Congratulations to the local league players who represented Houston so well at Sectionals this past weekend.
Ismael Dutchover won the 3.5 division, getting some good preparation for 3.5 Nationals.
Freeman's team was also well represented in the 4.0 division, as Eddie Janek beat teammate Kris Knutson in the singles final. Top Seeded Jason Kern pulled out of the tournament.
Odion Dibua survived a tough quarterfinal match and cruised in the semis and finals to take home the 4.5 singles title.
The 5.0 singles title was won by Chris Hunckler, who gutted out some three set victories.
Houston teams did not fare very well in the doubles.
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So this proves once and for all what a huge ringer Chad Case is. Did he play any college tennis? Case nearly beat Hunckler 0 and 0. he beat Dibua which no one else has been able to do. Of course using Tim green logic Hunckler is a weak 4.0 and Case and Holland are average 4.5 players.
ReplyDeleteSo who was the biggest ringer this year? I say the top ringer was Murphy, followed by Case from Austin.
ReplyDeleteCongrats to Hunkler! Could not have happened to a nicer guy.
ReplyDeleteHunkler played really well and deserves the overall win. Houston will have some quality players in the Masters Cup in November.
ReplyDeleteOpen Sean Stranly, Jegede Brothers
5.0 Hunckler and Herb Morton. Note Reggie Black lost first round in Sectionals and lost all of his defending points so no Masters Cup for him
4.5 Dibua, Moser, Schmucker
4.0 Janek, Leiker, Ansari, Patton
Side Notes
Pat Abshire retiring down match point to Hunckler because of tennis elbow. Pat take the beating like a man and lose with dignity. Really Weak!
Arya Majed why do you play Open when you should be playing 4.5 or 5.0? When is the last time you ever won and Major Zone or for that matter get through to the second round without losing? Swallow you're pride and play at a lower level.
Reggie Black was a surprised appearance to defend his points. Reggie you need to play 4.5 because you are not a 5.0 player. Look at your record for 5.0 this year. Of course you blew off consolation which caused you to miss the Masters Cup.
Reader the Great! What happened to you in Sectionals? You were beaten down by Corey Noel. You were so tired and fatigued from that match you pussed out against Scott Sevin and withdrew from the match. Guess you ran out of pot.
Trautmann my shoulder is bothering me so I have to withdraw against Regmund. Come on Trautmann we all know you make excuses and there is an ongoing fued between you, Reader and Regmund. See Reggie Black for advice.
Kern what hapened to you as well? Riding high in the Men's 4.0 division and you pull a Reggie Black no-show. The most feared 4.0 player in the state and you don't even show up.
Abshire my elbow is killing me, but I am going to play my match against Hunkler then retire when I am about to lose. I love this strategy employed by Abshire. One day perhaps you will stop pushing the ball so much. Did you know pushing causes tennis elbow?
What about having so people play 3 matches in one day in the large draws like 4.0? You don't even have to play that many matches at once in league back to back to back. I wonder how much that affected their future performances. Congrads to Hunckler too.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to know who the ratings police chief is. Seems someone out there has the lock on what level players should and shouldn't play at. If you play too high and lose, that's bad, if you play too high and win that's bad too because that makes you a ringer if you're actually rated lower, if you play at your level and win that's bad because then you're sandbagging, and if you play at your level and lose then the computer is just totally f'd up and you belong in a lower level. Why don't you just friggin let people play where they want to and worry about your own game.
ReplyDeleteHey, 4.5 Sectionals next weekend. Hard to comment too much but any parting advise to either team (Austin Men and Houston Women).
ReplyDeleteBoth teams look to have a legitimate shot at making it to Sunday. The real question every year is who makes the trip. A lot of times teams look strong on paper but they don't have their top guns - especially at the 4.5+ level where college players might be involved.
ReplyDeleteBetsie's 05 team was without Shelander and Lindloff (both active college players) and Tim's 05 team was almost without Wanja but lucked out because of Hurricane Rita.
My thoughts on playing in NTRP levels: if you do not mind getting your ass kicked,t hen play where you would like to play. However, i am definitely against playing down, unless your a "sore loser" and you cannot stand losing.
ReplyDeleteYeah Dibua is a good example. Why does he insist on playing every 4.5 tournament in Texas just to destroy everybody? What is he scared of at the higher levels? That guy must not be able to handle losing at all.
ReplyDeleteNot taking anything away from the Dibua brothers, but I have seen that most people have trouble with their serves. The rest of their game is really good, but not unbeatable.
ReplyDeleteMaybe a few of us should get together and hire Roddick to come in to Houston and serve to us. We might have a chance against the Dibua's serves.
So, if the Dibuas play 5.0 and do well then everyone is pointing the finger and calling them sandbaggers for playing 4.5 (ala Tim Green).
