Cenian Open 5 [NSTT Tour|Grand Slam|IC & Results]

[Ceni]

Cutoff.

Singles - Round of 32 (Day 1)

Botack Andiam (CEN)                6   7   7
Vladimir Ivanovic Ivanov (SRB)     4   6   6

Kika Dovan (CEN)                   2   0   5
Marisa Maradona (CEN)              6   6   7

Louis Amada (CEN)                  6   6   6   3   2
Jill Clarke (NGD)                  7   4   0   6   6

Pryce Cormac (FCF)                 6   1   6   6
Damion Kester Dunn (ATH)           2   6   1   4

Andy Amada (CEN)                   6   6   0   6
Noah Lennox (NGD)                  4   4   6   0

Gary Williams (GRA)                6   6   6
Blake Pepajack (QAD)               4   3   2

Liam Penderyn (NGD)                3   6   6   6
Joshua Hutchins (GRA)              6   3   4   3

Lonus Varalin (CEN)                6   7   6   6
Harry Blackwood (NGD)              7   5   3   2

Doubles - Round of 32 (Day 1)

Val Korekal/Jac Iegis (CEN)                                   6   6
Kika Dovan/Neia Dovan (CEN)                                   4   4

Max Aswick/Noah Lennox (NGD)                                  7   6
Jonum Korlovia/Johanna Korlovia (MRC)                         5   1

Ellela Thotan/Ciache Nagya (CEN)                              6   6
John Kirby/ Jasper Cooper (GRA)                               1   1

Rob Westfelt/Ken Gates (SCH)                                  6   6
Catherine Kruminš/Adam Gory (SCH)                             4   2

Mark Southgate/Megan Elliott (NGD)                            6   3   8
Hunter Roberts/Carmichael Brown (ETM)                         3   6   6

Jill Clark/Melissa Herbert (NGD)                              6   6
Kara Dragovic/ Jelena Svitolina (MTJ)                         2   4

Sonya Gredello/Rosa Levinsky (ETM)                            6   2   7
Franklin Polymar/Yves Whitz (QAD)                             3   6   5

Coosal Darlcheri/Gyrachor Rentos (CEN)                        6   0
Samuel Gates/Greg Meares (ETM)                                7   6

[Grand Angland]

Blackshore Sentinal

Anglish revelation Gary Williams beat Blake Pepajack 6-4 6-3 6-2 in the last-32 of the Cenian Open - his fifth consecutive victory.

Anglish number 4 Williams claimed the first set before being broken in the first game of the second set.

Pepajack, the other high-achieving qualifier, went 2-0 ahead before Williams won three games in a row on his way to second set, before taking the third in a straight set victory.

Williams will become the Anglish No.1 following this tournament, coming out as a surprise winner in a victory that was expected to be a battle to the end between Harley Watson and Harry Brown.

This was Williams' first straight set victory since qualifying, though it also heralds a tasty Last-16 against World No. 4 and the defeater of compatriot Harry Brown, Andy Amada.

Williams, 24, will be hoping to fair better against the Cenian star.

"This has been a fairy tale week," said Williams. "It's a beautiful feeling. To many this is a surprise but I have trained tirelessly for this. I'm enjoying being able to play freely and without pressure and I'm really looking forward to playing a top player in Andy Amada.

"It's a dream start to the tournament. I have totally exceeded my expectations. It's been an unbelievable start to my time on the NSTT Tour."

Analysis: Williams emerges as an Anglish force.

Sentinal's tennis correspondent Ronnie Webster.

A 5th consecutive victory for Williams, who has won 13 of the 14 matches he has played in 2017 - with five of those wins coming in this open.

It is not easy being such a strong underdog: being seen as a weaker player than Harry Brown coming up against a man that dominated Brown.

William's stronger belief was very much in evidence as he broke in the final game of each set to continue his dream start to the year. He has proven himself equal amongst Watson and Brown and is now making waves on the international scene.

[Electrum]

Centralis Herald - Sports Section - Kimiko Shigaraki

Close match sees Ronya fight on for another day

Sonya Gredello and Rosa Levinsky are used to standing on the brink. Their match against Qasden's Yves Whitz and Franklin Polymar was one of the toughest matches that they had ever fought in quite a while. Used to dominating the competition on Electrum's domestic circuits, they had a particular lack of match practice and with the annual Olympic competition just a few weeks away, the match they played was the fire in their belly that they needed. Formerly unstoppable, there was a settled mindset of complacency for Ronya, but not after today's tight match which went all the way into the deciding set.

The first set was routine with the two men from Qasden, who are just journeymen on the NSTT circuit, struggling to find rhythm and pace on their serves. Normally in the NSTT tournaments, or at least for the Electrumite players, the men would be great at serving, the women great at returning serve and volleying at the net. This meant that the girls were able to pick up a lot of points and managed to break the Polymar serve twice, winning the set 6-3. Of particular note was how fired up Gredello came towards the end of the set with several complaints at the chair umpire for not overruling two particularly bad calls which were later overturned at Hawkeye. Gredello, far from her cool exterior, sent a few balls loose, but luckily not much damage was done as the set was pretty much in the bag for Ronya.

That's when things started to go downhill. Gredello, the first to serve at the start of the second set for some reason or another lost her cool: she tossed the ball too high, complained about the heat and the wind (even though it was a mild day by Electrumite standards), really just errors abound. All of a sudden the Ronya advantage didn't seem like much as Whitz and Polymar clawed back a set, 6-2. Funnily enough it was the Levinsky serve, the serve that is usually the more vulnerable of the two that held up, but even that was not enough in the end. To their credit, the two men were able to get their act together -- perhaps sensing something was wrong on the other side -- and really just had to keep the ball in play until an error was inevitably drawn out from one of the two Electrumites.

