Shrewsbury 25K+H challenger [indoor hard]:
QF doubles: Slabinsky/Allinson lost to Burgsmuller/Zverev [Ger][3] 3-6, 3-6
Report: This
was a tough quarter-final match, Burgsmuller has been in the top 100
and Zverev has increased his ranking several hundred places this year
to the verge of the top 150. Their firepower, particularly on serve,
proved too strong for Alex and Ed today. Zverev's serve in particularly
was virtually unreturnable at times with its superb placement and
variety of spins. They went on to reach the final here and Zverev made
the singles final aswell.
Rd1 doubles: Slabinsky/Allinson bt Grambow/Meffert [Ger] 6-3, 2-6, 10-7
Report: As
qualifying for Czech Republic F4 next week starts on Monday, Alex
entered the doubles with Ed Allinson who's also based at Sutton. They
combined well to overcome the hard-hitting German pair in rd1; a bit of
revenge for Alex who lost to Grambow in rd1 of the Sunderland 15K last
week.
Preview: 19 year old Sergei
Bubka presents a considerable obstacle for Alex in the 2nd qualifying
round. The former world junior no 4 has had quite a bit of success
this year in futures and in challengers. He qualified and then reached
the quarters of the Fergana challenger in May and last week he beat
world no 67 Daniele Bracciali in straight sets in rd1 of the
Dnepropetrovks 125K+H challenger before losing to Jonny Marray. In rd1
here, he beat Ross Hutchins 6-2, 6-4. Alex has played Bubka once
before, in the final of the Wrexham satellite this time last year. Alex
won 7-6, 2-6, 6-4. Bubka's strengths are a big first serve and his
athleticism and speed about the court. He can come up with some
incredible retrieving at times.
Rd1 qualifying: A Slabinsky [GB] bt M Illingworth [GB] 6-3, 1-6, 6-3
GB F18 [Sunderland] [15K] [indoor hard]:
Main draw: Rd1: A Slabinsky [GB][q] lost to R Grambow [Ger][q] 2-6, 2-6Alex denied Sunderland wildcard: The tournament organisers have decided not to give Alex a main draw wildcard for this tournament, it looks like the 4 wildcards have gone to Ian Flanagan, Ross Hutchins, Neil Bamford and maybe one of the juniors, either Marcus Willis or Daniel Evans. This is despite all of them being ranked lower than Alex. The decision is particularly harsh given that this week, Alex's points from the GB satellite last autumn drop off and his ranking will take quite a knock. Alex has signed in for the qualifying, he is seeded 3 and will receive a bye through rd1.
GB F17 [Redbridge] [15K] [indoor hard]:
Round 2: A Slabinsky [GB] lost to D Guez [Fr][1] 2-6, 4-6
Report: Speaking after the match Alex said "Guez was very tough, for most of the match he was playing at a higher level than me. He won the first set pretty easily, I was 2-1 up and then he upped his level and took the next 5 games. I was getting frustrated as I wasn't able to match the level he was playing at. He doesn't have a big serve but is just very solid from the back and he works the rallies very well. In the 2nd set he went 5-1 up and I then relaxed and started going for my shots a bit more which paid off as I made some big winners. I had chances at
5-4 to break for the second time and get to 5-5 but he hung on to take it. I need to keep working on my baseline game and trying to improve at being more aggressive." Alex now heads to Sunderland where he hopes to get a wildcard into the main draw next week. At Redbridge this week, he was initially going to have to play qualifying but Tom Rushby withdrew late due to injury and the organisers gave his wildcard to Alex.
Preview: Alex faces a tough task in round 2 against French top seed David Guez who's ranked 358 places higher at 250. Guez had a close first set in his round 1 match against Tom Burn but from then on it was plain sailing and he breezed to a 6-4, 6-1 win. So far on the indoor season this autumn, Guez made a quarter-final in a futures in France and then lost in round 1 of the Rennes challenger to Rohan Bopanna. His best results this year have come on clay, he reached two futures finals, two challenger semis and won a challenger title in St Petersburg in the summer. Alex has beaten two players in the top 300 so far in his career, Mark Hilton in 3 sets in Jersey in October 2005 and he was very convincing against Rob Smeets [who was then ranked about 250] in Australia earlier this year, winning 6-2, 6-1.
Round 1: A Slabinsky [GB] bt F Torresi [Ita] 7-6[5], 3-6, 6-3
Report: A great win for Alex edging past the Italian in a very closer 3 setter and securing a ranking point. After the match he said " I beat Torresi about this time last year, in week 1 of the British satellite where I did really well, so that was a good confidence boost going into the match. There were lots of long rallies throughout this match, I was able to win a lot of them which was probably the difference between us today."
Preview: Alex has drawn Italian Federico Torresi in rd1. Torresi is ranked around 150 places higher at 465 but it's a good draw for Alex as Torresi is a clay-courter and has yet to win a match indoors this autumn. Last week in lost to Belgian Jerome Masson in 3 sets in rd1 of a futures in France and a couple of weeks ago he lost to Britain's Ross Hutchins in straight sets in rd1 of the Glasgow 15K. Torresi has also lost to Britain's James Auckland and Jamie Delgado this year. His best result of 2006 was reaching the quarters of a challenger on outdoor hard in Recanti, he also had some good results in the India satellite earlier in the year. Alex has played Torresi once before, he won in 3 sets in rd1 of week 1 of the GB 4 satellite in November 2005.
Alex receives Redbridge wildcard: Alex has been handed a wildcard entry into the Redbridge main draw along with teenagers Simon Childs, Daniel Cox and Marcus Willis. This is a big boost for Alex given that he has so many points to defend this month.
Alex hoping for main draw wildcard [1/11/2006]: The entry list for this tournament is extremely strong, only 1 British player has made the cut and that's Alan Mackin who will be the no 2 seed. Alex is 8th on the alternates list so he'll be hoping for a wildcard into the main draw. He's first in line going by the rankings but Alex is preparing himself to have to enter qualifying if necessary, "I was next in line for a wildcard into the Nottingham challenger and I rang up Jeremy Bates but he said that the final wildcard had gone to Ross Hutchins who is ranked lower than me, which was disappointing."
2006-2007 schedule: In November, Alex is playing the two 15K futures in Redbridge and Glasgow and then qualifying for the Shrewsbury challenger. He's then considering heading to the Czech Republic for two 15K futures to end his season. He hasn't fully decided on his plans for 2007 yet but he's planning a trip abroad to play a series of tournaments from February to March. It'll be like his trip to Australia, New Zealand and Japan earlier this year but not as long, probably about 6 weeks. Alex said "The Australia tour was tough as it was several months away on my own without a coach and my level dropped. For next year, there'll probably be a coach travelling aswell which is good. The trip probably won't be to Australia, we're looking at maybe going to South America. It's being organised by Sutton academy, tournaments are helpful when there are large groups of players travelling together to compete in them. The way it works it that they give Sutton the total cost and they then split it up and give each player a budget."
LTA profile: Alex now has his own profile on the LTA site, you can view it at: http://www.lta.org.uk/Performance/TopPlayerProfiles/TopPlayersMen/SlabinskyAlex.htm?BSMGuid=6999895b-3892-4854-bcca-a3dde1110be7
Alex has added some more information to his profile page on this site aswell, check out the new information.
Nottingham 25K+H Challenger [indoor hard]:
Qualifying rd2: A Slabinsky [GB] lost to P Cervenak [Svk][3] 4-6, 4-6
Report: Alex said that Cervenak was a really good player and it was a tough match. He has had some really tight matches recently, straight sets defeats against on-form players which could have quite easily gone the other way and been straight sets wins. Alex said that the matches he's lost have been close, but it's not good enough. Next up is GB F17, a 15K futures in Redbridge in a couple of weeks time.
Preview: 19 year old Slovak Pavel Cervenak reached a high of 20 in the juniors in 2005. On the senior tour he's now ranked 338 having made big strides with 4 futures titles on clay this year plus another 10K final and semi on clay in Eastern Europe. Promisingly for Alex, Cervenak hasn't had as much success indoors; losing in rd1 of France F15 and rd2 of France F16 this month. In rd1, Cervenak played Britain's Naim Lalji who's ranked outside the top 1000. Cervenak won 6-2, 6-2.
