Mons 125K Challenger

admin · Mons 125K Challenger

This tournament is on indoor hard in Belgium. It starts on 2nd October

Entry list:

1 Rochus, Christophe BEL 64
2 Lopez, Feliciano ESP 81
3 Sluiter, Raemon NED 85
4 Tipsarevic, Janko SCG 93
5 Vanek, Jiri CZE 95
6 Muller, Gilles LUX 99
7 Korolev, Evgeny RUS 100
8 Norman, Dick BEL 103
9 Dlouhy, Lukas CZE 109
10 Roitman, Sergio ARG 110
11 Falla, Alejandro COL 115
12 Gabashvili, Teimuraz RUS 117
13 Bolelli, Simone ITA 126
14 Devilder, Nicolas FRA 128
15 Kubot, Lukasz POL 129
16 Bozoljac, Ilia SCG 132
17 Minar, Ivo CZE 134
18 Zib, Tomas CZE 140
19 Vinciguerra, Andreas SWE 142
20 Peya, Alexander AUT 143
21 Bogdanovic, Alex GBR 144
22 Cakl, Tomas CZE 149
23 (SE)
24 (SE)
25 (WC)
26 (WC)
27 (WC)
28 (WC)
29 (Q)
30 (Q)
31 (Q)
32 (Q)

Alternates
1. Haehnel, Jerome FRA 155
2. Behrend, Tomas GER 165
3. Llodra, Michael FRA 169
4. Lisnard, Jean-Rene MON 170
5. Karanusic, Roko CRO 172
6. Chiudinelli, Marco SUI 174 @
7. Navarro Pastor, Ivan ESP 176
8. Vico, Uros ITA 177
9. Mertl, Jan CZE 179
10. Stakhovsky, Sergiy UKR 184
11. Eitzinger, Rainer AUT 185
12. Chiudinelli, Marco SUI 188
13. Cipolla, Flavio ITA 189
14. Ascione, Thierry FRA 193
15. Vagnozzi, Simone ITA 194
16. Arazi, Hicham MAR 194 @
17. Klec, Ivo SVK 198
18. El Aynaoui, Younes MAR 199
19. Andujar, Pablo ESP 203
20. Popp, Torsten GER 206

admin

Being ranked inside the top 150 has really paid dividends for Alex, being able to get direct entry into these 125Ks which are the top tier of challengers and are really lucrative, points-wise aswell as money-wise.

Alex is going to need to be on top form here, there's no easy matches at all. Hopefully he avoids the seeds in rd1. If he is playing well I don't think there's anyone in this field who he can't beat with maybe the exception of the Rochus brothers [Olivier has a wc] and Lopez.

He's beaten Vanek several times in the past and he's lost twice to Muller but both have been really close 3 setters, could easily have gone the other way. The first one was at Queens which Alex maybe should have won.

He's got winning records against Norman and Dlouhy and he beat Bolleli in the Bergamo final earlier this year.

admin

The main draw will be released later this afternoon

Tournament website:
http://www.ethiastrophy.be

Live scoring:
http://users.telenet.be/PatatRiek/male/index.htm

Click that link and then click "LIVE" to get the score updates. It's every couple of points which is good.

admin

Rd1: A Bogdanovic v A Falla [Col]

Preview: Alex faces the Columbian Alejandro Falla in rd1 of the Mons 125K challenger. Falla is a leftie, currently ranked 115 in the world with a career best of 110 which he reached back in 2004.

He's an all-court player having had success on clay, grass and hard courts.

Alex may catch Falla a little rusty, as due to Davis Cup duty for Columbia he hasn't played indoors since November 2005 so he may struggle with his timing in the early stages.

Falla has a fair bit of success in the Grand Slams this year, qualifying for Wimbledon and then upsetting 6th seed Nicolay Davydenko in 4 sets in rd1 before losing in 4 sets in rd2. He also qualified for the US Open, beating rising Argentinian star Juan Martin Del Potro in rd1 before losing to Tursunov in rd2. He got into the main draw of the French Open as a lucky loser and won a round before losing to Federer.

He also did well in challengers earlier this year, reaching two finals in South America.

Bogdanovic and Falla have played once before, in the juniors back in 2001 when Falla won 6-4, 4-6, 7-6[9] in the quarters of the Argentian Bowl on clay.