Onto the final set, it seemed like Ronya had it all put together. Levinsky, to her credit, had a stern talking to to her partner, a very rare occurrence indeed. The court microphones picked up snippets of what she said, "Can't you just let it go," and, "Get a hold of yourself and just keep a lid on it." It turned out to be a pretty tight match, the pair from Qasden were playing sublime tennis, but now Ronya were doing the exact same as well. There were plenty of memorable moments in this third set, including an impressive sixteen shot rally (the longest of the match), where Gredello pulled the trigger to go right in the middle of the court to win the point, and Whitz chasing down a ball all the way from the centre mark to the net to scoop up a half-volley which went over the heads of the Electrumites. In the end, it was just a few unfortunate run of serves for Polymar which allowed the girls to get their first break since the first set to nab victory.

After the match, Sonya said, "It's definitely a wake-up call. I don't usually let my emotions get the best of me, but Rosa reminded me what was at stake, and I just had to push through it." With that victory, they are guaranteed an increase in at least 105 points as they had bowed out at this time last year. Coming up next for them is Samuel Gates and Greg Meares, hot on their heels as the second placed Electrumite doubles team. This match will be the one for the ages: these few months have seen the Ronya lead get chipped away, and now they are only two places and 115 points apart in the rankings. The winner of that match will be the new #1 Electrumite doubles team. Perhaps this will be a changing of the guard. It has come up so unexpectedly yet in many ways perhaps it is not as unexpected as we first thought. Samuel and Greg have been knocking at the door of Ronya for ages now, so it's inevitable that the battle of old vs young would present itself in the later stages of a grand slam. This match will be the one to watch.

[Ferret Civilization]

The days were getting lazier as less and less players had to play, though there was still practice and going to see the other games it was no longer the most important thing on the list. Everyone got up though at their usual early time and got cleaned up and got the breakfast. Pryce was the only one playing today, which was a nice joke, today was all for him. For the time of the game the whole team was able to sit and watch Pryce play in his game. The first set started off with Pryce going strong and hard again his competition as there was nothing else he could do. The strategy however did not play off well for the second set when he had to slow down and ended up losing worse than how much he won by the first set. For the third set he had to kick himself into gear to take the third set still going in tough, keeping it up for the fourth set which is where it started to get fierce. After all everyone wanted to win, Pryce just got lucky getting further along.

Which meant that if Pryce managed to keep up the great work and good luck winning his next game against a ranked opponent he would make it to the quarterfinals, that would be the pay off. Ástríður and Mark would be playing against each other tomorrow, if whoever won out of the two was lucky they would also have a shot of going to the quarterfinals along with Pryce. Having two members in the quarterfinals would be really nice at increasing some odds of getting one step further. Birger and Hermanni would also be playing on the doubles side of the event, the last pair still in it for their team, however the duo would be going up against the fourth best ranked pair that knocked out Dagmar and Ástríður. So hope there was a little low, but they had their shot and they were going to take it.

But for now their short game day was over, tomorrow's games would come when they would and they would see what would happen then. For now they got to have their fun, which since they were out earlier in the day they decided to go out to celebrate by eating. For some reason or another the team ended up on the ocean side of the city, and for even more odd reasons some of them tried to go for the seafood. Alwyn ended up being the food tester for the weird and exotic to them fish, which for the most part he disliked a lot of it. But they paid for it anyways and tried not to waste it all, though it was kind of a disappointment there for going for food. But since they were so close to the beach now they decided to check that out too, which was more a sight than anything.

Most of them just sat in the sand enjoying the sun and the waves with the other sights to take in while talking to each other. The sand was also another new experience, it was also a large mess, it got everywhere and while it could have been annoying they had fun with it. Tossing it up and digging into it, also where it was wet a few of them dug a little deeper to make a sand castle fort thing. Mark and Ástríður went for a run down along the ocean side to discuss their game tomorrow, which for once instead of deciding to make it a practice like game it would be may the best player win. It would make for a more interesting game tomorrow that was for sure. Hermanni and Birger, with previous experience swimming in Cenian water decided to see what it was like to swim in this water. Which ended up being a whole different experience with salt water and waves, all in all a lot messier.

Everyone ended up a whole lot dirtier at the end of the day though, heading back with fur and clothes all full of sand and for two of them salt water. They spent most the walk trying to brush it out to no real avail since sand had a way of getting everywhere. When they got back to their hotel rooms they had to wait for each other to wash off and try not to get the sand all over the rooms. Hopefully cleaning staff would not be to upset by any sand they tracked into the hotel. It was a pretty tiring time to so after that it was going straight to sleep for most of them.

[Vers-Gelderland]

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THREE TO SEE: CENIAN OPEN, THIRD ROUND (DAY TWO)

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(2) Ardil Navsal vs (17) Ty Kanelious (QAD)
This match pits a Cenian, Ardil Navsal, against a Qasdonian, Ty Kanelious. Navsal, a former world #1 and 2-time Grand Slam champion, has been on a bit of a decline recently, especially in the latter part of the 2016 season, where he failed to qualify for the World Tour Finals. However, this year, he's been on bit of a comeback this year, winning his second Grand Slam title in Carigrad and reaching the semifinals of the Cenial Masters and the final of the Antillia Masters; although the latter two are a little disappointing considering his expectation of winning tournaments, the relatively good performance, and the Grand Slam title, have raised his ranking to #2, and since he isn't defending all that many points here in the Cenian Open, he has the opportunity to regain that #1 ranking... if he makes it past Ty Kanelious, who has been on a resurgence of his own. He won the Keystone Bastion Open and its 1200 points on these same hard courts that the Cenian Open has; as a result, he's entered into the Top 20. However, we must lean to Navsal for a couple of reasons: one, he has home court advantage here in Ceni, his home tournament. Two, he is much higher ranked that Kanelious, at the #2 spot as opposed to the #18 spot. Finally, Kanelious has not been able to follow up on his latest results, while it looks like Navsal has followed through.

