alexbogdanovic.myfreeforum.org

admin · Site Admin Joined: 21 Aug 2006 Posts: 219 Location: London

Alex has made the main draw cut for ATP Bangkok which starts next Tuesday. It will be only the 2nd time he has got direct entry into an ATP event [the first time was ATP Newport in July] which reflects the progress he has made this year. He joins compatriots Andy Murray and Tim Henman in the main draw. It had been looking like Alex would be in the main draw for ATP Mumbai as on Friday he was just 1 withdrawal away from making the cut but then a spate of withdrawals followed from the Bangkok entry list due to the current political crisis over there. The field for Bangkok is a lot stronger than Mumbai but Bangkok is on Alex’s favourite surface; fast indoor hard courts while Mumbai is on slow, high bouncing, outdoor hard which doesn’t suit Alex’s game so well.

Alex has also entered for ATP Vienna which starts on 10th October. He’s 9th on the qualifying entry list so hopefully there’ll be a withdrawal from the top 8 which will enable him to be seeded in qualifying.[/b]

admin · Site Admin Joined: 21 Aug 2006 Posts: 219 Location: London

Rd1: A Bogdanovic v Y Wang [Taiwan]

Preview: Yeu-Tzuoo Wang of Chinese Taipei will be Alex’s rd1 opponent in Bangkok. Wang is currently ranked 19 places above Alex at 129, he has a career high of 85 which he reached in March this year. It’s an extremely good draw for Alex considering some of the other opponents he could have faced in rd1: Ljubicic, Baghdatis, Blake, Murray, Ferrero. Wang will still be a very tricky opponent, this year he has reached rd3 of ATP Queens [beating Nicolay Davydenko and Jonas Bjorkman before losing to Dmitry Tursunov in 3 sets], the final of the Wolfsburg challenger on indoor carpet, the semis of the Recanti challenger in Italy and the Ho Chi Minh challenger in Vietnam and he’s also played all 4 grand slams. He won rounds at the Australian Open and Wimbledon but lost in rd1 of Roland Garros and the US Open [to Roger Federer]. Wang played ATP Bangkok last year, reaching the quarter-finals. Since the US Open he’s played 1 tournament, ATP Bejing on indoor hard, beating a Chinese wildcard in rd1 before losing to the eventual winner Marcos Baghdatis. Boggo and Wang have played once before, back in 2003 in rd1 of a GB futures and Wang won 6-4, 7-5. Wang’s main strengths are his speed around the court and his forehand. He doesn’t possess a particularly big serve which is a weakness indoors. He’s not the sort of player who will blow Alex off the court which his shot-making, he’ll be trying to grind him down from the baseline.

Bogdanovic v Wang is 1st on court 1 on Tuesday at 6.00am GMT [midday in Thailand].

admin · Site Admin Joined: 21 Aug 2006 Posts: 219 Location: London

I reckon that Alex has a great chance of winning. He's already guaranteed to defend his 5 points from Tulsa last year [you get 5 points if you lose in rd1 of an ATP] but if he wins he'll move up into the 130s. I forgot to mention in the preview that if he wins there will be a battle of Britain in rd2 against either Henman or Murray.

Scotsman75 · Posted: Wed Sep 27, 2006 4:25 pm Post subject:

Oh well, I wanted it to be Murray v Boggo, but Henman will do.

Teapot · Joined: 15 Sep 2006 Posts: 3 Location: Brighton, UK

Hi there!

I just set my alarm to get up in time for the match tomorrow, hopefully I'll get to see the whole thing before I have to head off to uni. I was hoping for a Murray game too!

I just flew back from Ukraine Monday because I went to see Team GB in the Davis Cup. I was gutted Lloyd didn't put Boggo in the tie though.

Go Boggo!

Teapot

Arka · Joined: 27 Sep 2006 Posts: 14 Location: India.

I won't be getting the match Live, but I'll follow the scores online.

Hello to everyone. Very Happy

Loving the site.

davidB · Joined: 28 Sep 2006 Posts: 3 Location: USA

amazing site isnt it?

i can't say i'll be rooting for boggo tomorrow... but i do like him and hope that if he does beat tim that he will go far in this tournament.
_________________
If at first you don't succeed, you fail.

admin · Site Admin Joined: 21 Aug 2006 Posts: 219 Location: London

Hi guys, I'm pleased you all like the site so much. Welcome !

Boggo v Wang report:

Alex scored one of the best wins of his career today, overcoming Yeu-Tzuoo Wang in an epic 3 setter, lasting 2 hrs and 11 minutes: 6-7[7], 6-4, 6-4. Ultimately Alex’s accurate serving and big groundstrokes proved too much for the Taiwan number 1.

