There were a couple of results that were reported this weekend that I found interesting.
First off, in 5.0, Lost Forest kept hope alive by beating Teague. Teague has added a top ranked Open player, Alim Mambetov (second seeded in Open in Waco this coming weekend) who dispatched of Lost Forest's new hope Dustin Phillips while barely breaking a sweat. However, Teague was not competitive in the doubles and lost 2-1. Rice is now in sole posession of the top spot in 5.0. Red Benzon, who is playing very well this year and was 4-0 in doubles in 5.0, was benched for this one.
Mike Salinas' record this year is fascinating me. The guy has got to be in his mid to late forties. He still has the same ugly, annoyingly effective game that he's had for decades. How does a guy his age turn around his results so dramatically? Last year he was 0-4 in singles, losing to (4.0) Champlin, Santesteban, Shaw and Deluca. The previous two summers he was a combined 5-3. After going 7-0 in the spring singles league he's now 4-0 in summer league with a win over Giordanelli and two shockers over Hunckler and Cooper. I was ready to write off Cooper as overrated until Salinas took down Hunckler. Is Salinas improved this year? Sharper? Or is the 4.5 division a little "down" in 2007? I suspect it may be "all of the above".
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You're right, if winning ugly is an art then Salinas is the Picasso of singles.
ReplyDeleteHe just won the 4.5 singles tournament in Austin over the weekend so his dominance continues.
The guy is 47 years old but he's in great shape and just wears people down.
My observation in watching Salinas play is that to beat him you have to have a multidimensional game. You can't just hit the same shot over and over. Mike has a consistant counter puncher game like Brad Gilbert. He has weaknesses, but you have to be patient to attack them. Hitting speeding bullits at him over and over won't cut it.
ReplyDeleteI have the secret to beating Salinas at singles.
ReplyDeletePlease send me $50 and I will rush you the answer in a plain brown envelope
First of all, I don't understand hackers man crush with Hunckler. The guy had one decent (not great) tournament a couple of months ago but other than that, who of real quality has he beaten? His game has little to no variety and it is no surprise to me at all that he lost to Salinas. As someone else pointed out, a good multidimensional game is the best chance a true 4.5 player has to beat Salinas.
ReplyDeleteSecond, Salinas has certainly improved his serve over the course of the last couple of years. We used to joke that his second serve was the worst in 4.5 tennis but that is no longer the case. While he might not win a lot of free points with his serve it is no longer easy to take advantage of or attack. He is on a great run - I hope I have as much left in my tank as he does when I reach his age.
Hey, just wanted to comment that I enjoy the blog, and I'm not even in Houston. One comment about the tournament this guy Salinas won in Austin, most of the good players in town were playing in the Westwood Tournament, so the draw was a little weak, not to take anything away from the guy (I don't know him, but he sounds like me, old and annoying to play against).
ReplyDeleteHey losing to Santesteban is not anything to be embarrassed about; I know plenty of people who have lost to him. The guy is capable of upsetting many people if his confidence is high
ReplyDeleteI think more credit needs to go to players such as Henry Li. He also has a win over Hunckler in the last few months. A little research would show you he had a singles win at 4.5 Nationals against the National Champ California team. As to the good win Hunckler had over Gound a few months ago...a win over Gound is always a good win but some research would show that Gound lost at that same tourney a few years ago to Daniel Kallus 6-1, 6-1. A long body of work always ways more than a recent result if you want to form a good team.
ReplyDeleteHenry Li has a very nice record. Is he 47? If so, kudos. If not, then Dinker missed the point of HTown Hacker's original blog.
ReplyDeletehenry's also got 2 wins over david guy this year but hasn't gotten a shot to play singles in any of their big matches this year.
ReplyDeletehenry's not 47 though.
Gound went 20-0 in 2006 tournaments and is 6-2 this year. That doesn't make Hunckler a world beat but clearly you have to have some game to beat Gound.
ReplyDeletebeater
ReplyDeleteDe Luca is a good player as well. I don't know the other two guys. How good are those other guys mentioned? (I'm too lazy to look them up)
ReplyDeleteWho is Santesteban? Don't see him on any rosters.
ReplyDeleteHe was one of the backup players on the mob squad. Solid player.
ReplyDeleteBackup player? I didn't know that the Mob Squad had a starting and a backup squad. Interesting.
ReplyDelete