Winner: Navsal

(14) Mark Southgate (NGD) vs (18) Cracik Almeronovic (MRC)
This should be a close match between the fourteenth seed Mark Southgate and the 18th seed Cracik Almeronovic, as the two are very similar in rankings - and in the route they've taken to reach this third round. Southgate conceded his 3rd and 4th sets to veteran Samuel Gates in two tiebreaks before winning the fifth set 6-3 in the first round before winning against Qasdonian player Tony Tuk in the second round in straight sets. Almeronovic took five sets to dispatch with Phoenician Vera di Santos, only managing to escape in the fifth set by a score of 10-8. In the second round, however, he had a much easier road, winning in straight sets against the ferret qualifier Hermanni Conall. Despite these similarities, these players have very different styles and strategies; Southgate's success in doubles has taught him a strong serve and a tendency to rush the net, while Almeronovic likes to stick back at the baseline and hit excellent returns. This will be an interesting and exciting contest, then, because of this clash of styles, but ultimately, the many Gelderlish fans in the stands will be impelling Southgate to move forward in this match.

Winner: Southgate

(16) Neia Dovan (CEN) vs (21) Noah Damaris (CEN)
This match, between two Cenian compatriots and teammates, Neia Dovan and Noah Damaris, should be a quite interesting matchup - notwithstanding the fact that one Cenian will be advancing and there will be a lot of crowd action in this match. Unfortunately, both of these players are on the decline - Dovan used to be in the Top 10 and has won multiple titles in her career, while Damaris was once tagged as the best junior player worldwide. Both are not near those heights, with Dovan falling down to the #17 spot - perhaps influenced by the fact that at one point, for 52 weeks she had not advanced beyond the first round of a Grand Slam. Dovan used to be way more consistent, with her one handed backhand and angled forehand just not cutting it up to snuff in today's word with quite a lot of forehand and backhand power. Damaris, on the other hand, relies heavily on his big serve and volley - but the serve isn't consistent enough to have a lot of success, and the volley isn't very consistent either. I think that the main issue in this match will be the issue of consistency - and Dovan is just a smidgeon more consistent than Damaris.

Winner: Dovan

[Ceni]

Cutoff

Singles - Round of 32 (Day 2)

Ardil Navsal (CEN)                 7   3   2   6   6
Ty Kanelious (QAD)                 5   6   6   2   4

Mark Southgate (NGD)               6   6   4   5   6
Cracik Almeronovic (MRC)           1   4   6   7   4

Andrew Lamar (NGD)                 6   7   6
Max Aswick (NGD)                   4   6   4

Neia Dovan (CEN)                   3   6   6   6   1
Noah Damaris (CEN)                 6   3   4   7   6

Dioro Hansil (CEN)                 7   4   7   6
Thierry Garzala (NEG)              6   6   6   3

Tommy West (NGD)                   6   6   7   6
Maria Julenic (MTJ)                7   3   6   3

Andrew Simmons (ETM)               7   6   6
Livinia Moore (ETM)                6   3   3

Ástríður Eydís (FCF)               6   7   2   6
Mark Aðalsteinn (FCF)              4   5   6   2

Doubles - Round of 32 (Day 2)

Elia Xal/Fia Xal (CEN)                                        6   2   6
Andy Amada/Noah Damaris (CEN)                                 4   6   4

Dioro Hansil/Lonus Varalin (CEN)                              6   7
Tommy West/Stephanie Brown (NGD)                              4   5

Jack Algernon/Andrew Lamar (NGD)                              6   6   6
Nigel Davies/ Michael Harris (GRA)                            1   7   4

Anat ben Yonah/Hadar ben Ofer (JUD)                           3   3
Jack McDonell/Alan Alexander (SCH)                            6   6

Liam Penderyn/Harry Blackwood (NGD)                           3   6   6
Birger Gwil / Hermanni Conall (FCF)                           6   4   4

Peter McLeod/Anna Jones (SCH)                                 6   6   6
Paul Chinra/Alex Sanders (TOB)                                1   7   4

Perger Rianor/Ricpeer Rianor (CEN)                            7   6
Ryan Davies/ John Davies (GRA)                                5   4

Laura Roshik/Wendy Noyek (MRC)                                6   2   3
Botack Andiam/Johmer Vales (CEN)                              3   6   6

[Ferret Civilization]

The days had slowly turned from competition to just an extended vacation as time went on, which was a good and bad thing. After today's game between Mark and Ástríður there would be one less of them in the competition and one more going further into it. Good and bad things all around everywhere. After trying to clean up any left over sand that managed to get back with them it was time to start the day off, with a fewer games taking place a day and less of them playing there would be time after to try something different. Alwyn had to stay in the room at the hotel though instead of being out and about, a causality from trying exotic food.

Two of the team members were going to be playing today, in the same game. Ástríður started off the game going in hard against Mark, who spent the last part of the first set just trying to earn some points. In the second set she kept it up, upping the ante when Mark started to catch up and keep pace. Earning for a little long of a second set, Ástríður eased up on Mark for the third set, who continued with the faster pace to easily take that set. Then for the fourth set she came right back at him, tiring him out with longer matches again to take the set and the game. The two had a good laugh together over it after the game was finished. They all stayed to watch the other games that were going on while waiting for the doubles side of the event to start. When it did become time for Birger and Hermanni's game they did start off in the first set with the lead though that was the only lead they were ever to get for that game. For the second set it was a game up trying to play catch up, and with the third set continuing like that it was clear they were not going to win. After that game was over there was no Ferrets playing in the double side of the competition, Birger and Hermanni made it the furthest. On the singles side they still had Pryce and Ástríður playing. The team would see which of the two made it further or if they both lost in their next round.

