Brasil Open

[djarvik]

Hi guys,

this Clay court event needs to fill up until 14 for us to run the tournament. If you forgot to sign-up - please do so asap.

If we will have less then 14 sign-ups, we may consider combining two tournaments into one.

[VMoe86]

Finally we have "Vultures" on the TE Tour. Maybe I should reconsider my schedule and join one of these Clay Tournaments as Nadal?

[eliomelma]

Vultures?...

[VMoe86]

Vultures?...

We have several tournaments per week now: One 250 and one 500. In Rotterdam there are many top players, so some people rather enter the 250 clay tournament to get some more points more easily, like a "vulture". From that article: "Vultures seldom attack healthy animals, but may kill the wounded or sick."

[Woowhat]

I'm a vulture. Knowing how bad I am on indoor hard and have absolutely zero chances to past round 1 of Rotterdam i decided to participate in this glorious event.



Good decision.

Btw solid match there. My first on clay and non-Fed using sexy beast Verdasco.
He started with early break but i won next 3 games and then we served it out until end although he had some break points to level things especially in the last gem.
In second set I immediately wasted 0-40 after beeing too aggressive for my own good on break points. He played rock solid and I had a lot of trouble to stay with him. Big game was at 3-2 for him when i managed to keep my serve after long battle. In next game I broke him and then again for the match.

Dimitrov can defend very well, I couldn't break his backhand or break anything actually cos he was playing very far behind baseline so i did a lot of volleying with solid success. Some dropshots helped too.
He had initiative in lot of points and has hit some nice looking winners but in my opinion he was too often being too close to wall which is opposed to his player nature. His bad serving day didn't help eather.
In second set we played some long points with no power so my better stamina helped. I think on hardcourt this match could be even closer.

Anyway I dont know why i'm writing such a long post about first round but i have nothing better do do right now so be it.
gg Dimitrov and gg Fernando, you're the man

[inseedious]

The most thought I would reach the final. Lost the first round vs Lokius. Again, winning more points. I joined this tourney not as a vulture, but just to play a few good matches. I also chose Federer in order, and not a defender or a spinner, to stay away from easy victories. Maybe I was wrong, because Lokius defeated me, despite the experience and skill gap. I was a disaster at net, maybe damaged a lot by his spin. I was very frustated during the match, because he could hit lots of mishits and nets, while I maybe hit 2-3 mishits in 3 sets and never hit the net. Verdasco was just better than Federer, because his high spin let him close his offensive points with deep accels and winning lots of defending points with deep top spins and mishits. Also he hit lots of lines with serve, while my Federer had a low % of first serves. This match showed our problems balancing attack with defense (I mean high spin players, cause I know that Verdasco isn't a pure defender), which we are trying to solve. Actually is possibile to win lots of points just defending and waiting for a mishit.
I'm sad to have lost so early, cause I'll probably leave top 20 because of a good AO, but I hope to play some other good matches when 1.13 will be released.

[Woowhat]

Another good match. Nadal is never to be underestimated on clay and perrera knew what he's doing. I must admit I forgot how the things were going in the first set. I believe he broke me first at 2-1 and then i broke back at 4-2 and then again on his next service game to finish with my serve for 6-4.
In second set it was all quiet until 1-1, then i wasted some opportunities but i wasn't worried cos i was constantly putting pressure on his serve and after first set early break he never managed to get another break point. I finally broke him at 4-4 and then closed the match with confidence.

His strategy was to push me out wide on left with his crosscourt fh and then to finish on my backhand or with drop shot which he used a lot. My response was to counter him with fh parallel to his backhand after which he usually tended to send on backhand where we fight backhand to backhand until i decide to attack with short accel on backhand and net rush or strong risky shot down do line.

I tried to be agressive as i could going to net 50 times and winning solid 65% and even being 18/24 in second set which i'm very pleased with considering it was clay and only 2 sets. For comparation in my AO 4round match against butcher i did the same number over 5 sets with much more skilled volleyer Federer.

perrera was doing fine and although statistics says different he really made this a contest. Maybe if he was better with passing shots this could have end up much closer.

All in all interesting match for both of us and i'm really starting to enjoy this surphace and looking foward to semis.