ReplyDeleteIf the Dibuas don't play tournaments then they'll be accused of trying to avoid getting DQd. At least it's obvious that they're not tanking games or matches. Give them some credit for that...
H-Town, hope you'll forgive me another plug, but I posted a pretty interesting interview with the Austin 4.5 Captain on my otherwise "boring blog"
ReplyDeletehttp://austintennis.blogspot.com/
-Thanks, AT.
The Houston cry babies would have had a field day with Davis rating himself 3.5 as a former High School and Jr College player.
ReplyDeleteAustin 07 beat San Antonio 06 - I THINK NOT!!!!
San Antonio 06 without a doubt is one of the best "4.5" teams ever assembled in league history.
ReplyDeleteThe SA team was good, but everyone knows that the majority of the team was truly a group of "ringers" with the exception of Torres, Benzon, and a few others. That team is the best example of what "ringers" really are. Austin might be able to take a line, maybe 2 from them but I seriously doubt it.
ReplyDeleteI played the Austin team, and the majority of their team would be considered top notch 4.5, if not a few of them being 5.0. However, i doubt many of them could hang in 5.0 at the National level.
i hate guys who quit when they know they are beaten. once you step on the court to play, then you made the decision to win or lose and have to accept the outcome. The only reason that you should retire is from major crapping. stop making excuses for yourself. these players are cowards and should play in a lower level if they are afraid to say "that guy beat me". i took a pounding from Hunckler when I had a knee, ankle, and shoulder injury. i stood out there like a real player and allow him to beat me, because he deserved it. GOOD JOB Hunckler!
ReplyDeleteWe all know the SA team was good bordering on greatness with the majority of the team arguably 5.0 players. Mike Davis made the comment in his interview, "I think our current team would have beaten them though". I think Mike suffers from short term memory loss. There is no way his current team could EVER beat last year's SA team.
ReplyDeleteAgree, but I think a lot depends on the matchups. At singles Broach and the other guy Cesar were almost unbeatable (although wasn't Broach losing to Branch ? or did he tank the first set ?). The doubles lines would have been close, aside from Neighbors who did SA have ? Red and Wanja ? Torres ? Any of those guys could have lost to Thurman, the lefty guy, etc.
ReplyDeleteBroach if he didn't tank would beat anybody on Austin badly in straight sets.
ReplyDeleteFellow Tennis Lovers,
ReplyDeleteI'm helping organize a tennis tournament put on by the Casa Argentina de Houston (CAH) non-profit organization. I'm trying to get a group of higher level tennis players to play this year. The tournament will be held on Oct. 6, 2007 at the Downtown Club at the Met from 2-6. The cost will be $25 per player for non-members, and $20 for members of CAH. Please tell your tennis friends about it, and get back with me asap to get an idea of how many players we will have. I need to know soon. Everybody is welcome. This is traditionally a laid-back social event with food and drinks, as well as a lot of great fun! Maybe a T-Shirt, but no promises.
Check out www.casaargentina.org and scroll down and click the tennis tournament link to sign up.
Email me at copa.dulcedeleche@gmail.com for any questions you might have.
Thank you,
Adrian Santesteban
It conflicts with the Fall Festival. Are you guys able to change it to the next weekend?
ReplyDeleteHey Adrian,
ReplyDeleteTo echo the sentiments of the previous poster, I don't think you could have picked a worse weekend.
Why not move it back a week as the Fall Festival is going the weekend you have now.
Any Nationals Captains (Davis, Freeman, Hollis) want to admit to any casualties going into Nationals???
ReplyDeleteA captain would not admit to that. The womans team would have someone out there in drag looking like whoever is going to be missing.
ReplyDeleteI'll have all my guys on both teams there and they'll be ready to contribute when asked.
ReplyDeleteHopefully we won't get any surprises between now and tip-off.
We've got a few - but Tim and Red are going to wear skirts and shave their legs. We'll be fine...
ReplyDeleteBetsie, you really do? Guess you're worried the other captains may be monitoring the site...
ReplyDeleteOne of my players isn't going due to a death in the family and one player is going but has a bad case of tennis elbow/tendonitis.
ReplyDeleteThe 2nd part, about Tim and Red is not true in case you were wondering...
I would not put anything past you Betsie....
ReplyDeleteI had considered it but I was afraid their afternoon shadows would be a dead giveaway
ReplyDeleteLooks like the Dibua Brothers can't play mixed. They both lost their first rd match at Mixed Sectionals.
ReplyDeleteMixed isn't real tennis.
ReplyDeleteI run a lot more in mixed, then men's doubles...
ReplyDeletetim will need to shave a lot for the girls team... that kid his hairy
ReplyDelete