Billy just won after his last 16 opponent retired a set down. Looks like he will now have a rematch with Arthur Fils in the last 8. Presumably that will be later today given the early start to the last 16 matches ?
Well done, Billy - another three-set defeat for the French junior.
However, I've got a real soft spot for Daniel C, and he's a real difficult player to beat (VERY different from Arthur Fils) - hopefully Billy has the fire power, but Daniel won't give it go him, that's for sure....
Well done Billy. He has 6 points dropping on the 3rd Jan which could have meant him dropping back out of the top 500. I these 4 points (and counting) should help him maintain that place until well into the New Year which is good to see.
Is it my dodgy memory or am I correct that one event in recent years got rain interrupted and it became clear it wouldnt finish. They where at last 4 or similar and decided the event by drawing lots, the losers then gave their opponents a walkover and a tournament winner was determined. It ensured points could be allocated and I think prizeMoney was evenly split. Is that correct or just a bit of fanciful thinking ? It may even have been Antalya or one of these year end events back in 2018 or 2019?
Is it my dodgy memory or am I correct that one event in recent years got rain interrupted and it became clear it wouldnt finish. They where at last 4 or similar and decided the event by drawing lots, the losers then gave their opponents a walkover and a tournament winner was determined. It ensured points could be allocated and I think prizeMoney was evenly split. Is that correct or just a bit of fanciful thinking ? It may even have been Antalya or one of these year end events back in 2018 or 2019?
My only memory of that was a WC play off tournament in Portugal when I was there. They had a 64 man field playing one set to 9 (TB at 8-8) with the winner of the tournament getting an MD WC. This was so that those who have been knocked out in qualies got some extra competitive tennis during the week rather than sitting around.
In the week I was there, they got as far as the SF when the weather intervened. In the end Joel Cannell won the "drawing names out of a hat" and was given the WC as a result. But I have never heard of it as part of an MD or even official Qualifying event.