The 1st set was dominated by serve, just two points were won on the return in the opening 4 games. Wang had the only break point chances of the set at 2-2, but Alex saved both with big serves. The closest Alex got on the Wang serve was in game 6 when he pulled it back from 40-15 to deuce but Wang took the next two points to hold. The set went to a tiebreak; Wang gained the first minibreak to lead 1-0 but Alex got it back almost immediately and it went with serve until 5-5 when an unforced error from Wang gave Alex set point. Unfortunately a nervy double fault made it 6-6 and then Wang took advantage of some passive play to gain a set point at 7-6. Alex saved this but he could do nothing about the next two points which Wang won with a big serve and some powerful baseline hitting to take the breaker 9-7.

In the second set, both players upped their 1st serve percentages but the key for Alex was that he started to outplay Wang from the baseline, he won 75% of the points on his 2nd serve [compared to just 50% in set 1] and on Wang’s 2nd serve he won 57% of the points [compared to just 33% in set 2.] Wang was struggling to win points in the baseline rallies but was still frustrating Alex with his big serving. However in the 5th game he cracked, missing several 1st serves and Alex broke to love. He held on comfortably to take the set 6-4.

In the deciding set, Alex started to impose himself even more on the Wang 2nd serve, winning 69% of the points. However, on his own serve he started to tense up a bit more particularly on his 2nd serve where he only won 43% of the points. Alex got off to the best possible start racing to 0-40 on the Wang serve in the opening game and he broke on his 3rd opportunity. However, he let his concentration slip and was immediately broken straight back to love. Both players held on until 4-4, when Alex pegged Wang back from 40-15 to deuce and then won the next two points to break. Serving for the match at 5-4, there were a few jitters as Alex missed 3 match points before closing in out on his 4th opportunity.

Alex now has a day off before his rd2 match against either Tim Henman or Andy Murray on Thursday.

It was a fantastic win for Alex on Tuesday, a really hard-fought battle and a very entertaining match. Alex had the edge in the end because he has a bigger serve and started to outplay Wang from the baseline.

This is our Henman-Boggo preview:

Alex will face British no 2 Tim Henman in rd2 on Thursday after Henman defeated 4th seed Andy Murray for the 1st time in 4 matches, 6-4, 6-2.

Henman was particularly dominant on the Murray 2nd serve, chip-charging at every opportunity and putting a lot of pressure on Murray who wasn't able to come up with the passing shots at key moments.In order to have a chance Alex will have to keep his 1st serve percentage high.

Alex has played Henman once before, in an exhibition match at Manchester on grass which Alex won.
Alex was in relaxed mood yesterday, speaking after his rd1 win over Wang. "I'm 22 now and the pressure is gone, really," he told the press after his victory. "However, I don't often get the opportunity to play ATP events and I've got to take these opportunities. I'm aiming to break into the top 100, and the only way I'm going to get better is trying to challenge myself against the better players." Alex felt that the turning point in the match was when he broke for 3-2 in the 2nd set "I think it was very important that at the beginning of the second set I got that momentum and broke early on, because after the first set I was obviously a little bit disappointed."

In the press: "New buzz for Bogdanovic" [Telegraph]: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/...ml=/sport/2006/09/27/stbrit27.xml

admin · Site Admin Joined: 21 Aug 2006 Posts: 219 Location: London

Match has started:

Backhand into the net from Henman, 15-0.

Good first serve from Boggo and Henman struggles to return it and hits the net, 30-0.

A little bit of a rally and Henman just hits it long, 40-0

Another good first serve which is not returned and it's a love game to start off for Boggo

1-0 Boggo.

Henman serving...

Boggo returns Henmans serve and then Henman hits a forehand into the net, 0-15.

Good first serve from Henman and Boggo tried to return it but doesn't get over 15-15.

Another good 1st serve which Boggo gets to but can't return it over and it's 30-15.

Good return from Boggo from Henman's 1st serve and it's 30-30 as Henman hits a backhand volley into the net.

30-40

Deuce

Adv Henman.

1-1 all.

admin · Site Admin Joined: 21 Aug 2006 Posts: 219 Location: London

Boggo serving...

Forehand smash by Boggo to finish off a rally, 15-0.

1st ace for Boggo, 30-0.

Good 1st serve which Henman returns and goes long, 40-0.

40-15

40-30 now, as Boggo hits a backhand into the net.

Game Boggo with a good forehand down the line.

2-1 Boggo.

Henman serving...

15-0 as Boggo hits a backhand into the net after a good approach from Henman.

30-0, Boggo returns Henmans serve but goes long.

40-0, Returned his serve again but goes long.

Game Henman with a stunning forehand.

2-2.