CricSim Tennis: Hamburg [Cl] and Rosmalen [G]

Smashed Rego. You should stick to Badminton, lad.

 

ROSMALEN - MATCH OF THE DAY
Son advances in North Brabant

Alistair Son has made the perfect start to his tournament in the Dutch town of 's-Hertogenbosch, with a straight sets victory over the Celtic Provinces' Andrew James.

The veteran Victorian, who lost his first match in Monte Carlo, looked far more comfortable on the grass, where the points were shorter and his ground strokes more penetrative.

His 28-year old opponent's serve was working well early, as he dropped just one point in his first three service games to be level at 3-3. While Son started making inroads after that, he never got further than deuce as the set went to a tiebreaker. There, though, the 33-year old Victorian lifted, with a minibreak early, thanks to a genuine backhand winner off a wide first serve from the Irishman.

After taking the first set in a tiebreaker, Son grew in confidence as James struggled to keep the pace against his shorter and more dogged opponent. Twice James was forced to come from 15-40 down to hold serve, before he finally dropped a game to fall behind 3-5.

That gave Son a chance to serve for the match, and he did so in style - bringing up three match points, and sealing the win on his first to advance to the quarters 7-6(5), 6-3.

BITS AND BOBS

• Asia's Ritwik Chowdhuri made the perfect start to his week, with an upset 6-1, 7-5 win over Monte Carlo semifinalist Ivan Ryabovol. Ryabovol made twice as many unforced errors as he did winners, and was unable to adapt to Chowdhuri's serve and volley style.

• Third seed Hilary Bots looked to build on its strong showing in Monte Carlo, with an impressive 6-1, 6-3 win over James Torres. Torres, who came through qualifying relatively easily, struggled to adapt to the pace of Bots, who his too many winners for his fellow Kiwi to handle.

• Bots will face qualifier Jake Howe, following his dominant win over Leumas Himann. Himann actually held a 2-0 lead in the first set, but collapsed to lose seven games in a row against the Englishman. Howe broke five times during an impressive win, to advance 6-2, 6-2.