Pryce would be going up against another high ranked opponent for his next game, he had faced off against worst when it came to that, though this time they had both made it far into the competition so it was looking harder. Since Ástríður was now still in the competition he asked her to help practice more for the afternoon, which they did. Whether it helped or not would have yet to be seen, though it gave some time for the two to talk and also enjoy the sights while going to and from the place of practice. Euan went to go make sure Alwyn was still doing okay at the hotel, which he was, though bored of being stuck there despite having to be stuck there for now. For the ideas of what to do for the day for everyone else though was go see the Nation Botanical Garden that Ceni had to offer. Of course simply going to any park or green space was exotic enough for the team, now take a place that gathered up exotic from around the world. It was simply overwhelming to see the type of diversity in flora. It gave the idea for the zoo to be the next place to visit to see the fauna of the place. Overall everyone was glad that Cenian officials made sure to show off their tourist attractions rather than just focusing on the tennis games, it gave a lot more to do than sit around waiting for the games.

[Ceni]

Singles - Round of 16 (Day 1)

Botack Andiam (CEN)          7   7   6
Marisa Maradona (CEN)        6   5   1

Jill Clarke (NGD)            7   4   3   6
Pryce Cormac (FCF)           6   6   6   7

Andy Amada (CEN)             4   6   7   7
Gary Williams (GRA)          6   4   5   6

Liam Penderyn (NGD)          6   6   3   6
Lonus Varalin (CEN)          4   3   6   4

Doubles - Round of 16 (Day 1)

Val Korekal/Jac Iegis (CEN)                                   6   6   6
Max Aswick/Noah Lennox (NGD)                                  1   7   2

Ellela Thotan/Ciache Nagya (CEN)                              6   6
Rob Westfelt/Ken Gates (SCH)                                  2   2

Mark Southgate/Megan Elliott (NGD)                            6   6
Jill Clark/Melissa Herbert (NGD)                              2   4

Sonya Gredello/Rosa Levinsky (ETM)                            7   6
Samuel Gates/Greg Meares (ETM)                                5   1

[Ferret Civilization]

Today was all about Pryce, and it showed in his game he had to play in against the better competition. The first set was a fierce as it could be with both sides seemingly giving it their all. Matches when by pretty rapidly as each side tried to outpace the other in an odd game of cat and mouse. He ended up losing the last match at a tied score thus losing the first set, rather disappointing start to the game for Pryce. Though today was his day and he knew it, he kept up the strong returns and fast enough pace to start to overturn his competition in the second set. Eventually taking the set win by a small comforting amount. Though the game was not over so he had to kept up the workout for the third set, still managing to keep a step or two ahead of his opponent. Taking a second set in his favor to one against, he could not afford to trip up and lose the fourth set and end up having to carry the game out to five sets. So he kept up the effort to keep on winning, though without being able to vary up his style much the competition was able to catch up. Ending up with the fourth set being a similar situation to the first set, which was very nerve racking. Ego and denial were running strong though for this game, with everyone else on his team watching and encouraging him on this lack of idea helped. Coming out with everything to take the last match of the fourth set for the game, which he was able to take.

Once the game was over and Pryce was victorious there was of course the after game day excitement that he had continued to push on in the event, now in the quarterfinals. Only problem was for his next game he would being going up the best tennis player pretty much ever Cenian Botack. When that game came it most certainly would not be his egoistical day no matter what any of them did. So right now it was looking up to Ástríður to win tomorrow's game she played in in order to get the chance for her to make it further into the event. For if she lost the upcoming game then that was it for the Ferret team, it would pack the bags and prepare to leave soon.

For now though the negative thoughts were still far away like they always were for the team, as for the day's after game activity included seeing the Cenial City Zoo. Which would complete the wild life expedition from seeing the plants yesterday. When everyone got there they mostly split up into groups to go see everything without being in a larger crowd like thing. Though by the end of the day they would all have gotten to see most if not all the animals and information on the exotic beasts. Everyone would end up with rather similar feelings to what they saw, there were the large creatures that out sized Humans that gave a primal instinct of awe, danger, and fear. The really strange not mammalian like critters like those that were small, feathered and squawked or scaled critters that most Ferrets had maybe only heard about. Of course there were the small mammals too, which certain species could have giving off the aura that caused some existential crisis thoughts.

When it was over it gave it something more memorable than the plants did in the way of everything. For the adventure was wrapping up and they all got to see and experience a lot this time around that they had not bothered to see last time. In the end it was well worth it, more memories for down the road to reminiscence about. Though for now in the present they settled down in the hotel they were staying at ready to see Ástríður hopefully kick some butt in tomorrow's game.

[Electrum]

OOC: This is a WIP -- I'll get back to it as soon as I come back home from the shops

Electrum Lawn Tennis Association - News

Plans to reschedule the Electrum Slam

In an announcement today, the Electrum Lawn Tennis Association has decided to reschedule the Electrum Slam so that it will be pushed back by a further week than what is stated in the schedule. Thew new ELTA president, Rosalind Corby, also a former tennis player, olympic medallist and Minister for Sports, said that, "To give players sufficient rest, and to avoid conflicts with the World Cup qualifications and the Olympics which are just around the corner, there has been a push back so the event falls in between both events." Despite the push-back in times, there is still enough space in the schedule for the next scheduled tournament, the Yodminster Open, to occur on schedule. With that in mind, it has been said that the Electrum Slam will be opening sign-ups very soon.

The very close proximity of both of the grand slam tournaments awards those who are on form, because in the space of just two tournaments, or just a few weeks, a maximum of 4000 points are available. "This proves to be an exciting time for tennis: never have the grand slams been so close to each other."