The winner of this one is likely to face 5th seeded Dutchman Ramon Sluiter in rd2.

admin

I reckon it's a pretty good draw for Alex, he has a good chance against Falla. I've seen Falla play a couple of times before and he's just basically consistent, hits with lots of topspin off both sides and is adept at manouevering his opponents around the court and grinding them down. Alex definately has the bigger serve and shots. Falla's game is not particularly well suited to indoor courts but he's still going to be a tricky opponent, he's very fast and will make Alex hit a lot of balls.

Intriguing that the winner will play Sluiter given that GB play Holland in the Davis Cup next April, probably indoors. If Alex wins, possibly a good chance to stake a place in the team to John Lloyd !!

Arka

Yep, the draw is pretty kind. He could have played any of the seeds or the likes of Korolev.

I'm sure that Lloyd won't be able to ignore Alex if he defeats Sluiter out here.

Arka

I'll not be here for quite a few days, best of luck to Alex in Mons and Vienna. Smile

admin

Sluiter defeated Bolleli 6-2, 7-6[3] in rd1 so the winner of Bogdanovic v Falla will play him.

Bogdanovic v Falla is 4th on court 1 on Tuesday at approx 2.30 pm GMT.

Score updates will be provided here

davidB

so now that Alex has DESTROYED Falla i think we will see him being the more fresh player coming into this match. Sluiter appeared to have a much harder match in his first round, so hopefully Alex will be able to run him around easy.

admin

Our match report:

Alex progressed comfortably through to rd2 of the Mons challenger with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Columbia's Alejandro Falla.

Falla is ranked 31 places higher but Alex was always in control, dominating the baseline rallies. Alex got off to a great start, serving well and breaking in just the 2nd game of the match at his first opportunity. He then sealed a 3-0 lead by holding, winning the game with an angled cross-court drop shot. Falla upped his level on serve and in game 5, he had chances to break back as Alex played a poor service game, hitting two double faults. However, he saved two break points and held on to take a 4-1 lead. When serving for the set at 5-3, Alex went 40-0 up but missed all 3 set points, he then saved 2 break points with big serves before closing out the set on his 4th chance.

Alex broke straight away in the opening game of the 2nd set to 15. In the 7th game with Alex leading 4-2, Falla saved 3 break points with big winners but Alex created a 4th chance and took it with a fine passing shot. He closed out the match on his 2nd match point in the next game.

So, a very dominant performance from Alex, building on the great form he showed last week. Speaking after the match, his coach Mike Raphael said that after his match against Henman last week, Alex is feeling very confident and positive and he played an excellent match today, well within himself.

This win means that Alex will overtake Greg Rusedski in the rankings and become British no 3 when the lists are updated next week.

admin

It was a very fine win from Alex, he was able to outplay Falla in the baseline rallies. I watched Alex's match against Henman last week and Alex was throwing the kitchen sink at Henman from the baseline but Henman's defence and counter-punching ability was just top class.

He plays Sluiter at 11am GMT today

Sluiter is ranked 88, he reached a career best of 46 in February 2003. He's had a mixed year, the highlights have been reaching the semis of the Andrezieux challenger in January and reaching the 3rd round of the French Open. beating Jarkko Nieminen and Nicolas Lapentti before losing in 5 sets. He's won matches in several ATPs but apart from the French Open he hasn't been past rd2 and from January till May he lost 10 successive matches.

I shouldn't think that either player will be struggling physically, they've both had pretty routine rd1 wins. Sluiter is double-handed both sides, can hit really big groundstrokes, when they played in Lyon in 2004, Alex was just outhit, he'll need to serve well today. Sluiter can make quite a few unforced errors and he's not particularly good on the run like most players who hit double-handed.

admin

Report on the Sluiter match:

Alex reached the quarter-finals of the Mons 125K challenger with one of the best wins of his career, beating no 5 seed and world no 88 Raemon Sluiter 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in a match lasting over 2 and a half hours.

The match was a big-hitting contest with chances to break few and far between. A lapse of concentration in the 5th game of the 1st set led to Alex being broken and that cost him the opening set as Sluiter held his next 3 service games with ease.

Both players continued to fire down big serves in the 2nd set which went with serve all the way through until the 12th game when Alex seized his chance and capitalised on some Sluiter errors and broke to level things at 1 set all.