Qualifying rd1: A Slabinsky [GB] bt N Bamford [GB] 6-3, 3-6, 7-5
Preview: Hopefully Alex can end his losing streak and get a few wins here. In the Southampton challenger this time last year he came incredibly close to qualifying. He reached the final qualies round where he faced Martin Lee. The match went to a final set tiebreak, Alex was 5-3 up but Martin hit two forehand winners and 2 aces which was just too good. Alex has played Bamford once before, in qualifying for GB F1 at the start of 2005. He won 6-3, 6-4. Neil's been up and down this year, had a great spell in May in which he reached the semis of two 10Ks in Greece and beat Colin Fleming on grass. He made another 15K semi in July and in September he reached the quarters of a 15K in Nottingham, beating Jonny Marray 6-1, 6-1. Last week in Glasgow, he beat a clay-courter in rd1 before losing a close match to Bloomers. The courts in Nottingham, are the usual medium paced indoor acrylic which should suit Alex. If he beats Bamford he will play 3rd seed Pavel Cervenak in rd2.
GB F16 [Glasgow] [15K] [indoor hard]:
Rd1: A Slabinsky [GB] lost to D Olejniczak [Pol] 5-7, 4-6
Report: A tight defeat for Alex against the in-form Polish player. The Glasgow courts were extremely fast, some of the fastest indoor surfaces on the circuit and this didn't particularly suit Alex's game. Once again, it was a very tough draw for Alex, Olejniczak went on to reach the semis, beating the 1st and 5th seeds before losing to eventual champion Richard Bloomfield. Alex now heads to Nottingham for the challenger next week, where he will play qualifying.
Preview: Alex has avoided the seeds in rd1 and faces Poland's Dawid Olejniczak. It's still a tough draw as Olejniczak is ranked 426, which would have made him the 3rd seed in Jersey last week. Earlier in 2006, Olejniczak reached a career high of 305 but from February to May he lost 8 successive matches. However, in June he returned to form on clay, reaching a 10K final and two quarters. The best result of his year came at the beginning of September when he reached the quarters of a challenger on clay. However, unlike many players who are successful on clay, Olejniczak is also effective indoors, last week he reached the semis of a futures in France before losing to the eventual winner. Slabinsky v Olejniczak is 4th on court 7 on Tuesday.
Entry list information: The
entry list for this 15K futures is extremely strong, similar to that of
some 25K challengers, lots of players are heading to Glasgow as preparation for the Nottingham 25K challenger next week. The top seed is Italy's Flavio Cipolla who's
ranked 200. GB's top ranked entrants are Richard Bloomfield and Josh
Goodall who are no 3 and 4 on the entry list.Alex has missed the cut,
he's no 6 on the alternates list so he'll be hoping for a wild card
otherwise he'll have to go through qualifying.
GB F15 [Jersey] [15K] [indoor hard]:
Rd1: A Slabinsky [GB] lost to S Ianni [It][4] 4-6, 5-7
Report: Alex was edged out in a close 2 setter against 4th seeded Italian Stefano Ianni. Speaking after the match, Alex said "I was 5-1 down in the 1st set but I came back to make it 5-4 and I had chances to get it back to 5-5 but wasn't able to take them. The 2nd set was very close, I played ok but missed some easy balls to get broken in the 11th game." Ianni went on to reach the semis here, Alex now heads to Glasgow where he will hope to receive a wildcard into the main draw. He's been extremely unlucky with his draws for the last two tournaments, hopefully he can avoid one of the top 4 seeds in rd1 next week !
Rd1 preview: Another really tough draw for Alex, who faces 4th seeded Italian Stefano Ianni who's ranked at 435 in the world. Ianni has had a lot of success in futures this year, reaching two finals. He's played mostly on clay this year but he has the ability to play well indoors, recently he gave the on-form Ricardo Ghedin an extremely close match, losing in 2 tiebreaks.
GB F14 [Nottingham] [15K] [outdoor hard]:
Rd1: A Slabinsky [GB] lost to J Baker [GB][2] 6-2, 4-6, 1-6
Report: Alex played a great match against Baker and came extremely close to upsetting the on-form 2nd seed and Davis Cup player. In the first set, both players initially struggled to hold serve,
exchanging breaks in the opening two games before Alex broke in
game 3 and then held to lead 3-1. Baker was making too many errors and
struggling to cope with the power and depth of Slabinsky's hitting. Alex broke again and the set was over.
In the 2nd set Baker upped
his level particularly on serve and started hitting his
groundstrokes a lot deeper . He hit one blistering forehand cross-court winner on the run when it
looked like Alex had the point won. However, Alex continued to match the 2nd seed shot for shot and the set went with serve until
the 10th game with Baker leading 5-4. Alex slipped to 0-40 on his serve but then managed to save all 3 set points and pull it back to deuce. However, Baker gained a 4th set point and took it to level things at 1
set all.
In the decider, Alex was able to maintain the form of the 1st two sets and Baker raced to
5-0 with a double break. Alex ended the run of 7 straight games for Baker to hold for 5-1 but it was no avail as the 2nd seed closed out the match
in the next game. Alex was gutted to lose but it was an excellent performance and hopefully he can take confidence from this match going into the indoor season which starts in two weeks time in Jersey. Baker went on to win the tournament, beating Jonny Marray 6-1, 6-1 in the final.
Rd1 preview: Alex has received probably the toughest possible rd1 draw, he faces compatriot and no 2 seed Jamie Baker in rd1. Baker is ranked several hundred places higher at 304 and has just been with the Davis Cup team in Ukraine where he's been training with world-class coaches like Brad Gilbert and Peter Lundgren. Baker is one of Britain's most improved players this year having increased his ranking by about 100 places, he's reached 3 futures finals; winning a title in Greece and finishing runner-up in tournaments in Australia and New Zealand. He also made his ATP debut in the summer competing at Queens and coming close to upsetting top 100 player Andreas Seppi at Wimbledon. Baker and Slabinsky have played once before, Baker won 6-3, 7-6[6] in rd1 of a futures in Bolton last year and went on to win the tournament.
GB F13 [Nottingham] [15K] [outdoor hard]:
Rd2: A Slabinsky [GB] lost to R Junaid [Aus][4] 0-6, 1-2 ret
Report: Alex was forced to retire with a shoulder injury, it had been giving him some problems in his previous match against Allinson but was worse today and he wasn't able to serve at 100%. This made things impossible against the serve-volleyer Junaid who attacked the net at every opportunity, controlling the match with his precise volleying. Alex will now give his shoulder several days rest before GB F14 next week, also in Nottingham
Rd2 preview: Junaid is ranked 383 with a career high of 368 which he reached this January. He's had a reasonable year, qualified for ATP Adelaide in January before losing to Hrbaty in rd1. He's reached 4 futures quarters and a challenger quarter-final on his favourite surface of clay, in Switzerland. In rd1 here he beat unranked British qualifier Matthew Taylor 6-4, 7-6. Looking ahead to the match Alex said "I watched a bit of his rd1 match today, he's quite solid, has a single-handed backhand, nothing really big in his game but he's ranked top 400 so he's going to be a very solid player. If I play well, who knows !"
Rd1: A Slabinsky [GB] bt E Allinson [GB][LL] 6-2, 6-0
Report: An excellent win for Alex, comprehensively defeating Allinson and securing a rd2 meeting with 4th seeded Aussie Rameez Junaid. Speaking after the match Alex said "I played pretty good, was very aggressive from the baseline. I was a bit injured and I wasn't serving particularly well, it was a bit windy which made serving difficult. Allinson has a big serve but I returned well today and also because of the wind, his serve wasn't such a big factor. I wanted revenge for when he beat me in July. We train at the same academy and so everyone knew about that result. I wanted to beat him heavily to show that I was the better player."
Rd1 preview: Alex had been due to face American Jonathan Chu in rd1 but Chu withdrew and was replaced by lucky loser Ed Allinson, who trains in the same squad as Alex at Sutton. They've played twice before, Alex won in 3 sets in 2004 and Allinson won indoors in July in straight sets. Allinson is most effective indoors where his main weapon - a booming first serve, wins him a lot of cheap points. On outdoor hard, his weaknesses from the baseline can be exposed and Thomas Greenland did just that in the final round of qualifying here, winning 7-5, 2-6, 6-1.
Germany F12 [Wahlstedt] [clay]:
Rd1: A Slabinsky [GB] lost to W Schranz [Aut] 4-6, 3-6
Report: Alex was below par today against the experienced Austrian clay-courter. Having been on the road since the end of May, he feels he is burnt out and he's taking a week's holiday to recharge his batteries before returning to training in Sutton at the beginning of September in preparation for the autumn GB futures and challenger circuit.