In separate but related news, the National Tennis Centre is set to undergo a massive redevelopment, with 300 million synergies being invested into the NTC by the local, provincial and federal governments. It will be renamed to "Centralis Park" to reflect the large amount of space available for the public. The redevelopment includes the opening of open-air stages, beer gardens as well as the construction of a new kids zone, so that the entire event is family friendly with activities for everyone. A new broadcaster's area, functions area and a new show court which will be sunk into the ground is also on the cards.

[Ceni]

Singles - Round of 16 (Day 2)

Ardil Navsal (CEN)        4   6   6   4   6
Mark Southgate (NGD)      6   2   4   6   3

Andrew Lamar (NGD)        7   3   4   6   6
Noah Damaris (CEN)        6   6   6   3   2

Dioro Hansil (CEN)        6   7   7
Tommy West (NGD)          2   6   5

Andrew Simmons (ETM)      6   3   6   7
Ástríður Eydís (FCF)      4   6   2   6

Doubles - Round of 16 (Day 2)

Elia Xal/Fia Xal (CEN)                  5   7   6
Dioro Hansil/Lonus Varalin (CEN)        7   5   2

Jack Algernon/Andrew Lamar (NGD)        6   2   6
Jack McDonell/Alan Alexander (SCH)      2   6   3

Liam Penderyn/Harry Blackwood (NGD)     6   6
Peter McLeod/Anna Jones (SCH)           0   1

Perger Rianor/Ricpeer Rianor (CEN)      4   4
Botack Andiam/Johmer Vales (CEN)        6   6

[Electrum]

Centralis Herald - Sports Section - Kimiko Shigaraki

Simmons shocks all!

In a surprising turn of events, Andrew Simmons has booked himself a quarterfinal spot in the Cenian Open after defeating the ferret Ástríður Eydís in four sets. Simmons at times looked uncomfortable under pressure, but he managed to only concede the second set, winning 6-4, 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(5). Simmons, along with Pryce Cormac from the Ferret Civilisation, will be the only two quarterfinalists out of the eight who are not in the top ten, a surprising feat given the fact that their current ranks are at the very low 200s - in essence, no one had ever expected, let alone dreamed that they would get this far into the competition. As a result of these two athlete's stunning performances, it is projected that they will jump at least 140 places into the low 60s at the conclusion of the tournament, assuming they lose out in the quarterfinals.

Most of all, Electrumite fans are shocked at how well Simmons has done in this tournament. Whilst both of the aforementioned players (Cormac and Simmons) had to qualify to get into the Grand Slam, Simmons actually lost to Sally du'Ercab in the qualifying competition. He only managed to secure a spot in the main draw after obtaining a lucky loser spot: Margaret has truly been on his side ever since then. Although du'Ercab promptly lost to Dioro Hansil in the first round of the competition, Simmons started off his competition by being pushed to the limit by Mattijana's Dominika Lisicki, where he won in the fifth set 9 games to 7, a truly exhausting match given the fact that both players had significantly long grinding rallies (a consequence of the hard courts).

With just a day's rest, Simmons was back at it during the second round with an easy victory of Mercedini's Milik, winning in three straight sets and managing not to get broken at all during the match. It was a stunning statistic: Simmons had never defended so well, not conceding any of the nine break points Milik had accumulated throughout the entire match. With a similar performance against our very own Livinia Moore, winning in three sets, he well and truly found the fire he needed to continue in the competition. At the presser he said that he was, "Just happy to be here really. Never thought in my wildest dreams that I would be in the fourth round, but here I am, I guess."

That brings us to today's match against Ástríður Eydís. After a slow start in the first set, which pitted the Electrumite against the Ferret, the two traded games until Eydis had an unfortunate run of errors in one of her service games to give the break Simmons needed to win the set. It really was an unfortunate sequence of events: a double fault and an errant net cord for Simmons and another double fault (the sun was in her eyes) all within the span of a single game. The second set saw Simmons get off the pace a bit: for some reason it just seemed like he went down a few notches -- his movement was looking a lot worse and he really wasn't getting his racquet on the ball and not generating the spin he usually does. Eydís hit back, winning the set 3-6. At the immediate conclusion of the set, Simmons called for a medical time-out: with Electrumites at the edge of their seats, everyone was relieved when Simmons signalled that he would continue to play on.

Simmons struck back in the next set despite an early fall in his opening game to get the set 6-2. The final and what would turn out to be the most decisive set would the fourth set where Simmons narrowly won in a tiebreak. Trading games back and forth, Eydís did well to hold the Electrumite back, and after a few close calls and a break back, things were looking pretty even going into the tiebreaker. To Eydís' credit, despite her height disadvantage, she more than made up for it with her skill in approach shots and her general quick and precise foot movement, something only the humans could ever dream of. With Simmons' focus on the fundamentals, he managed to get up a mini-break on Eydís after a down-the-line forehand, but Eydís managed to claw it back with an insane tweener after a fourteen point rally (unbelievable given her size and the angle she had to get through!). The decisive point in the tiebreak would be Simmons' perfect execution of a drop shot, just way too far for Eydís to reach.

Up next will be Dioro Hansil of Ceni, the world's third best player. Simmons indicated that he will be playing more aggressively at tomorrow's match. We at the Centralis Herald absolutely agree with him that this is the best course of action. At the press conference just after today's match Simmons said that: "I have everything to play for and nothing to lose. I will push Dioro to the limit, definitely." We look forward to see how well he will do: will his tough words make way to him crumbling away in his match tomorrow? Or will he pull off the impossible and get a step closer to the crown? He's already broken one record already: going the furthest in a grand slam as the lucky loser, let's see if he can make that record just that little bit harder to reach. Find out tomorrow on Network ENN.