The decider proved just as close until the 10th game with Sluiter serving to stay in the match. As in the 2nd set, Alex took full advantage of the pressure the Dutchman was under, hitting some great returns to break and set up a quarter-final match against either 2nd seed Kristof Vliegen or Belgian wildcard Stefan Wauters, [they play on Thursday]. The quarter-final will take place on Friday.

admin

I'd say that this was Alex's 2nd best win of the year, just behind the 3 set win over Seppi [who was then ranked 56] at Bergamo. This is the first time he's been this far in a 125K.

He did extremely well to prove too much in the baseline rallies in the end against such a big hitter.

Given that he'd be likely to play Sluiter on the opening day of the Davis Cup tie v Holland next April, if he's selected, this win is a big reminder to John Lloyd that Alex is our next best hope after Andy once Tim and Greg retire, and to emphasize that, he will overtake Greg in the rankings on Monday.

admin

Alex beat Wauters 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 Very Happy

Our report: Alex came back from the brink to defeat Belgium's Stefan Wauters in a thrilling match to reach the semis of the Mons 125K challenger. Despite being just two points away from defeat at one stage, Alex reeled off 4 straight games in the deciding set to win 6-2, 4-6, 7-5.

During the 1st set, it looked as though Alex was going to run away with the match, there was no hint of the drama which would follow 1 and a half hours later. He missed two break points in the 2nd game but made no mistake in game 6, breaking to 15 to lead 4-2 and then two games later he broke again to 30 to take the 1st set 6-2.

Unfortunately Alex's concentration slipped at the start of the 2nd set and he allowed Wauters back into the match. The Belgian took his 2nd break point to lead 1-0 and in doing so, he gained in confidence. He upped his level on serve and didn't allow Alex a single break back opportunity in the set. At 5-3 down, Alex saved a set point and held serve, forcing Wauters to serve for the set but the Belgian didn't show any nerves, holding to 15 to take it 6-4.

Wauters immediately pressurized the Bogdanovic serve at the start of the decider, getting to 0-30 with some good returns. Alex pulled it back to 30-30 but could do nothing two points later when the Belgian fired a winner to break. In the 7th game with Wauters serving at 4-3 Alex had a half-chance to break back, getting to 15-30 but the Belgian powered down some big serves to hold for 5-3. Alex held, forcing Wauters to serve for the match but when the Belgian got to 30-15, just two points away from victory, it looked as though Alex's run in Mons was all over. However, nerves then set in and a superb succession of points from Alex, putting the pressure on Wauters from the back of the court gave him break point. Wauters saved 2 break points but Alex created a 3rd chance and this time he wasn't to be denied, breaking to level things at 5-5.

Alex held to 15 for 6-5 and now Wauters was under pressure, serving to stay in the match. An error from the Belgian gave Alex match point at 30-40 but this was saved and Wauters had game point. Two more errors gave Alex a 2nd match point which he took with some aggressive play from the baseline, forcing the error.

Alex's ranking will now increase into the top 130 for the first time in his career. In Saturday's semi-finals he will play Switzerland's Marco Chiudinelli.

admin

When Alex went a break down in set 3, I really thought the match was all over as Wauters had been playing so well on serve all throughout the 3rd set. Alex did so well to hang in there, keep his concentration on his own serve and then pounce when Wauters got a little tight right at the end.

He's got a good chance against Chiudinelli however, although Chiudinelli is currently ranked 188, he's returning from injury, having been in the top 150, he's used his protected ranking of 129 to get into this tournament. He's a really big hitter from the baseline and has hit top form in this tournament, having had some superb wins over Dick Norman in straight sets in rd2 - 7-6, 6-1 [and the Norman serve is such a weapon indoors] and today he beat Lopez 6-1, 6-7, 7-6. The Lopez-Chiudinelli match was bizarre as Chiudinelli outplayed Lopez for large periods of it but then whenever he got ahead he started to choke, he had at least 3 match points in the 2nd set breaker and then threw away a 5-2 lead in the 3rd. He missed 2 more match points in the tiebreak before eventually closing it out.

Chiudinelli v Bogdanovic starts at 1pm GMT on Saturday

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Semi-final: A Bogdanovic [GB][5] bt M Chiudinelli [Swi] 7-6, 6-7, 6-3

Alex reached his first 125K final with a see-saw 3 set victory over Switzerland's Marco Chiudinelli: 7-6, 6-7, 6-3.