[C4iLL]

The most thought I would reach the final. Lost the first round vs Lokius. Again, winning more points. I joined this tourney not as a vulture, but just to play a few good matches. I also chose Federer in order, and not a defender or a spinner, to stay away from easy victories. Maybe I was wrong, because Lokius defeated me, despite the experience and skill gap. I was a disaster at net, maybe damaged a lot by his spin. I was very frustated during the match, because he could hit lots of mishits and nets, while I maybe hit 2-3 mishits in 3 sets and never hit the net. Verdasco was just better than Federer, because his high spin let him close his offensive points with deep accels and winning lots of defending points with deep top spins and mishits. Also he hit lots of lines with serve, while my Federer had a low % of first serves. This match showed our problems balancing attack with defense (I mean high spin players, cause I know that Verdasco isn't a pure defender), which we are trying to solve. Actually is possibile to win lots of points just defending and waiting for a mishit.
I'm sad to have lost so early, cause I'll probably leave top 20 because of a good AO, but I hope to play some other good matches when 1.13 will be released.

Surprising result indeed, but that makes the charm of the tour. On this surface, despite your superior skill, you can loose against someone who uses the right character and the right tactic. I personally like a lot when favourites loose against people ranked below, potentially less good on the paper, it shows to beginners that the hierarchy can change on a match.

On Top Spin 4, this never happened, it was boring.. Such a match would have result in a 6-1 6-1 for you ^^
Of course here, the reasons behind this surprise are not the good one as there are balance issues

[Elias]

well Lokius is not much known around and perhaps new but i was told he's pretty good. There is not that much balance issues imo besides current power/speed, and Verdasco forehand wich is actually too strong. Besides this, he's not a defender, rather a PB, so that his spin is not that overhelming like can be Nadal or Ferrer ones. Still spin is an obvious advantage on clay, especially against a one hander Federer, as it should be though

[inseedious]

well Lokius is not much known around and perhaps new but i was told he's pretty good. There is not that much balance issues imo besides current power/speed, and Verdasco forehand wich is actually too strong. Besides this, he's not a defender, rather a PB, so that his spin is not that overhelming like can be Nadal or Ferrer ones. Still spin is an obvious advantage on clay, especially against a one hander Federer, as it should be though

I haven't said there were an unbalance between offensive and defensive character (verdasco as you said is a PB), I just said that playing offensively was not rewarded at all because of high top spins and lots of mishits. In an average 20 shots rally, my attacks were always neutralized by a mishit that forced me to an error or to a shorter safer shot.

[eliomelma]

QF Eliomelma(Murray) vs Indiantonike (Almagro) 6-4 6-7 6-2

Well, hard match with one hour of hard rallies. Maybe stamina concept with new patch will be rivisited because after first set our stamina was too low. In the begin of second set we have both low stamina but my was lower than his stamina. For this reason we had ridicolous rallies with 0 stamina of more than 30 shots. Indian didn't know that i like long rallies and i have great patience, he lost his patience and maybe for this i won the match
Stats:

[eliomelma]

Lost Sf against Sedas 3-6 3-6 ,bad match 200 desync (last game with no stamina after 3 shots we had desync during all the game and he reserved the first)stamina concept non existent, after first 3 games we rehost, so bad match due to this factors. But good match from Sedas , very patient but i think that you could win this match. He play better few break points and the important point. Good luck for final.

[Woowhat]

Woowhat (Verdasco)- Ugadalou (Almagro) 6-4, 7-6(4)

stats - http://img39.imageshack.us/img39/78/brasilsfugadalou.jpg

Good match. I started strong and in his first 3 service games break him twice. Ugadalou break back when I was serving for set at 5-2 and saved 2 set points on my second try but in the end I managed to get the job done.

In second set he started strong by taking ball early, going to net a few times and generally being more aggressive. Still I succeed to break him again and after keep the lead until 5-4 when he denied me to close the match with my serve. We held next 2 games and went to a tiebreak. I must admit I didn't do anything special there, my level was pretty much the same but Ugadalou made some unexpected errors to help me win it. I had 6-2 lead, he did well on his 2 serves and managed to save one match point on my but the second was too much.

Overall very nice match with many changes in rytham and pace. My serve was kinda off and returning was solid on both sides so we had to work hard for most of points.
Anyway GG Ugadalou

I hope the final will be good.

[Ugadalou]

Another semi-final loss for me, seems to become a habbit...But Woowhat was the better player and deserved it.He was much more patient and short-circuited me with his game by making me play back with his deep balls and mixing it up greatly with gifted net play!I had a lot of trouble hitting through him, maybe clay doesn't suit my game really.

This resulted in me trailing the whole match.As Woowhat mentioned I tried to turn this around, denying him when he tried to close the sets but didn't succeed to make the comeback.Anyway it was an intense match, we both had to fight for every point and the level was quite high.

Best of luck in the final Woowhat!

[C4iLL]

Damn I just discovered you've played 14 SF and 1 final for 0 title ! Unbelievable ^^