[Ferret Civilization]

Another day another game, at least for this event one of the team members got to play every single day so far. It was down to two of them going back and forth, on this turn it was Ástríður's turn to play in a game. Everyone was overall excited and hopeful that she would be able to win the game, though they would end up being high hopes. She would end up having a tough drawn out game that took everything out of her and a lot of mistakes where made. It was no excuse though, a loss was a loss, Ástríður made sure to congratulate Andrew for the good game and wish him luck taking on the future competition. Maybe he would have better chances than her making to on further into the event, he sure showed that he could do it. Now it was all down to Pryce in the quarterfinals, going up against the best tennis player Botack who so far had steamrolled all the competition they had faced so far.

Everyone was still holding onto their high hopes, though it would be a lie to say that most of them had already packed up to head on home after the day's loss. Pryce ended up spending the rest of the day practicing with Mark, though Ástríður watched the two of them go at it. Anything to help try to fight off the inevitable. Mark and Pryce distracted each other with general chatter in between running after and hitting the tennis ball back and forth.

"You know we all believe in you Pryce..." Mark hit the ball over to Pryce. "Yeah I know you all do... And I appreciate it..."
"Just if you do not win... Does not mean every point... Is its own victory..." Pryce ended up hitting the ball to the other side of where Mark was so he was not able to hit it back. "I know, I know. You do not have to try and motivate me."
"It is more of a reminder, this practice shows that you are not feeling all that up to it."

No one could deny that Pryce had nearly no chance chance of making it, for now it was all about keeping the negativity away. Focus on that impossible, it has happened to them before, though they could not count on it. The way it seemed was that it was going to end up with the finals being owned by the Cenians, it was their home field after all and they had already proven how great they were at the tennis game. This next game would wrap up their overall mediocre game time here, though they could still not deny that they had an exceptional time here. Most of them did plan to at least enjoy tomorrow watching all the games and seeing some last sights before getting the rest packed up and heading off.

[Ceni]

Singles - Quarterfinals

Botack Andiam (CEN)      6   6   6   7   7
Pryce Cormac (FCF)       7   4   7   6   5

Andy Amada (CEN)         4   3   5
Liam Penderyn (NGD)      6   6   7

Ardil Navsal (CEN)       6   5   7   2   6
Andrew Lamar (NGD)       3   7   5   6   2

Dioro Hansil (CEN)       1   3   7   6   4
Andrew Simmons (ETM)     6   6   5   4   6

Doubles - Quarterfinals

Val Korekal/Jac Iegis (CEN)             6   7
Ellela Thotan/Ciache Nagya (CEN)        0   6

Mark Southgate/Megan Elliott (NGD)      6   2
Sonya Gredello/Rosa Levinsky (ETM)      7   6

Elia Xal/Fia Xal (CEN)                  6   6
Jack Algernon/Andrew Lamar (NGD)        3   2

Liam Penderyn/Harry Blackwood (NGD)     3   6   6
Botack Andiam/Johmer Vales (CEN)        6   4   7

[Electrum]

Centralis Herald - Online - Kimiko Shigaraki

Simmons upset Hansil in the Cenian Open quarterfinals - as it happened
This is a liveblog of the Andrew Simmons vs Dioro Hansil match. The match is the last match of the day at the Judi Valemartin Stadium, with both players given the maximum amount of time to rest, given they played their last match yesterday. An asterisk denotes the server.

...

22:15 Fourth set: Hansil 6-4 Simmons
Hansil takes the fourth set 6-4 in a relatively drama-free hold, finishing the final point with a forehand winner to take the match into its fifth and final decisive set. The problem here is will Simmons be able to recover from the dogs breakfast of the last two sets and push ahead and finally win that last set? Find out in a few minutes as the players are taking a break.

22:17
Simmons seems to be complaining about his knee again, a recurrent issue which resurfaced in his last match against Eydís. A medical doctor comes on and restraps below and around the knee and Simmons looks ready and raring to go.

22:20 Final set: Simmons* 0-1 Hansil
It's not looking like a good start for Simmons. Hansil breaks in the first game of the final set. Simmons starts off really well with an ace, but a trio of errors afterwards gives Hansil three chances to break. He only needs the one, taking it with an approach shot.

22:25 Final set: Simmons 1-1 Hansil*
Simmons strikes back out of nowhere! Hansil starts off with a double fault and a spray on the backhand to go down 0-30. Hansil wins an extended rally, but it is not enough after two forehand winners for Simmons allows him to come back in the hunt. Clearly Hansil should be trying to go towards Simmons' backhand.

22:28 Final set: Simmons* 2-1 Hansil
Finding a bit of rhythm, Simmons holds serve easily: we're seeing a return to the first and second set Simmons and he's looking more confident with every shot and long rally. An unforced error off the Hansil bracket ends the game.

22:30 Final set: Simmons 2-2 Hansil*
Unlike the series of long points which punctuated the last game, Hansil makes quick work of his serve, getting two aces for himself and a series of errors for Simmons enables an easy hold.

22:32 Final set: Simmons* 3-2 Hansil
A love hold game for Simmons. Absolutely clinical work with an ace on the T.

22:38 Final set: Simmons 4-2 Hansil*
Simmons breaks again! Hansil looks like he was off scot free, being up 40-15 but an inappropriate tweener (cockiness?) and an unforced error at the end of a seventeen-shot rally for deuce. Simmons forces a forehand error off of Hansil, but it is immediately countered with a winner for Hansil and we're back to deuce again. A look at a second serve twice was enough for Simmons to capitalise and break. All he needs to do now is to consolidate.