GB F12 [Wrexham] [15K] [outdoor hard]:
Rd2: A Slabinsky [GB] lost to R Searle [GB] [q] 2-6, 6-4, 3-6
Report: Alex was edged out in a big-hitting contest against Rob Searle. Searle's heavy groundstrokes proved more accurate on the day and that was the decisive factor. Alex has gained 1 ranking point from this tournament and he now heads to Germany for a futures there on clay
Rd2 preview: Alex faces the surprise package of the July grasscourt tournaments, 22 year old Rob Searle. Searle reached a high of no 52 in the world in the juniors in 2002 but he was unable to make the step up to senior level and quit the pro game. A month ago he returned, taking a set off top seed Colin Fleming in GB F9 qualies before qualifying and reaching the semis of GB F10 and reaching a career high ranking of 1037. Since then he's continued his form, taking top 300 player Toshihide Matsui to a 3rd set tiebreak in the Nottingham Challenger and last week taking Lee Childs to 3 sets. This week he's qualified and in rd1 beat Irish lucky loser Stephen Nugent [ranked 1441] to 3 sets. Looking ahead to the match Alex said "He's a very aggressive player, stands quite close to the baseline and takes the ball very early." Slabinsky v Searle is 2nd on court 4 on Wednesday starting at around midday.
Rd1: A Slabinsky [GB] bt O Vandewiele [Fr] 6-1, 6-3
Report: A fantastic win for Alex, his best since the start of June and one which will give him a lot of confidence. Alex's powerful groundstrokes overwhelmed his opponent from the baseline. Speaking after the match he said "I played well today, I served good and played well in the rallies. It was nice to end my 3 match losing streak !" Alex now plays British wildcard Rob Searle in rd2 on Wednesday.
Rd1 preview: A tricky but winnable first round match for Alex against the 25 year old Frenchman from Lille. Vandewiele is ranked 77 places higher than Alex at 500 and is a clay-court specialist, playing most of his tournaments in Europe on the red dirt. Since mid-June, he's reached two futures semis, in Holland and in Belgium. However, he's lost in rd1 in his last two tournaments, in Belgium and in Latvia to opponents ranked a lot lower. Vandewiele last competed in Britain right at the start of 2006 losing in rd1 of GB F1 on indoor hard in Exmouth to Richard Bloomfield in straight sets.
GB F11 [Ikley] [15K] [grass]:
Rd1: A Slabinsky [GB] lost to E Allinson [GB][q] 4-6, 2-6
Report: Alex had a shock defeat today to unranked qualifier Edward Allinson, who also trains at the Sutton academy. Due to persistent rain in Yorkshire, play was moved indoors and this clearly suited the big-serving Allinson a lot more. Speaking afterwards Alex said "The court was very fast and tough to get used to and Allinson has a huge serve. There weren't many rallies in the match just mainly him bombing serves down ! I didn't play well, didn't serve well enough. The 1st set went with serve until 4-5 when he hit 2 return winners and then got a lucky netcord putting me 0-40 down and that was the 1st set gone." Alex will now head to Wrexham for GB F12 next week, a return to outdoor hard courts.
Injury blow for Alex [24/7/2006]: Alex had been planning to play the Nottingham challenger this week but he was forced to pull out in order to rest a back injury which he sustained at the Manchester challenger last week. Alex is hoping that after a week's rest, he'll be able to compete in the 15K futures tournament at Ikley in Yorkshire.
Manchester 25K+H Challenger [grass]:
Rd1: A Slabinsky [GB] [WC] lost to Jean-Francois Bachelot [Fr] 4-6 2-6
Report: A really tough draw for Alex this week, Bachelot is currently ranked 334 but he's been as high as 134 in the world and won this tournament a few years ago. He's at his best on grass and reached the top 100 doubles in 2005. This year he's reached 4 futures finals, winning two. He competed at the French Open in doubles and won a round with Stephane Robert. Speaking afterwards Alex said "It was a tough match as he's a very experienced player. The 1st set was very close and I had chances."
Great Britain F9 [Felixstowe] [15K] [Grass]
Rd1: A Slabinsky [GB] lost to T Matsui [Jap][1] 4-6 3-6
Report: Alex was reallu unlucky in this
tournament, getting the worst possible rd1 draw against top seed Toshihide
Matsui from Japan ranked 293. Matsui is an all-court player, earlier this
spring he had success on hard courts in Asia, reaching a challenger final and quarter-final.
His aggressive game is also effective on grass, at Wimbledon qualifying in June
he beat former top 100 player Anthony Dupuis who’s at his best on grass having
reached quarters of ATP Queens a few years ago. The 1st set was very close but the pressure of Matsui’s
constant net-rushing and high quality approach shots eventually told. Alex will
now head to Manchester for the challenger next week where he has received a wildcard.
Holland F3 [Heerhugoward] [10K] [clay]:
QF: A Slabinsky [GB][8] lost to S Wauters [Bel][1] 4-6, 2-6
Report: Alex fought hard in this match but ultimately the clay-court expertise of the top seeded Belgian Stefan Wauters proved a little too tough. Wauters is ranked 251 and was close to the top 200 in April this year. While Alex plays mainly in futures and satellites, Wauters spends most of his time competing in challengers and 15K futures, earlier this year he reached the Wrexham Challenger semis and won a 15K futures in France. He's able to compete in Grand Slam qualifying events and has played Davis Cup several times for Belgium. Hopefully Alex will have learnt a lot from this match. Alex has gained 2 ranking points from this tournament which should take him up to approximately 571 in the world when the rankings are updated after Wimbledon. Alex will now head to Britain for some tournaments on grass. Alex said "It was a close match, a good experience for me against a player ranked in the world's top 250."
Rd2: A Slabinsky [GB][8] bt M Kunnap [Est] 7-5, 6-4
Report: A tight straight sets victory for Alex against the 23 year old Estonian, ranked 899 in the world. Kunnap is a former top 100 junior, he also reached the world's top 50 in junior doubles. On the senior circuit, he has reached 738 in singles but that was back in August 2003. He's strongest when at the net as shown by his record in doubles in the seniors, he reached the top 400 in 2005. Kunnap hadn't won a singles match since Feburary before this tournament but he was impressive he round one where he beat British lucky loser Ed Seator 6-4, 6-1. Alex played fairly aggressively throughout the match from the baseline, he never reached top form but did enough to go through without dropping a set. Alex has a tough match next, he faces top seeded Belgian Stefan Wauters.
Rd1: A Slabinsky [GB][8] bt A Van der Duim [Hol] 4-6, 7-6[7], 6-4
Report: Alex didn't play particularly well for most of the 1st two sets but he fought hard and eventually scraped through to secure an excellent victory against a player ranked just 7 places lower at 594. The match was quite a nailbiter with Alex being forced to save several matchpoints. Speaking afterwards, Alex said "I played horribly for most of the 1st two sets and was losing 6-4, 5-3, I then held a tight service game and made him serve it out. He went 30-0 up but got nervous and started defending and I broke him. The set went to a tiebreak and I was down two match points at 6-4. I played both of them very well and ended up winning the tiebreak 9-7. In the 3rd set I broke him at 2-2 but he broke straight back to make it 3-3. I then broke again and held on to take it 6-4. In the 3rd set I played a lot better being more aggressive and my serving got better. I next play the winner of Ed Seator's match against some Estonian guy so that should be interesting !"
Info: Hopefully this time next year, Alex will be plying his trade against the world's best on the hallowed lawns of SW19. Alex would have had a chance of receiving a wildcard for Wimbledon qualifying this year but instead he's decided to continue his quest for ranking points on the European clay in the Dutch town of Heerhugoward. Alex has just made the top 8 seeds. There will be a strong home contigent for this event, with 6 of the top 8 seeds being Dutch ! Alex has decided not to play doubles this week.
Holland F2 [Alkmaar] [10K] [clay]:
Rd1 singles: A Slabinsky [GB] lost to P Brand [Hol] [WC] 6-4, 3-6, 5-7
Report: Speaking afterwards Alex said: "Phillip Brand is the Netherlands junior champion which is why he was given a wildcard. I won the 1st set pretty comfortably but got broken early in set 2 and ended up losing it. In the 3rd set, it was 4-4, 30-30 when I ran for a ball and slipped, falling on my knee. It became very swollen and I couldn't run, the physio taped it for me and I went back on court. I broke the guy's serve to lead 5-4 by hitting two winners but I couldn't win many points after that. I should have pulled out but the guy was getting very tight so I thought that maybe he would still give it away."
