alexbogdanovic.myfreeforum.org

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

POPP's PROGRESS CURTAILED BY IMPRESSIVE BOGGO

Alex eased through to the quarter-finals, with a comfortable straight sets win over Thorsten Popp. It was plain sailing in the 1st set as he raced to a 5-1 lead, breaking Popp twice and then served out the set to take it 6-2. The 2nd set was a closer affair but a break midway through proved enough for Alex to win 6-2, 6-4. Speaking afterwards Alex said "I played well today, Popp's a tricky opponent. He plays mainly from the baseline, doesn't come to the net that often but he's very fast around the court and runs a lot of balls down." The Davis Cup coach Peter Lundgren is in Shrewsbury watching the British players this week. He's going to be working with a lot of the players before the Wrexham challenger in January. Alex said "Lundgren's been speaking to quite a few guys this week, he's a nice guy, it's great to have him around. Hopefully we'll get to link up next year."

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

BOGGO SLAYS GIANT SWEDE TO REACH SEMIS

A superb performance from Alex, successfully defusing the serving power of Ryderstedt with his consistently accurate returning. The Swede had no answer to the powerful array of groundstrokes and passing shots which Alex came up with and was broken 4 times, an impressive stat considering that he'd yet to be broken this week before this match. Speaking afterwards, Alex said that he was extremely pleased with his performance "It was a good win for me today as he's a dangerous opponent especially on fast courts. I played really well, returned well and never gave him a chance to get into the match which was key as it's tough when he gets into a groove with his serve."

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

BOGGO BATTLES PAST MEFFERT AND INTO FINAL

A superb fighting performance from Alex saw him fight back from the loss of the 1st set to defeat German Dominik Meffert and reach his 4th final of the year. This means that Alex has defended 35 of his 50 points from last year’s Sunderland challenger and so his ranking will remain in the 120s whatever the outcome of the final. Speaking afterwards a relieved Alex said “I did well to get through the match, it was a really tough one. Meffert served really well and was hitting very heavy from the back, I hung in there and was able to take my chances in the 2nd and 3rd sets.”

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

ALEX ENDS 2006 IN STYLE WITH 3RD TITLE

Alex recovered strongly after dropping the first set, to defeat Germany’s Mischa Zverev and secure his 3rd challenger title of the year. Beating Zverev meant that Alex defended all 50 points from winning the Sunderland challenger this time last year and so he maintains a ranking in the 120s. His ranking has actually increased a couple of places, a far cry from the start of the week when it looked like he was facing a drop back down to about 140. Now, with an end of season ranking of 121, Alex will definitely be in the top 8 seeds for Australian Open qualifying and he retains an outside chance of getting into the main draw directly, via withdrawals.

Speaking after the final Alex said “It was a tough match today. He's a good player and was serving unbelievably well especially in the first set. In the second set I was break point down a couple of times but managed to hang on. I got the break at 5-4 in the second and from there the momentum changed and I played much better in the third. I was quite tired coming into the tournament but it’s great to finish the season with a win. The week was good especially having Peter Lundgren around who watched my first few matches. Overall, it’s been a good year. I'm going to take a week off before I fly to the States to start training. I'm really looking forward to next year.”