Going into the match Chiudinelli was regarded as the slight favourite having knocked out two of the pre-tournament favourites in the previous 2 rounds: Feliciano Lopez and Dick Norman. He made a very strong start as Alex struggled with his rhythm on serve early on. The Swiss player broke in the 3rd game and took a 3-1 lead as Alex missed a break back point. Chiudinelli looked to be romping through the 1st set when he then broke to love and held to 30 to lead 5-1. At this point he'd won 5 straight games but Boggo then proceeded to make an astonishing comeback. He stopped the rot with a hold to 30 and then reduced the deficit to 5-3, breaking Chiudinelli to 30 as the Swiss player served for the set for the first time and then produced a love service game to make it 5-4. It still looked as though Chiudinelli would take the first set when he pulled out some big serves in the next game to secure 2 set points at 40-15. However, nerves then crept in and some costly errors from the Swiss enabled Alex to save both set points and he pounced, hitting a couple of sublime returns to break back and level things at 5-5. Both players then exchanged service holds to take the set to a tiebreak. Alex was down a minibreak at 2-4 in the breaker but he was able to up his level, smashing several winners off both sides to reel off 5 of the next 6 points to take the tiebreak 7-5.

Having won such a tight set, it looked as though Alex would have a lot of momentum going into set 2 but there were several twists to come in the match. Both players were still struggling with their rhythm on serve and as in the 1st set, it was Chiudinelli who started the strongest, breaking Alex twice to 15 to open up a 4-0 lead. However, again the Swiss player started to tighten up once ahead and Alex hit back breaking twice to 30 and coming back from 15-40 on his serve to level things at 4-4. The set went with serve until a tiebreak where just 1 minibreak proved decisive and Chiudinelli took it 7-4.

Both players had now started to establish more of a rhythm on serve and it was Alex who upped his level first with his returns in set 3. He broke to 15 in game 4 with a couple of stunning passes. Chiudinelli's best chance of retrieving the break came in the very next game when he had 0-30 on Alex's serve but Alex hit some big serves to take the next 4 points and the opportunity passed by. Alex closed out the match with a hold to 15.

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Final: A Bogdanovic [GB] lost to J Tipsarevic [SCG][7] 4-6, 6-1, 2-6

Alex was unable to make it 6 wins out of 6 in challenger finals, eventually succombing in 3 sets to the shot-making of Janko Tipsarevic. The Serbian broke in the 3rd game of the first set to 30 and was able to hang onto his lead. Alex had a few chances to break back, getting to 0-30 on the Tipsarevic serve in game 4 and he had 2 break points as Tipsarevic served for the set at 5-4. However, the 6th seed pulled out some big serves at the crucial moments to get himself out of trouble and took the set 6-4 on his first set point. Tipsarevic played with controlled aggression in set 1 and was able to outmanoeuvere Alex from the baseline. He hit 20 winners and 8 unforced errors while Alex hit 18 winners and 12 unforced errors.
At the start of the 2nd set, Tipsarevic lost his concentration, making too many unforced errors. Alex took advantage to break in game 2 and again in game 4, racing through the set 6-1. It was a completely different story to the 1st set, Alex was now dominating the play with big groundstrokes. He hit 14 winners and just 3 unforced errors while Tipsarevic hit 11 winners and 14 unforced errors.
Alex needed to consolidate his lead and get off to a good start in the decider but unfortunately he was broken in game 2 to 15 with Tipsarevic hitting a brilliant topspin lob winner. The Serb's controlled aggression was causing problems and he was now making very few errors. Alex faced further break points at 0-3 but hit a superb backhand down the line winner and held on for 1-3. However, unfortunately the Tipsarevic serve was firing on all cylinders and he blitzed through his next two service games for the loss of just 1 point. At 2-5, Alex's 5th double fault and a fine pass from Tipsarevic gave him two match points and he took the 1st to win 6-4, 1-6, 6-2 and win the Mons 125K challenger.