Rd1 doubles: Slabinsky/Kalaitzis bt Seator/Varga [GB]/[Ukr] 6-2, 6-4
Entry list info: This is the first of two futures events in Holland which Alex plans to play. He's 11th on the entry list for this one. The tournament favourite will be Dutch top seed Jesse Huta-Galung who's ranked 318, over 150 places higher than anyone else. Apart from Huta-Galung, all other players on the entry list are ranked outside the top 450. One to watch out for in this tournament is Holland's Igor Sjisling, he's only ranked 627 but is a former world junior no 10 and has been on-form this spring on Spanish clay.
Italy F18 [Bassano] [10K] [clay]:
Rd2 singles: A Slabinsky [GB] lost to A Arnaboldi [It] 6-2, 6-7[4], 1-6
Report: Alex will be extremely disappointed with himself after this defeat to an opponent ranked much lower at 779. Arnaboldi reached the final of Italy F4 on hard courts in March but since then he hasn't been past rd2 of a tournament. Alex dominated the 1st set, attacking from the baseline off both sides and producing the sort of aggressive tennis which serves him so well on clay. In set 2, he had several chances to finish off the match but just wasn't able to close it out and Arnaboldi hung in there and snatched the tiebreak and cramp severely hindered Alex in the final set which enabled Arnaboldi to run away with it. Speaking after the match, Alex said "I was winning 6-2, 3-1 and had 2 points to go 4-1 up but I ended up losing that game and narrowly lost a tiebreak which could have gone either way. In the 3rd set, at 1-1 I cramped in my left quadricep and I couldn't run. I had to get the physio on court but it didn't help and I ended up losing every game after that. I played very well in this match, being very aggressive but it was upsetting to end up losing."
Rd1 singles: A Slabinsky [GB] bt M Livraghi [It] 6-4, 6-4
Report: A comfortable win for Alex over the 24 year old Italian. Livraghi is ranked over 150 places below Alex at 775. He's also had some good wins on clay this year, reaching the semis of a futures in Bosnia and Herzegovina in May and the quarters of a futures in Spain in April. Alex looked likely to be facing a rematch against Alessandro Piccari in rd2 [who Alex whitwashed in Udine last week] but Piccari has withdrawn and was replaced by a lucky loser who lost to Italy's Andreas Arnaboldi in rd1. Alex has decided not to play doubles with Konstantinos Kalaitzis this week, he's focusing solely on singles.
Italy F17 [Udine] [10K] [clay]:
Final doubles: Slabinsky/Kalaitzis bt Appio/Commisso [It] 6-3, 6-4
Report: Alex and Konstantinos secure their first career title !!! An excellent display of clay court doubles in the final to overcome the home favourites. The tournament organisers were extremey impressed with both the Brits and said that they hoped to see them competing one day in a big tournament !
Rd2 singles: A Slabinsky [GB] lost to E Burzi [It] 2-6, 6-7[5]
Report: After such a superb rd1 win, Alex's section of the draw looked to have opened up, however unfortunately he was unable to take advantage, losing to on-form Italian Enrico Burzi. Although ranked lower than Alex, Burzi has been on very good form in the past few weeks, beating several players ranked in the 300s and the 400s in close 3 set matches. Speaking afterwards, Alex said: "I got outplayed in the 1st set and he won that quite comfortably. In set 2, I upped my game and came back from 4-1 down playing more aggressively. It went to a tiebreak and I was 5-4 up but lost 3 straight long rallies to lose." Alex can count himself unlucky as Burzi went on to win the tournament.
Semi-doubles: Slabinsky/Kalaitzis bt Rodriguez/Spina [Col]/[Arg] W/O
Report: A big slice of luck for Alex and Konstantinos, during Spina's singles match today he injured his back resulting in him having to withdraw from the tournament and giving Alex and Konstantinos an effective bye through to the final !!! I'm sure that Alex and Konstantinos would have preferred to have won the match properly but the extra prize money earnt will definately not go amiss !!
Rd1 singles: A Slabinsky [GB] bt A Piccari [It][4] 6-0, 6-0
Report: Quite an amazing victory for Alex, to whitewash a player close to the top 500 who's ranked 100 places higher is quite something ! Piccari has quite a volatile temperament and this most definately cost him in this match. Speaking afterwards, Alex said "In the 1st set, I went 4-0 up pretty quickly and the guy went crazy and starting throwing his racket. He then gave up the rest of the 1st set. At the start of set 2, he tried for the first 3 games which I won before just giving up !!!"
Rd1 preview: Not the best of rd1 draws for Alex, I'm sure he would have preferred to have avoided one of the seeds in the opening round. However, the field in this tournament is quite weak and despite being 4th seed, Piccari is only ranked 502, about 100 places higher than Alex so he's definately a beatable opponent. 24 year old Piccari has a career high ranking of 391 but that was achieved back in October 2005. His recent record isn't particularly good, he's lost his last 3 main draw matches. Piccari's best result of 2006 came at the end of April when he reached the semis of Italy F11.
QF doubles: Slabinsky/Kalaitzis bt A Plesnicar/B Plesnicar [It] 6-2, 6-1
Info: Alex's friend from the Sutton academy, Konstantinos Kalaitzis, entered the singles qualifying and so they've decided to team up together for the doubles. Due to lack of entrants they've been awarded a bye through to the quarters where they face the Plesnicar brothers. Both are unranked in singles and doubles and they've never had world rankings so Alex and Konstantinos should win easily.
Rd1 doubles: Slabinsky/Kalaitzis v bye
Info: Hopefully Alex will have recovered from the food poisoning which forced to withdraw from his quarter-final match in Spain F16. He will have been hoping to get a full week's training on the Udine clay ahead of this tournament which starts on June 6th. Alex is 9th on the entry list and none of the players are ranked inside the top 400 so the field is fairly weak and so hopefully Alex will have a good chance of gaining quite a few ranking points here.
Spain F16 [10K] [Reus] [clay]:
Main draw: QF: A Slabinsky [GB] lost to M Fornell-Mestres [Esp][4] 0-3 retired
Report: Alex's hopes of taking the title in Reus were scuppered by suspected food poisoning. Alex said "It's disappointing as I've been playing well. The clay courts are quite slow but I've been able to impose my attacking game. I got ill yesterday and spent all day in bed. I gave it a shot today but I was feeling too bad and had to pull out at 3-0 down." Alex has gained 2 ranking points for reaching the quarters here and so he'll move up around 20 places to about 577 when these points are added on, on June 6th.
QF preview: Alex faces Spanish 4th seed Marc Fornell-Mestres for a place in Saturday's semi-finals. Fornell-Mestres is ranked 232 places higher at 356 in the world rankings and the stats make him favourite for this match as he's been on good form on Spanish clay for the past few weeks, winning Spain F13 and reaching the semis of Spain F14. However, Fornell-Mestres has struggled somewhat in his first two matches, being taken to 3 sets by players ranked 874 and 590 respectively. Alex was in excellent form in round 2, outplaying an opponent ranked much higher and if he reproduces that form on Friday he has a good chance. Fornell-Mestres is the highest ranked seed left in the draw so the winner of this quarter-final will be favourite to take the title here. Slabinsky v Fornell-Mestres is 1st on court 6, starting at 11.00am GMT.
Rd2: A Slabinsky [GB] bt X Yu [Ch][6] 6-3, 6-4
Report: An extremely impressive win from Alex especially on Spanish clay. Alex was delighted about his victory, speaking after the match he said "I played well today, I served well and I was hitting my shots hard. I overpowered him." Alex says that he next plays Spanish 4th seed Marc Fornell-Mestres in the quarter-finals on Friday. This will boost Alex's confidence a lot, after returning home from Bournemouth at the beginning of May, he worked hard on his fitness and on his game and he felt that his standard had dropped due to being away from his coach for 3 months. This win shows that the hard work he put in, has paid off.
Rd2 preview: Alex faces a tough test in rd2 against the 20 year old Chinese player, Xin Yuan-Yu who's ranked nearly 200 places higher at 412. Yu's best results of 2006 came on hard courts in China in March, he reached 2 semi-finals and won China F4. However, Alex will feel that he has a good chance as Yu's form on clay hasn't been particularly impressive. He thrashed a qualifier in rd1 but his best result on clay has been reaching rd2 of Spain F14 and in Spain F13 he lost in rd2 of the qualifying. Slabinsky v Yu is 2nd on court 5 on Wednesday at around 2pm GMT.
