Week 45 - Challenger ($50,000) - Knoxville TN, USA - Hard

jmjhb · Lower Club Player

Week 45 - Challenger ($50,000) - Knoxville TN, USA - Hard

steven · Tennis legend

Brian also came back from a set down to upset a seed, so a semi-final bake-off it is!

Can't resist re-listing all of Jamie's wins this week in one post, since it makes such good reading:

L32: (Alt) Jamie Baker WR 284 beat Denys Molchanov (UKR) WR 278 (CH 264 in Oct) by 6-3 3-1 def. biggrin
L16: (Alt) Jamie Baker WR 284 beat (7) Michael Yani (USA) WR 174 (CH 143 in 2010) by 6-4 6-7(4) 7-6(4) biggrin
QF: (Alt) Jamie Baker WR 284 beat (1) Michael Russell (USA) WR 98 (CH 60 in 2007) by 3-6 6-1 6-4 biggrin

SF: (Alt) Jamie Baker WR 284 v (Q) Brian Baker (USA) WR 666 (CH 172 in 2004)

Those opponents' career highs keep getting older!

Now an assistant coach at a US college, Brian Baker was a top junior in the mid-noughties (RG Final, Wimbledon QFs) and upset Gaston Gaudio at the US Open in 2005 before a persistent hip injury forced him to stop playing on the circuit in 2007. Details at http://nyti.ms/uVUr7G

Since coming back in July this year, he has won 17 matches (11 in Futures and 6 here) and lost just one (2 & 2 to Boggo in Charlottesville qualifying, though he also gave a w/o to Levine in a Futures semi) and all of the wins were in straight sets except his QF win here.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

steven wrote:
Brian also came back from a set down to upset a seed, so a semi-final bake-off it is!

Can't resist re-listing all of Jamie's wins this week in one post, since it makes such good reading:

L32: (Alt) Jamie Baker WR 284 beat Denys Molchanov (UKR) WR 278 (CH 264 in Oct) by 6-3 3-1 def.
L16: (Alt) Jamie Baker WR 284 beat (7) Michael Yani (USA) WR 174 (CH 143 in 2010) by 6-4 6-7(4) 7-6(4)
QF: (Alt) Jamie Baker WR 284 beat (1) Michael Russell (USA) WR 98 (CH 60 in 2007) by 3-6 6-1 6-4

SF: (Alt) Jamie Baker WR 284 v (Q) Brian Baker (USA) WR 666 (CH 172 in 2004)

[...]

Since coming back in July this year, [Brian Baker] has won 17 matches (11 in Futures and 6 here) and lost just one (2 & 2 to Boggo in Charlottesville qualifying, though he also gave a w/o to Levine in a Futures semi) and all of the wins were in straight sets except his QF win here.

There's a certain symmetry about the draw now, as the Bosnian qualifier, Mirza Basic (WR 350), has cut a similar swathe to JB's (& B Baker's, for that matter!) in the other half, disposing of Bobby Reynolds (2) (WR 119) in the first round, his fellow Bosnian, Amer Delic (WR 187) in the second & the Finn, Harri Heliövaara (WR 215), in the QF! wink

Interesting dilemma for the umpire in the SF: does he (or she), for example, call "game, J Baker", "advantage, B Baker"?

-- Edited by Stircrazy on Saturday 12th of November 2011 12:48:37 PM

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

Good stuff from Jamie. Hope he can keep on winning.

TBarM7 · Intermediate Club Player

Jamie said his win over Russell was just flat out "sick". Said Mike was very sloppy in that second set, but he accepted the gifts. Jamie has had a problem with a strained stomach muscle on his left side for some time now and he said it really started to bother him late in the match. He hasn't played this many matches, especially 2 back to back 3 setters against this level of competition in awhile, but he's going to fight through it and "get that title". No matter what happens from here on out, this has been a very productive week. Will talk to everyone later tonight.

murray_2k9 · Challenger qualifying

Thanks for the update TBar.

Couldnt resist commenting after that absolute stunner, seen Russel play quite a lot and always feel impressed by the size of his groundies and serve! Well done Jamie, keep fighting and keep climbing. This match should hopefully be less physically demanding if he can hang in there mentally I think he will give Baker II a lot to think about!

A top 250 finish would be great for this season and leave him to push on towards Wardy.

-- Edited by murray_2k9 on Saturday 12th of November 2011 01:18:21 PM

indiana · Tennis legend

Thanks TBar for the further update. Hopefully Jamie can really finish the season this week and next week with a real flourish ( not half bad already smile ) and then manage to get that stomach muscle problem sorted out before the start of next year.