FINAL PREVIEW:

Alex faces the in-form Serb and 6th seed Janko Tipsarevic in the final of the Mons 125K challenger this afternoon. Tipsarevic stunned top seed and home favourite Olivier Rochus in the quarter-finals, thrashing the world no 30 6-2, 6-0 with a magnificent display of all-court attacking tennis. He continued this rich vein of form in the semi-finals, beating rising Russian star Evgeny Korolev 6-4, 6-3. Tipsarevic is currently ranked 96, he's had a pretty good year, winning 3 challenger titles and reaching the final of another challenger on clay in Germany. He's had mixed results on the ATP tour but at Queens club this summer, he beat British no 1 Andy Murray and made the quarter-finals of ATP Nottingham. At the start of 2006 he qualified for the Aussie Open and reached rd2 before losing to Juan Carlos Ferrero in 5 sets.

admin

It was a fantastic week for Alex, took him up to a career high ranking of 114. This means that he needs 50 more points to reach the top 100, the equivalent of winning one of the 25K+H challengers in Nottingham and Shrewsbury coming up over the next 5 weeks. Aswell, he does have to defend 50 points from winning Sunderland in November 2005. As long as Alex defends those points and reaches a few more quarter-finals before the end of 2006, he should be into the top 110 and therefore secure direct entry into ATP Chennai and the Aussie Open at the start of 2007.

I asked Alex's coach Mike Raphael about the bizarre match Alex had with Chiudinelli in the semis, he said: "Chiudinelli got very tight and started making errors and Alex was able to take advantage. Alex also started blocking his returns more in that match instead of swinging at them like he normally does, as a result he made Chiudinelli play more balls."

In the Mons final, he said that Alex ran out of steam a little having played three 3 setters and Tipsarevic was awesome. Everyone thought that Alex would get smashed off the court like Rochus and they were all really surprised at how close it was.

Arka

Definitely one of the best weeks in Alex's career. This performance really takes the pressure off him.

There is no one in Nottingham that Alex can't beat and the same should happen in Shrewsbury. And there are other events that he will also play.
He is going to Saddlebrook. Could he also play in the last Challenger of the year in Maui?

I am confident of seeing him crack the top 100 this year. I hope that I'll get to see him Live on Tv during Chennai. Smile

If Alex can work hard he can gain an entry into the two Pacific Masters.

admin

I agree, I'd actually rate Mons as the best tournament of Alex's career. He made the quarters in ATP Newport, but the opponents he faced weren't ranked as high as a couple of the ones he beat in Mons. He did well to come through 3 really tight matches against Sluiter, Wauters and Chiudinelli, coming back from the brink of defeat against Wauters.

He won't play in Maui, he's going to end the year in Shrewsbury and then begin training in Florida.

If Alex can get to around 105 then entry into the Aussie Open will be secure. Aswell as direct entry into Chennai he'll also be able to play ATP Auckland or Sydney as an extra warm-up for Melbourne.

Arka

Mons is better than Newport because he was always going to win against Levine and Bastl isn't the man who once defeated Sampras. And he also picked up the highest number of points he has ever done in a single week.

Thank you for answering the Maui question.

Alex should pick Auckland. Unless he does exceptionally well in the next few tournaments, there isn't much chance that he will get a direct entry into either Auckland or Sydney.
But Sydney has one of the highest cut offs of the whole year and Blake, Nadal and Hewitt are already committed to it. And the qualies field is exceptionally strong! Last year the cut off in the qualies was 211 with people like Clement, Seppi and Karlovic there. And Auckland had an unranked cut off!

admin

If Alex gets direct entry into the Aussie Open, I agree that picking ATP Auckland would be the best decision as the draw is a lot weaker as you say. However, I think that he may pick Sydney as he'll be travelling with Alan Mackin and Mackin will be in Australia that week for AO qualifying.

admin

Due to his success in Mons, Alex is now up to a career best ranking of 119, a jump of 27 places. His previous career high was 134, which he reached earlier this year.

This means that Alex is well placed to ensure direct entry into the Australian Open in January where the cut usually extends down to about 115.

Speaking yesterday after the Mons final Alex was upbeat. "It’s been a pretty tough week for me, I had a few three-set matches but I managed to play pretty solid throughout,” he said.

“I was down break points and set points during the matches but was pleased with how I played the big points.

“It’s been a good year for me. It started really well, winning two Challengers [in Wrexham and Bergamo] but the summer was tough.

“I picked up an injury which was really frustrating but I've worked hard to get back to where I am and I'm looking forward to the rest of the year.

Hopefully I'll perform well and get my ranking up towards the top 100. It’s a question of keeping the momentum going for the rest of the season.”
Alex is now taking a week off to train ahead of his next tournament, the Kolding 50K+H Challenger in Denmark which begins on Monday 16th October. After that it will be back to Britain for a challenger in Nottingham.