Rd1: A Slabinsky [GB] bt R Arevalo [ESA] [SE] 6-6 ret
Report: Alex's victory today was quite bizarre. Normally opponents retire in professional tennis matches due to injury or fatigue, it's very unusual for a player to suddenly give up because he doesn't feel like playing any longer ! Speaking after the match Alex said "In the 1st set tiebreak he was 2-1 up but then I won 3 very long rallies to lead 4-2 and he went crazy and stopped !" Still, this will give Alex another ranking point and he'll play Chinese 6th seed Xin-Yuan Yu in rd2 on Wednesday.
Rd1 preview: Rafael Arevalo will be Alex's first ever opponent from El Salvador. The 19 year old from Son Sonate is ranked 676, 90 places below Alex. Arevalo would have had to qualify for this tournament but on Friday he was still competing in Spain F15. His quarter-final match there was scheduled quite late and so he wasn't able to get to Reus in time for the qualifying sign-in and so he received a special exemption into the main draw. Arevalo had won 3 setters in Spain F15 against Antal Van Der Duim [wr:584] and Antonio Esteva [wr:585] before losing in 3 sets in the quarters to Pere Madrid [wr:698]. Arevalo's form before Spain F15 wasn't particularly good, he lost 6 successive matches from February to May. His best results of 2006 came in January when he reached semi-finals in futures in El Salvador and Guatemala. Slabinsky v Arevalo is first on court 5 at 11am GMT on Tuesday.
Qualifying rd4: A Slabinsky [GB] [1] lost to E Rodriguez Navarro [Esp] 4-6, 6-1, 0-6
Report: Speaking after his rd1 win in the main draw, Alex said "I played well all through the qualifying, taking shots on and being aggressive. Against Navarro in the last round, I got broken at 4-4 in the 1st set due to a unlucky netcord. I outplayed him in the 2nd set and I should have broken him in the 1st game of the 3rd set but instead I lost concentration and missed too many shots."
Preview: Alex faces 17 year old Spaniard Emilio Rodriguez Navarro for a place in the main draw. Rodriguez Navarro is unranked, he's been playing futures qualifying events in Spain since he was 15 but he's yet to qualify for a main draw. Both players have been impressive in qualifying so far, Alex has cruised through his first two matches with the minimum of trouble and Rodriguez Navarro has also yet to drop a set. The Spaniard is unseeded and so he didn't get a bye through rd1 and he's had to play 3 matches in the last two days. In the 3rd qualifying round he beat the 9th seed, South African Benjamin Janse Van Rensburg [wr: 1201], 7-5, 6-1, his toughest match came in rd1 against another unranked Spaniard who he beat 7-6, 6-2. Slabinsky v Rodriguez Navarro is first on court 5 on Sunday morning, starting at 9am GMT.
Qualifying rd3: A Slabinsky [GB] [1] bt R Balk [Ned] 6-2, 6-1
Qualifying rd2: A Slabinsky [GB] [1] bt G Granollers [Esp] 6-1, 6-2
Entry list info: Alex was 1st on the alternates list for this tournament and was extremely unlucky that no one withdrew so that he made the main draw directly. Instead he's had to go through qualifying. Qualifying events in Spain are gruelling 4 round marathons but luckily, as Alex is top seed he receives a bye through rd1.
Update on Alex's schedule [18/5/2006]: After 2 weeks practising at Sutton, Alex has headed to the town of Reus in Spain. He will practise on the clay there for the remainder of this week and then next week he'll play a 10K futures event. After that he'll probably take a week off to practise on Italian clay before playing 2 futures events in Italy followed by 2 futures event in Holland.
Q&A with Alex: Before leaving for Spain, Alex took the time to answer questions which fans have submitted and he also answered some questions about his recent 3 month tour to Australia, New Zealand and Japan:
Q: Did you feel that you gained a lot from the experience of playing in Australia, New Zealand and Japan ? It must have been great to test your game on different types of surfaces, in different conditions and against different styles of players ?
A: The whole trip has been a good experience but I have not done as well as I hoped. I had some tight matches that didnt go my way, I lost several 3 setters. The conditions are definately different out which there takes some getting used to and I'm happy I have done it. I have lost a bit of fitness out there and my standard dipped slightly because had no coach for a long time but I'm going to work hard to get back into form.
Q: I was interested as to why you started playing doubles again in Australia in March, as you hadn't played doubles since September 2005. Did you feel you needed some extra match practise ? Are you going to continue playing doubles ?
A: The reason why I hadn't played much doubles in the UK is because I prefer to concentrate on my singles and if I lose in singles, I don't really want to have to hang around for my remaining doubles matches because it costs money to stay in hotels and the prize money in doubles isn't great. I did it in Australia at a few venues because I knew I would have to stay there anyway until the end of the of the week no matter how I did in singles so I thought that I might as well play doubles for extra cash and practice. I will probably only play doubles abroad for those reasons.
Q: Your first week of doubles action in Australia was quite a cracker - reaching a futures final ! You and Haybittel must have gelled well as a pair ?
A: Haybittel and I played well together, we had some tight matches which we came through and we should have won the final as we were 5-3 up in the 1st set. He is a big server and has a good return, the clay courts were very fast out there that week and the rallies were short which meant it was easier to hold serve.
Q: You didn't have as much success in doubles in Japan when you played with Sadik Kadir , was it the courts/balls in Japan or did your styles of play not gell together as well as with Haybittel ?
A: Kadir and I made a semi-final in Japan F1 but we got cheated out of it as the Japanese umpires are very biased and they are all helping their own players, we had some bad decisions made against us. In Japan F3 we made the doubles quarter-finals but I had a flight back to UK the next day so we had to lose ! We played some good tennis together and we lived together for all of the Japan trip so I got to know Sadik pretty well.
Q: Do you think Sutton is the best place to train in England or would you say places like Queens and Bath are better ?
A: I think that Sutton has the best setup of the academies which i know. The facilities at Sutton are great and the coaches are good. I know that Queens have a good programme but only the selected few get to go and train there. There are a few other academies around like the Walker academy in Wrexham and the Bath university team but I haven't trained there so I can't really judge them. I dont think there is a magic formula that any one academy can have, if a player is willing to work hard you can improve anywhere that you go, it's up to the individual.
Q: Do you know Sergei Stakhovsky, the 2004 US Open juniors runner-up, from the Ukraine ?
A: I don't really know Stakhovsky, I haven't been back to the Ukraine for 9 years and I don't know the players there, but Sergei trains in the Czech Republic anyway. Of the Ukrainian players, I only know Sergei Bubka well, we met at the autumn satellite last year and I beat him in the final of week 3 [wrexham] and we travelled together for a bit.
Q: What junior titles did you win in the Ukraine ?
A: I was ranked number 3 at under 10 level in the Ukraine before I left for the UK. As a junior I've won about 15 tournaments in the UK, county closed championships and some regional challenges.
Q: Have you ever considered hitting a double-handed backhand ?
A: My dad does want me to switch to using a double-handed backhand and I have tried doing it for a week but I realised that it only makes me worse so I'm staying with my single hander. I try and keep it as simple and natural as i can.
Q: How many hours of tennis did you do when you were 14 ?
A: When I was 14, I tried to train for 2 hours a day but this was not always possible because of school and I didn't have access to indoor courts. I trained before school twice during the week from 5-7am at Queens with a few players. These were just hits. I didn't have any coaching apart from at the Middlesex county squads once a week. I tried to do most of my tennis at the weekend and that was when I made up on the hours, sometimes playing up to 6hrs a day, or as many hits as i could find.
Q: Did Alex ever consider going to the US on a college scholarship or was he determined to go professional ?
A: I did consider going to the US but that was as a second option. So if my tennis didnt go that well I could go and apply myself in studies. Sutton have been giving me a good deal in training and life there is good so I did not feel the need to change anything and tennis was going ok too. I would be no longer eligible for the top division squads in the USA because I have been out of school for more than 2 years and they only accept guys that have not played professionally for a long time. I figured that I can always go back and study if I need to so I'm going to give tennis a go while I'm young.
Update on Alex's schedule [10/5/2006]: Alex says that he's not playing in Edinburgh now, he's been away for 3 months with no coach and he feels that he needs to do some training and work on some aspects of his game and do some gym work. Alex says that he'll take several weeks off, his next event may be the Turkey satellite in June, but he hasn't decided on his schedule yet.
