On the grass in
Corbh, Ireland, we see
Kazim Dizdar well-rested and unseeded after the top-seeded insanity in
Corfu two weeks ago. BTW, Dizdar jumped up to 1104th after his great Greek showing, then inched up to 1098th after presumably some points fell off a few juniors higher up.
Unfortunately he gets a tough draw in the more skilled American
Jose Maria Desguanechs and falls 4-6, 6-7 (7-3). German
Wolfgang Feistkorn takes out 4 seed Argentinian
Murilo Ingunza 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in the first round, the only unseeded player to bow out. The most exciting match? Pole
Robert Adamcyzk nearly costs himself with 24 double faults to Slovak opponent
Alois Bakoss and straight-setting in the narrowest of margins - 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (10-8). Bakoss will no doubt feel hard-done by that.
Iganci Acencio, Dizdar's doubles partner in the Corfu triumph, advances out of the qualifiers where he knocks out Spaniard
Gaston Vinciguerra 7-6 (7-5), 4-6, 7-5. No one loses like Gaston and I'm glad to have the Thai kid to cheer on.
He beats
Ben Berchet - the French half of our semi-finals Corfu doubles opponents - 7-5, 6-3 in the quarters to advance to the semis. Berchet must *really* be hating Thailand right about now.
In the same round, 3 seed Croat
Javorko Mratinkovic sends JMD home in straight sets - 6-4, 7-6 (7-5), while
Adamcyzk overcomes his first round jitters to knock off 1 seed Paraguayan
Yves Cruz 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. The last quarterfinal is an all-German affair: Feistkorn gegen
Steffen Kirch, und Kirch gewinnt 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.
Unfortunately the semis is where
Acencio's run ends - a 2-6, 2-6 bowout to
Mratinkovic, while
Adamcyzk just keeps getting better as the tournament goes on, toppling Kirch 6-4, 6-4.
Mratinkovic has one bad set, but dominates the third one in ending dreams of Polish junior glory 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.
Over on the doubles side,
Dizdar is paired up with
Feistkorn and they rout
Kirch/
Bakoss 6-3, 6-1 in the first round. Rough tournament for Bakoss.
Funniest part?
Adamcyzk and
Mratinkovic teamed up in doubles and promptly lost 1-6, 6-7 (8-6) to
Vinciguerra/
JMD in the first round.
Acencio and his partner,
Konstantin Radionov the Russian, got out of qualifying easily, but then got spanked by top seeds Swiss
Kurt Bode and Spaniard
Silvano Campos 1-6, 5-7.
In the semi-finals,
Dizdar and
Feistkorn continue their easy stroll, knocking out 2 seed
Cruz/Russian
Dyma Feofanov 6-3, 6-4.
Vinciguerra and
JMD ensure no seeded team is going to win, taking out
Bode/Campos in a straightforward 6-4, 6-4 dismissal.
So again it's
JMD as an opponent, and I'm a little nervous. A +9 double fault advantage saves the day, though, with
Dizdar getting his second straight junior doubles title 6-3, 4-6, 6-2. Truth be told, the match felt a lot closer than that and I consider us fortunate to get the victory.
But all's well that ends well and
Dizdar inverses his prize winnings from $47 to $74. The skill gap is still readily apparent, so he's staying in the Isles and going to the UK for grass practice next week, where he might play a couple of
ntndeacon's guys.