22:42 Final set: Simmons* 5-2 Hansil
A crucial consolidation for Simmons, sealed off with a deft forehand shot. His first serve in rate for this set is in the high 80s, not allowing Hansil many opportunities. Just one game away for a spot in the semifinals for Simmons. Simmons would prefer to break to win, instead of holding onto his serve - that's the way he likes it.

22:45 Final set: Simmons 5-3 Hansil*
A love hold, so no chances for Simmons, but this time for Hansil. We're seeing more of a targeting on the Simmons backhand, but perhaps it could be too little too late? It all comes down to this next game. Can Hansil break back and remain in the hunt?

22:50 Final set: Simmons* 5-4 Hansil
We're nearly 11pm and Hansil seems to have broken back! A couple of bad serves here and there and with only an ace thrown in, its 15-40. Despite forcing an error from Hansil in yet another long rally, a backhand error for Simmons means Hansil is still in with a chance. Perhaps an upset won't be on the cards after all. The momentum's swinging away from Simmons, this might be it.

23:01 Final set: Simmons 6-4 Hansil*
No way! We spoke too soon and Simmons takes the match in the longest game of the entire set! The backhand finally works for Simmons, and not a moment too soon. Hansil himself misses an easy put, going for an ill-advised smash and going 0-30 down. A net cord give Hansil that second opportunity he needed for a much welcomed ace and a baseline slugfest allows Hansil to pull it back again to 30-all. In the next point, Simmons just couldn't repel the serve-volley that he'd being doing so well in the final set, 40-30. Simmons then gets a look at a second serve, catching Hansil out on the backpedal (he was moving towards the net) for deuce. Time for Hansil's backhand to go astray (going very long), giving the advantage to Simmons. Hansil challenges, knowing that it may be over in the next point, but of course, there is no overrule. He only challenged so he can have a few extra seconds to strategise. It doesn't work out however, with Simmons making Hansil play at the baseline, Hansil quickly gets overpowered and a Simmons forehand finishes the match, winning the final set 6-4. It's glorious, and we might just see it again tomorrow.

[Ceni]

Singles - Semifinals

Botack Andiam (CEN)      2   3   6   6   6
Liam Penderyn (NGD)      6   6   4   0   4

Ardil Navsal (CEN)       4   6   6   7   6
Andrew Simmons (ETM)     6   3   7   5   3

Doubles - Semifinals

Val Korekal/Jac Iegis (CEN)            6   3
Sonya Gredello/Rosa Levinsky (ETM)     7   6

Elia Xal/Fia Xal (CEN)                 6   4   7
Botack Andiam/Johmer Vales (CEN)       2   6   5

[Electrum]

Centralis Herald - Sports Section - Kimiko Shigaraki

Here we go again

The resurrection of Ronya, the team, the legends has occured. Despite their age, they have still remained a formidable team despite their recent fall in ranking: coming from a tough spot in a draw thanks to their unseeded ranking, they have managed to defeat the seventh seeds as well as the third and first seeds in quick succession to make it into the final. And in an unbelievable twist, of course it had to be the Xal sisters who are going to be at the other end who will be the final test for the Electrumite pair.

Ever since the very beginning of the former Association of Tennis Professionals, the two pairs have been at it, being featured in countless finals from small Tier 2 tournaments all the way to grand slams. Indeed, the only time they have ever met at a grand slam is always at the Championship match, and this is where we start today's story. Right now, the current record of Ronya vs the Xal sisters is 6-5 in favour of the Electrumites, but in recent tournaments, it has been the Xal sisters who have been the dominant pair.

Past results
2014 Cenian Open (May): Xal/Xal
2014 Electrum Slam: Ronya
2014 Volatus Open: Ronya
2014 Cenian Open (Nov): Ronya
2014 World Tour Finals: Ronya
2015 Antillia: Xal/Xal
2015 Electrum Slam: Ronya
2015 Kinterten: Xal/Xal
2015 World Tour Finals: Ronya
2016 Ethanian Open: Xal/Xal
2017 Cenial Masters: Xal/Xal

According to the strictest definition of the Grand Slam, which I and the Centralis Herald hold (which is that the first grand slam in a NSTT tournament was the Electrum Slam in 2014), Ronya has always defeated the Xal sisters in a grand slam championship final, as well as any appearance in the World Tour Finals. This means that there may be a psychological factor that could be at play: Can the Xal sisters finally overcome their voodoo of not being able to defeat Ronya at a grand slam final? Or will this match finally be the match where they can finally prove themselves and rid themselves of this curse? To do that, we must look at each of the pairs' forms going into the final match.

Xal sisters
The Xal sisters have had a relatively quiet tournament so far, being overshadowed by the now top team of Val Korekal/Jac Iegas and the return of Ronya in the news meant that there has not been much coverage about them. This is to their advantage: there is less expectation and they have been able to fly under the radar. They've been pushed to three sets three times so far this tournament, all by other Cenian doubles pairs so there's not much we can draw from that. With the shock loss of Korekal and Iegis however, all eyes will now be on the Xal sisters because regardless of what happens in this tournament, they will regain the number one ranking. They've been dominant for so long now, so they will be the natural favourites for the bookies.

Ronya
The dark horses for the tournament, they have the hopes of the entire Electrum nation on their shoulders. Being the only Electrumites that always have a realistic shot at winning a grand slam, there is definitely a lot of pressure and expectation to live up to. They haven't really coped well after their sudden decline in form and ranking, but this is their redemption shot. Seemingly coming out of nowhere to storm into the finals, with upsets including over the #1 and #3 seeds, they have a real chance of rocking the boat with their vintage form. Despite all of these unbelievable victories however, the Xal sisters have the X-factor, in that they have faced them enough times now to know how to deal with Sonya's potent service game. The other teams just didn't have the experience in dealing with the combination that Ronya is.