GB F7 [Bournemouth] [15K] [clay]:
Rd1: A Slabinsky [GB] [WC] lost to S Thornley [GB] [WC] 6-7[3], 6-7[8]
Report: On paper this may look like a shock result but when you consider the circumstances it's not really surprising. Speaking after the match Alex said: "I only got back from Japan on Saturday and I wasn't planning to play Bournemouth as I hadn't been named among the wildcards. However, Chris Eaton withdrew and so they rang me up on Monday evening and said that they had a spare wildcard and I could just turn up and play. I was only able to fit in a 20 minute practise on the courts before the match ! Thornley played solidly and I was just really tired, almost falling asleep on the court ! I didn't really want to be there but the match was still fairly close. I played better in the 2nd set but it was too late."
Rd1 preview: A tricky first round match for Alex, although 16 year old Sean Thornley may be unranked, he's one of the best juniors in Britain. Thornley has been playing junior events on outdoor hard courts for the last couple of weeks and he reached the final of a grade 5 event in Sutton, beating the top seed Daniel Cox along the way. This is the first time he will have competed in the main draw of a futures event though he came close to qualifying for weeks 2 and 3 of the GB 4 satellite in 2005. Thornley's best performance on the senior tour came in Sunderland Challenger qualifying in 2005 when he took Josh Goodall to 3 sets [he won set 2 6-1] and Goodall is ranked 428. Thornley prefers to play on faster surfaces such as grass so he's unlikey to be at home on the clay. Alex will be favourite for this match, provided that he's recovered from jetlag after his long flight back from Japan last Friday. Slabinsky v Thornley is 3rd on court 2 at approximately 1pm GMT.
Alex receives wildcard: Alex has received a wildcard into the main draw of this week's 15K futures event in Bournemouth. Alex flew back to Britain last Friday so hopefully he will have had time to recover from the jetlag and practise on the courts. He will have something of an advantage to the other British players in the main draw as he's already played 3 futures events on clay this year in Australia.
Slabba cracks world's top 600: Alex's points from Japan F2 have now been added on and he's up to a career high of 599 in the ranking list. His ranking will rise even more next Monday when his points from Japan F3 are added on. Alex is also now ranked no 20 in Britain.
Japan F3 [10K] [Shizuoka] [outdoor carpet/astroturf]:
Rd2 singles: A Slabinsky [GB][6] lost to Z Li [Chi] [LL] 2-6, 3-6
Report: A disappointing result for Alex to end his 3 month tour of Asia and Oceania. Alex was unfortunately unable to find his rhythm today and made too many unforced errors. Li went on to reach the semis. Alex is now heading back to Britain as the clay court season gets under way. Many of the British players will be looking to impress in coming weeks as the grass court season draws closer and there are many wildcards to be handed out.
Rd2 singles preview: Alex received a stroke of luck in this tournament regarding the draw as when it was first released it looked likely that Alex's projected rd2 opponent would be American Lester Cook who's ranked 712. However, Cook withdrew and was replaced by 19 year old Chinese lucky loser Zhe Li. Li had lost in straight sets in the final qualifying round to an opponent from Kazhakstan ranked 1356. In rd1 he had an easy match against Japanese wildcard Hiroshi Ohata and Li won 6-2, 6-1. A big part of Li's game in attacking the net so Alex will have to pass well. Alex will be favourite for this match as he's ranked over 400 places higher [Li's world ranking is 1046]. Slabinsky v Li is first on court 7 on Thursday morning.
Rd2 doubles: Slabinsky/Kadir [3] lost to Kondo/Terachi [Jap] 1-6, 3-6
Rd1 singles: A Slabinsky [GB][6] bt H Kondo [Jap] 7-5, 6-7[8], 6-2
Report: Kondo has a protected ranking of 519 so this was a decent victory for Alex. However, Alex is not entirely happy as he missed several chances to win the match in straight sets. Speaking after the match, Alex said "I was 5-2 up in the 2nd set but Kondo broke back and took it to a tiebreak. I was 5-3 up in the tiebreak, he attacked the net and I had an easy passing shot but he guessed right and put away the volley for a winner. He went on to win the tiebreak 8-6. In the 3rd set I finished the job." Alex is in action in rd1 of the doubles later this morning. He faces Chinese lucky loser Zhe Li in rd2 of the singles on Thursday morning.
Rd1 preview: Alex's rd1 opponent this week is Hiroki Kondo. Alex and Kondo have already faced each other in doubles, in rd1 of Japan F1, Alex and Sadik Kadir beat the Japanese pair Kondo and Fuji in straight sets. Kondo is currently unranked, he reached a career high of 512 in August 2002 before injury struck and kept him out of action for around two years. Since his return to tournament action in December 2005, Kondo hasn't been successful, the only time he's won a main draw match was in Japan F1 when he qualified and beat an unranked American in rd1 before losing 6-0, 6-3 to 2nd seed Sadik Kadir in rd2. Alex is the 6th seed this week, if he beats Kondo he will face Chinese lucky loser Zhe Li in rd2. Li's rd1 victory was against an unranked Japanese wildcard. Alex is seeded to face his doubles partner, Sadik Kadir in the quarter-finals.
Rd1 doubles: Slabinsky/Kadir [3] bt Kato/Ochai [Jap]/[Brz] 6-2, 6-1
Report: An excellent rd1 win for Slabinsky and Kadir. They broke their opponents twice in each set and were never troubled. Alex has increased his doubles ranking from being unranked to 1030 in just over a month and he'll be looking to move into the top 1000 doubles soon. He can achieve that goal if he and Kadir reach the semis in the tournament.
Rd1 doubles preview: Alex and Sadik face the same opponents they beat in 3 sets in the quarters of Japan F1. That day Slabinsky/Kadir won 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 after a struggle. Kato's current doubles ranking is 1208 anf Ochai's doubles ranking is 1081. Alex has been unhappy with his doubles performances in the last couple of weeks, hopefully he and Sadik are able to combine well in this rd1 match and get off to a good start in the tournament. They are the 3rd seeds and are seeded to face David Martin [USA] and Hiroyasu Sato [Japan] in the semis.
Entry list info: As with Japan F2, both artificial grass and outdoor carpet are being used for this tournament. Artificial grass is basically astroturf, the ball keeps very low and skids off the court, the harder you hit it, the more it skids. Alex was originally listed at number 7 on the entry list but following the withdrawal of Japan's Gouchi Motomura [who was number 1 on the list] Alex is now at number 6.
Japan F2 [Kofu] [10K]:
Rd2 singles: A Slabinsky [GB][7] lost to Y Ishii [Jap] 3-6, 6-2, 3-6
Report: A disappointing loss for Alex, Ishii has been ranked close to the top 200 and is in form but Alex would have expected to have won. Alex took the second set quite comfortable but wasn't able to build on the momentum gained from winning that as Ishii raised his game and hit back hard in set 3. Ishii went on to reach the semis, losing to the eventual champion. Alex's rd1 win this week has meant that his ranking will move into the top 600 for the first time when the rankings are updated on May 1st - a significant milestone for him.
Rd2 preview: Alex faces Japanese veteran Yaoki Ishii for a place in the quarters. Ishii is ranked over 100 places lower than Alex at 759 but he is in very good form having reached the semis of Japan F1 last week, losing to the top seed in 3 sets. In rd1, Ishii faced a Korean qualifier but he wasn't troubled, winning 6-3, 6-3. Ishii has a career high ranking of 204 but that was reached back in 2000. It'll be a tough match for Alex. Slabinsky v Ishii is first on court 8 on Thursday.
Rd1 singles: A Slabinsky [GB][7] bt T Yamamoto [Jap][q] 6-3, 6-3
Report: Alex achieved another significant milestone in his career today as he secured a place in the world's top 600 for the first time, by reaching rd2 he gained the 1 ranking point which he required. This will be confirmed when Alex's points for this week are added on, on May 1st. Alex was pleased with this result, he said that he played well and broke Yamamoto early in both sets. Alex said that in Japan F1 last week, only the 1st round matches were played indoors, from then on all the matches have been played outdoors. Alex will now face either Korean qualifier Chul-Hee Lee or Japan's Yaoki Ishii in rd2 on Thursday.
