Week 39 - Challenger ($50,000) - Madrid (Clay)

RJA · Hall of fame

Week 39 - Challenger ($50,000) - Madrid (Clay)

RJA · Hall of fame

First set to Slabba 7-6(5)

RJA · Hall of fame

Slabba won 6 and 4

SMC1809 · All-time great

Alex won 6-2 6-4.

RJA · Hall of fame

QR1: Alexander Slabinsky WR 581 beat (q7) Ricardo Rodriguez (VEN) WR 468 : 7-6(5), 6-4
QR1: (q4) Alexander Ward WR 411 beat Carlos Poch-Gradin (ESP) WR 852 : 6-2, 6-4

QR2: Alexander Slabinsky WR 581 v Francois-Arthur Vibert (FRA) WR 591
QR2: (q4) Alexander Ward WR 411 v Ricardo Villacorta-Alonso (ESP) WR 925

Vibert took 3 hours and 31 minutes to win his first round match today.

RJA · Hall of fame

QR2: Alexander Slabinsky WR 581 beat Francois-Arthur Vibert (FRA) WR 591 : 4-6, 6-2, 6-1

FQR: Alexander Slabinsky WR 581 v (q2) Alexander Lobkov (RUS) WR 361

RJA · Hall of fame

QR2: (q4) Alexander Ward WR 411 beat Ricardo Villacorta-Alonso (ESP) WR 925 : 6-4, 6-1

FQR: (q4) Alexander Ward WR 411 v (q8) Andres Artunedo-Martinavarr (ESP) WR 480

Shhh · Challenger level

If either (or both!) get through, one qualie spot is against a home WC but the others are against 3 of the top 4 seeds, all inside the top 100.

RJA · Hall of fame

Ward won his first set 6-4.

Slabba lost his first set 7-6(4)

steven · Tennis legend

They're on fire in their 2nd sets - Ward leads 6-4 4-0*, Slabba 6-7(4) 5-0*!

steven · Tennis legend

Ward wins 4 & 2, Slabba takes the 2nd set 6-1 to go into a decider

steven · Tennis legend

An early break for Lobkov in the 3rd unfortunately.

indiana · Tennis legend

Slabba lost 7 - 6 (4) 1 - 6 6 - 3 cry

korriban · Challenger level

4-3 to the Russian still on serve in the final set with Alex having just recovered a break, and with Alex having waltzed through the second set........then suddenly the livescores "stopped" for about 5-6 minutes on this court. I didn't see it, but I'm assuming a "medical time out" was taken [by the Russian]. Who then proceeded to reverse the momentum, break Alex immediately and serve out for the match.

Forgive me if I'm wrong (often am!), but if this was yet again the case, when is this practice going to be stopped/policed? It's almost got to the point of being "expected" and discussed openly as a tactic by commentators. With certain players being cited as known culprits. Are there moved afoot to stamp this out, or is this another accepted "part of the game" like grunting?

RJA · Hall of fame

Obviously we don't know what happened today but the practice you refer to is a complete disgrace and sadly it seems to be tolerated. Nadal uses the ploy fairly regularly and as we know Djokovic has done so on occasions.