dnepropetrovsk 125K+H challenger as he faced up against Raemon Sluiter for the 2nd week in a row in the opening round, and the for 4th time in 6 weeks.
In contrast to their match in Bratislava last week; Alex started the match brightly. He had 3 break points in game 4 which Sluiter saved to hold for 2-2 but 4 games later Alex made no mistake, breaking to 30 to lead 5-3. A hold to 30 gave him the first set - 6-3.
It looked as though Alex was on course to gain revenge but Sluiter had other plans, upping his game in set 2. He broke in game 6 to lead 4-2 and then again as Alex served to stay in the set, to win it 6-2.
This set up a tense decider, with both players battling hard to take the match. Alex had the better chances, at 2-2 he was 15-30 up on Sluiter's serve but the Dutchman pulled out some big shots to hold. Alex also had a break point at 4-4 which would have left him serving for the match but again Sluiter held his nerve and came up with some big serves. The set went to a tie break and unfortunately it was Sluiter who started more strongly, racing to a 5-0 lead. The match looked over but Alex fought back, pulling it back to 5-3. However, Sluiter secured a 6-3 lead and 3 match points. Alex saved 2 on his own serve but could do nothing about the 3rd.
Despite the loss, Alex can take encouragement from his performances recently, Sluiter is a top 100 player and has been in the top 50 in the past. Alex has been extremely unlucky to draw him in round 1, two weeks in a row which has scuppered his chances of making top 100 by the end of the year. However, with a few kinder draws it's only a matter of time before he does so in 2007.
Speaking after the match Alex said "It was a tough match, I had a few chances in the 3rd but wasn't able to take them and that cost me. The courts are medium speed but faster than Bratislava."
Alex is also still involved in the doubles this week, he's partnering Poland's Tomas Bednarek, who's a friend on the tour. They face Kunitsyn and Tursunov in round 1. Once Alex is out of the doubles, he heads back to Britain for next week's Shrewsbury challenger, Alex's final tournament of the year.

admin

ALEX THROUGH TO DOUBLES SEMIS IN DNEPROPETROVSK:

Alex's involvement in the Dnepropetrovsk challenger isn't over yet as he's competing in the doubles. This is only the 2nd time he's played doubles since September 2005, having decided to concentrate solely on singles this year.

He had originally planned to just play singles in this tournament but one of his friends, Poland's Tomas Bednarek was without a partner and so they decided to team up. Bednarek is a doubles specialist, ranked 177. He's reached 4 challenger finals this year.
They've formed a very effective partnership so far this week. In rd1 they stunned 3rd seeds, Igor Kunitsyn and Dmitry Tursunov 6-3, 7-6 and in the quarters they breezed past Konstantinos Economdis and Stefan Koubek 6-3, 6-2.

Speaking after the quarter-final win Alex said "We played very well, our game styles compliment each other nicely. I haven't played much doubles this year as I've been concentrating on singles but next year I'll be playing more ATP tournaments and I'll enter more doubles events in those. "

In the semis they face Ukraine Davis Cup pairing Sergiy Stakhovsky and Orest Tereschuck. That will be a tough match, Stakhovsky and Tereschuck defeated Andy Murray and Jamie Delgado in straight sets when Britain played the Ukraine on clay earlier this autumn.

admin

ALEX HEADS BACK HOME TO SHREWSBURY
Alex's participation in the Dnepropetrovsk challenger ended on Friday with a 6-3, 6-1 loss in the doubles semi-finals to Sergei Stakhovsky and Orest Tereschuck. The week's results will increase Alex's doubles ranking by 700 places, up to no 700 in the world.

He now heads back to Britain for his final tournament of the year a 25K+H challenger in Shrewsbury. There is a lot at stake for Alex as he's defending 50 points from winning the Sunderland challenger this time last year, he beat Danai Udomchoke 7-5, 7-5 in the final. The courts in Shrewsbury are medium fast indoor acrylic, they should suit his game nicely. Alex will be relieved to know that Raemon Sluiter hasn't entered this challenger !!!