Rd1 preview: This is an important match for Alex as if he wins he will move into the world's top 600 for the first time in his career. Alex will be favourite against Japanese qualifier Tetsuhiro Yamamoto who's ranked over 600 places lower at 1259 and has never been ranked in the top 1000. Qualifiers are always tricky as they have the advantage of having already won 3 matches on the surface. Yamamoto looked impressive in the qualifying, not dropping a set but all his opponents were unranked. He also qualified for Japan F1 last week and beat another qualifier in rd1 before losing to Korea's Hyung Tae-Kwon [wr:929] in 3 sets. Alex is seeded 7th again this week and was seeded to meet the 3rd seed and doubles partner Sadik Kadir in the quarters. However, the latest news is that Kadir has lost in rd1 to a much lower ranked Brazilian player, this loss was due to illness. This means that Alex has a really great chance of reaching the semis. Slabinsky v Yamamoto is 2nd on court 8 on Wednesday.
Rd1 doubles: Slabinsky/Kadir[3] lost to J An/D Yoo [Kor] 4-6, 6-2, 4-6
Report: This was quite a shock result for Slabinsky and Kadir who'd been expected to reach another semi-final. An and Yoo were trickier opponents than the stats seemed to suggest as although they are unranked as a doubles pair, An has a doubles ranking of 630 and both players are inside the top 750 for singles. Alex was disappointed that he and Kadir didn't take their chances in the match.. They were 4-2 up in the 3rd set but lost the next 4 games.
Entry list info: There are two types of surface which are being used for this futures event at the Kofu sports park, outdoor carpet and artificial grass. Alex will feel at home on the outdoor carpet as in Britain he trains regularly on carpet courts. Outdoor carpet is a medium paced surface, it's not as bouncy as outdoor hard or acrylic and it aids slice as that keeps quite low. Alex is 7th on the entry list so he should be seeded. The top two players are Japanese - Gouchi Motomura and Tasuku Iwami. All of the players in the field are ranked outside the top 500 apart from Motomura who is ranked 473.
Japan F1 [Tokyo] [10K] [indoor hard]:
Quarter-final singles: A Slabinsky [GB][7] lost to S Iwabuchi [Jap][2] 2-6, 1-6
Report: Alex will be disappointed that his match against Iwabuchi wasn't closer but it's still been a great week for him. He's earned two ranking points which will take him within 1 ranking point of making the top 600 for the first time in his career. Alex can consider himself unlucky to have been drawn in the same quarter as Iwabuchi, the Japanese veteran has handed out heavy beatings to several top 350 players already this year. Alex will now travel to Kofu for Japan F2 which starts on Monday, hopefully the persistent rain will have stopped by then and Alex will be competing on outdoor carpet which is one of his favourite surfaces.
Quarter-final preview: Alex takes on the Japanese veteran 2nd seed Satoshi Iwabuchi for a place in the semis. Iwabuchi is ranked about 300 places higher than Alex at 335 and has a career high ranking of 223 [reached in October 2003] so Alex will have to play one of his best ever matches if he is to win. At the end of Feburary, Iwabuchi won Australia F2, a 15K futures event, beating Britain's Jamie Baker in straight sets in the final. He has competed only once since then, losing a 3 set match in rd1 of the Kyoto Challenger at the beginning of March. However, Iwabuchi has shown no signs of ring-rust so far in this tournament, he's been in ominous form, dropping just 3 games in rd1 and just 5 games in rd2. Iwabuchi is a left-hander and his main weapons are a powerful forehand and an accurate serve. He looks to attack the net a lot in matches and is a solid volleyer, this style will be especially effective on the indoor hard courts in Tokyo. Alex will need to hit his passing shots well and also play the same aggressive game which has paid dividends in rounds 1 and 2.
Semi-final doubles: Slabinsky/Kadir [2] lost to T Iwami/T Terachi [Jap][3] 5-7, 3-6
Semi-final preview: Slabinsky and Kadir are now the highest ranked pair left in the competition as the top seeds crashed out in straight sets in rd1. However, they will face their toughest test of the tournament so far against the Japanese pair of Takahiro Terachi and Tasuku Iwami. Terachi and Iwami are also a first-time pairing, Terachi has a doubles ranking of 1070 and Iwami has a doubles ranking of 612. They have certainly combined well as a pair so far, cruising through to the semis without dropping a set. Slabinsky/Kadir will be the favourites for this match but only just.
Rd2 singles: A Slabinsky [GB][7] bt Dong-Hyun Kim [Kor] 6-2, 6-3
Report: A fine performance from Alex saw him through to his first futures quarter-final since last October. Alex throroughly dominated the Korean emphasizing the ranking place gap of 200 places between them. Promisingly, he also had little problems today on the fast, indoor surface with either the court speed or the balls. After the match a delighted Slabinsky said "I played very well today, I was very aggressive with my shots throughout the match and it paid off." Alex has now secured 2 ranking points by reaching the quarters and this will move his ranking up to about 611. In the quarters he will face Japanese 2nd seed, Satoshi Iwabuchi, Alex will be bidding to cause an upset and on this form he has every chance of doing so.
Rd2 preview: Alex faces his first ever opponent from Korea today, 27 year old Dong-Hyun Kim. The Korean is ranked 836, about 200 places below Alex. Both these players had comfortable rd1 wins, Kim had no problems in beating 18 year old wildcard Kento Takeuchi 6-1, 6-3 although Takeuchi is only ranked 1528 in singles. Kim's recent form isn't particularly impressive, he's played a couple of futures events this year and has won a couple of main draw matches. He has reached a futures semi-final but that was in Indonesia last August. Alex said that he'd been struggling getting used to the balls and the indoor courts in rd1, hopefully he'll feel more comfortable in this match after having played a singles and a doubles match on it already.
Quarter-final doubles: Slabinsky/Kadir [2] bt T Kato/G Ochiai [Jap]/[Brz] 3-6, 6-1, 6-4
Report: Alex's doubles partnership with Australian Sadik Kadir continues to be succssful, they secured a place in the semis, beating Japan's Toshiharu Kato and Brazil's Guilherme Ochai. The match was more difficult than expected as Kato and Ochai both have doubles rankings outside the world's top 1000. Kato hadn't played a doubles tournament since last August and Ochai had little doubles success in the recent satellite in India. However, they surprised the 2nd seeds by dominating the 1st set and taking it 6-3. However, Slabinsky/Kadir swept through the 2nd set breaking twice and from then on they were always in control.
Rd1 singles: A Slabinsky [GB][7] bt J Miyao [Jap] 6-4, 6-1
Report: A comfortable win for Alex, moving into rd2 with relative ease. Alex wasn't particularly happy with his performance, he said "I didn't play well but I worked hard." Alex has had to get used to playing on indoor courts which is a difficult transition from Australian clay courts, he said "It's rained every day here so we're playing indoors. The balls are hard and heavy and they fly fast through the air. I'm trying to adjust."
Rd1 preview: Alex is seeded 7th for this tournament, his first 10K futures since October 2005 and his first ever tournament in Japan. Compared to 15K futures, 10K events offer less points and less prize money but the big advantage is that the fields are not as strong. In Australia, some of the 15K futures fields were similar to those of some challengers. Alex opens against Joji Miyao, a 24 year old Japanese player ranked over 400 places below Alex at 1081. Miyao hasn't won a main draw match since June 2005, since then he's only played 4 tournaments. Miyao hasn't played a match since October 2005 when he got beaten 6-2, 6-0 in rd1 of a futures event in Mexico by a player ranked 934. This will definately be to Alex's advantage as Miyao will be quite rusty, spending time on the practise courts doesn't really compare to an actual match situation. If Alex wins he will face either Korea's Dong-Hyun Kim or Japan's Kento Takeuchi in rd1. Alex is seeded to play the Japanese 2nd seed Satoshi Iwabuchi in the quarters.
Rd1 doubles: Slabinsky/Kadir [GB]/[Aus] [2] bt Fuji/Kondo [Jap] 7-6[4], 6-3
Rd1 doubles preview: Alex teams up with 24 year old Aussie Sadik Kadir this week, hoping to continue his recent fine form in doubles. Kadir has a current doubles ranking of 370 and a career high of 288. In the recent Australian futures events, Kadir and fellow Aussie Raphael Durek reached 2 doubles semis and a final. They lost in rd1 of Australia F4 to Alex and Robert Haybittel though ! Slabinsky/Kadir's rd1 opponents are unlikely to be too testing judging by the stats, neither player has a singles ranking although Kondo has qualified for Japan F1 this week. Fuji hasn't got a doubles ranking either but Kondo has a doubles ranking of 1360. Slabinsky/Kadir are the 2nd seeds this week, the top seeds are Minh Le [USA] and Hiroyasu Sato [Jap].
Entry list info: Having spent the last 3 weeks playing on clay in Australia, Alex will have to adapt to outdoor hard courts in Tokyo. After Australia F5 Alex had been competing for 7 weeks in a row so he took a rest week in order to acclimatise and practise on the courts in Tokyo and also adjust to the different time zone. Alex is 7th on the entry list behind Sadik Kadir [Aus], Ti Chen [Tpe] and Oh-Hee Kwon [Kor] aswell as 3 Japanese players: Satoshi Iwabuchi [who won the Australia F2 title], Tasuku Iwami and Atsuo Ogawa. There were several other British players who were on the alternates list - Ross Connolly, Robert Dee, Kostantinos Kalaitzis and Anthony Law. However, none of those players entered the qualifying where Britain has just one representative, Edward Seator [who trains at Sutton with Alex].
Australia F5 [Sale] [15K] [clay]:
Quarter-final singles: Slabinsky/Haybittel lost to J Statham/C Thomson [NZ]/[Aus] 2-6, 1-6
Rd1 singles: A Slabinsky lost to J Sirianni [Aus][7] 2-6, 7-6[8], 4-6
Report: Alex was edged out in a tight 3 set match by Australian veteran Joseph Sirianni. Speaking after the match Alex said: "I played well and I was 2-0 up in the 3rd set but I got broken straight back and I also got broken when serving to stay in the match at 4-5. Sirianni is a good player, he beat Belarus' Max Miryni [a top 100 player] at the Australian Open 3 years ago." Alex is still involved in the doubles main draw here but he will next be in singles action in 2 weeks time in Japan F1.
Rd1 singles preview: Alex will be hoping that the confidence gained from last week's superb run in the doubles will enable him to pull of an upset against the 7th seeded Aussie veteran Joseph Sirianni. Alex will be looking for revenge after losing to Sirianni/Patriarca in the doubles final last week on Sunday. The 30 year old right-hander from Melbourne has won two straight doubles titles with Argentina's Damian Patriarca. Sirianni is a big server and he looks to attack the net a lot so Alex will have to hit his passing shots well. Sirianni is currently ranked 498 in singles and 402 in doubles and has career high rankings of 199 in singles and 182 in doubles but those were achieved in July 2003. Sirianni's recent form is ok, last week he lost in rd2 of Australia F4 to Greek Kostantinos Economdis after beating a wildcard in rd1. In Australia F3 he reached the quarters before losing 6-0, 6-3 to Czech Radim Zitko who beat Alex in rd2 of the same event. Slabinsky v Sirianni is 2nd on court in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Rd1 doubles: Slabinsky/Haybittel bt S Braun/J Warner [Aus][WC] 4-6, 6-1, [10-5]
Rd1 doubles preview: Slabinsky and Haybittel seem to have gelled extremely well as a pair and after last week's brilliant form in reaching the final, they look to have an easy rd1 match this week. Both Braun and Warner are unranked in both singles and doubles and they've never qualified for a main draw satellite week or a futures event. This will be their first ever professional doubles match. Alex played Steven Braun in rd1 of Australia F1 qualifying and he won comfortably, 6-3, 6-3.
Entry list info: Alex is at number 13 on the entry list for this clay court event in Sale, Victoria. There are not so many South Americans entered for this as in Australia F4, instead there are much more Australian competitors - 11 in total !! This will be the last event of Alex's tour down under and after it he will head to the Far East for some 10K futures events in Japan.
Australia F4 [Victoria] [15K] [clay]:
Doubles final: A Slabinsky/R Haybittel [GB]/[Aus] lost to D Patriarca/J Sirianni [Arg]/[Aus] 6-7[4], 1-6
Final preview: Slabinsky and Haybittel will face their toughest test of the tournament against 2nd seeds Patriarca and Sirianni in the final. Both pairs have only dropped 1 set so far but in the semis, Patriarca/Sirianni were in ominous form crushing their opponents 6-2, 6-2. Argentina's Damian Patriarca is ranked inside the top 300 for singles and is ranked 246 for doubles. He's a clay-court specialist and together with Sirianni they won the doubles title in Australia F3 last week. Big serving Aussie, Joseph Sirianni has a doubles ranking of 406 and has been enjoying plenty of doubles success down under having also reached the semis in Australia F1 and the quarters of the Burnie Challenger in February. This tournament will give Alex a doubles ranking for the 1st time and he will be hoping to continue this form in Australia F5 this coming week.
Semi-final doubles: A Slabinsky/R Haybittel bt A Feeney/D Fernandez [Aus] 4-6, 7-6[4], [10-8]
Semi-final preview: A third Australia pair in a row for Slabinsky and Haybittel as their bid to reach their first ever doubles final at futures level. Alex will be hoping to get revenge over big serving Aussie Adam Feeney after losing a tight match to him in two tiebreaks in New Zealand F2 a few weeks ago. Feeney and Fernandez have also had some impressive results in this tournament, winning both their 1st round and quarter-final matches in deciding set champions tiebreaks. In the quarters they beat the top seeds Aquilar and Parada 6-4, 3-6, 10-7. Feeney is the more experienced doubles player with a current doubles ranking of 423 and in 2005 he broke into the doubles top 300. Fernandez is ranked outside the top 1000 in doubles and singles.
Quarter-final doubles: A Slabinsky / R Haybittel bt N Lindahl / E O'Neil [Aus] 6-4, 6-4
Report: Another great doubles victory for Slabinsky and Haybittel against their powerful Australia opponents. Alex attacks the net a lot as part of his singles game which helps him adapt well to the different tactics involved in doubles. This success will boost Alex's confidence after losing several really tight matches in the singles and also Alex might start to play more doubles tournaments from now on. Full report and quotes from Alex to follow
Quarter-final preview: After stunning the 3rd seeds in rd1, Slabinsky and Haybittel will be hoping to continue their good form into the semis. They have a great chance against the Australian pair, Nick Lindahl and Evan O'Neil. Both pairs are playing their first doubles tournament together. Lindahl and O'Neil had a comfortable win over an unranked Aussie pair in rd1, winning 6-3, 6-2. Lindahl is 17 and is the Aussie Open junior finalist but his doubles ranking is only 1336. His strength is a big first serve, sometimes clocking over 200 kph. Alex is playing his first doubles tournament since last September as he feels he needs more match practise on the clay courts which will hopefully benefit his singles. The opportunity to gain extra prize money to pay his costs for the week is likely to be another factor in his decision. This doubles quarter-final is on Thursday, 3rd on court 3.
Rd1 doubles: A Slabinsky/R Haybittel [GB/Aus] bt R Durek/S Kadir [Aus][3] 6-4, 6-4
Rd1 singles: A Slabinsky lost to F Parada [Chi][4] 7-5, 6-7[5], 2-6
Report: After the match a disappointed Slabinsky said, "I was playing well but I let it slip when leading 3-2 in the 2nd set tiebreak and missed my chance. In the 3rd set I got broken at 2-2 and couldn't get back. The courts here are very slippery and sandy." Alex will next be in singles action in Australia F5 next week.
Rd1 singles preview: A very tough draw for Alex, facing Chilean clay-court specialist Felipe Parada. Parada is the 4th seed here and is ranked 384. Parada has reached two futures quarter-finals in the past few weeks - New Zealand F1 and last week in Australia F3. Last year he reached a string of finals in clay-court futures events, catapulting his ranking up from outside the top 1000 to inside the top 400. Parada was one of only 5 players to defeat Britain's Andy Murray in challengers in 2005, beating him in his home-town of Santiago in 3 sets. Alex will need to play very consistently aggressive tennis from the baseline if he is to win. Parada is an out and out baseliner with almost metronomic consistency and is very mentally strong like all South Americans. Slabinsky v Parada is 2nd on court in the early hours of Tuesday morning.
Entry list info: This will be Alex's 2nd successive tournament on clay and unsurprisingly the top 5 on the entry list contains 3 South Americans. Alex is at number 14, above New Zealand no 3 Rubin Statham and Australian junior Nick Lindhal who reached the final of the Aussie Open juniors in January. Alex's compatriots, Ed Seator and Kostantinos Kalaitzis are in qualifying.
Australia F3 [Lyneham] [15K] [clay]:
Rd2: A Slabinsky lost to R Zitko [Cze][6] 4-6, 2-6
Report: Alex made too many unforced errors today which cost him, Zitko edged a tight 1st set and then ran away with set 2 gaining a double break. Alex has gained 1 r