This means my pick for the tournament, I am ashamed to write, is for the Xal sisters to win. This has indeed been a long time coming for the sisters so this is one they definitely deserve to win -- a comeback of epic proportions for Ronya is already victory enough for me. That's not what you should take away from this article however. What you should takeaway from this article is how two of the most veteran pairs have been able to come back and bring back their classic, vintage form that made them so dominant in the past into the present. It is an extraordinary achievement, and one that I thought that we would never see again. It has been a whole two years since this happened, and it's making me very excited for the future of tennis. Perhaps being old doesn't mean that you should get sent into retirement: there is hope for all old players to come back and defeat all those whippersnappers. Regardless of who wins tomorrow, I'm just glad to see history be in the making for yet another tournament.

[Ceni]

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PREVIEWING THE TWO THROWBACK FINALS AT THE CENIAN OPEN

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At the beginning of this tournament, we were ready for the New Guard to rise up and take their place at the Grand Slam. Some of us thought that the era of Cenian dominance was over and that it was time for a new nation, like New Gelderland, Qasden, Judea, or Schottia, to take over. Instead, those nations vastly disappointed, with Schottia's Catherine Krumins falling in the first round, and other Qasdonian, Judean, and Schottian players not doing much better. Gelderlish players did just fine, with Liam Penderyn reaching his second Grand Slam semifinals, but reaching the semifinals is not the same as winning it. Instead of utter Gelderlish dominance like some pundits had predicted, we see that the singles final returns to an all-Cenian affair... and the doubles final sees the return to one of the game's greatest rivalries. Indeed, instead of new faces taking over the scene, we see the return of older faces like Electrum and the Ferret Civilizations... making these two throwback finals.

Singles Final: Botack Andiam vs Ardil Navsal
This seems like a final from last year, and it's unusual to see this final between the #1 and the #2 seeds in an age where upsets seem the norm rather than the exception, and a lot is at stake here, including the #1 ranking and the potential Calendar Year Grand Slam. The winner will take the #1 ranking; Navsal has the chance to take his second out of the four calendar year slams if he wins. Both players have looked fairly tired by the time they got to the semifinals. Andiam has looked either really good or really bad, to be honest: he's taken 3 of his matches in straight sets and 3 of them in the full 5. He looked pretty bad against Rob Westfelt, coming from two sets down to prevail in the fifth, as he made a lot of errors and dug himself into a hole in the first two sets. His match against Pryce Cormac, a ferret for God's sake, was too close for comfort for him; his serve, normally imperious, couldn't out-power Cormac, and he was making double faults out the wazoo. He only prevailed in a tight two last sets, 7-6, 7-5. Finally, in his match against Liam Penderyn, he again came from two sets down to win the match in five, but that was somewhat understandable: Penderyn is a player on the rise, winning 4 titles in the last 3 tournaments.

Navsal, though, has not been looking much better; he has conceded a grand total of 11 sets in the 6 matches leading up to the final. He conceded 2 sets to pretty much every opponent he has faced so far, including Electrum's lucky loser Andrew Simmons in the semifinals; he played matches against tough opponents in Andrew Lamar, Mark Southgate, and Ty Kanelious in the quarterfinals, Round of 16, and Round of 32, respectively, and came from 2 sets down in his Round of 64 match against qualifier Icy Mellows. He's had a much more grueling schedule than Andiam, and has spent a lot more time on court (although both players have spend a lot of time on court, to be honest - neither's path to the final has been spectacularly easy). Navsal seemed to have a pattern in each of his wins until the final: make a lot of errors in the first four sets and then come out with the vintage play in the fifth set to pull it out.

This match should be very interesting, with the crowd probably happy with either player winning. Both players will be extremely motivated, but Navsal will probably be a bit more tired after his long, grueling path to the finals. Andiam, meanwhile, will be just a tad less tired, but then again, both semifinals went to five sets. In the end, this match will be between Andiam's serve and Navsal's return; Andiam relies more on the serve than Navsal, who has one of the highest breaking percentages on the tour. Research holds that the serve suffers when a player is tired, and since I anticipate this match to go to a fifth set, I say that Navsal will be able to take advantage. Whatever the result, though, I do expect a lot of breaks and a lot of errors between the two best players in the world, courtesy of these two long journeys.

Winner: Navsal

Doubles Final: Sonya Gredello/Rosa Levinsky vs Elia Xal/Fia Xal
Although these two had a matchup just a couple of weeks ago in the Cenial Masters (which the Xals won in straight sets, 7-5, 6-3), one wouldn't have anticipated the Cenian Open final match to be between these two teams; it almost seems like a match from two years ago, as these teams might just resume their rivalry. Gredello/Levinsky hadn't been playing on the international circuit for quite some time now, and they faced quite a few opponents who people had expected them to lose to in this day and age, with the new blossoming of talent from other places - Nolovor/Korden, Southgate/Elliott, the holders of the Astyrian Slam, and Korekal/Iegis, the defending champions and current world #1s, faced the team affectionately nicknamed Ronya and all lost, even though many people would have expected each one of the opposing teams to win. It seems like the Electrumite duo has regained their old form and are ripping through the draw; they have not lost a single set so far.

Elia and Fia Xal, on the other hand, have given up three sets to three Cenian teams, Amada/Damaris, Hansil/Varalin, and Andiam/Vales, each of which are teams of singles specialists teaming up together in doubles to make an extra buck and some extra ranking points (although Andiam/Vales make an excellent pairing with both of their skills at the net and their returns, with Andiam being the world #1 in singles and Vales being within the top 10 as well). Nonetheless, this phenomenon may be a little troubling for the Xals - as it doesn't bear a good omen for Ronya, who, again, have not dropped a set so far. They need to be playing the type of game that saw them win against the Electrumite team in Cenial - guarding against the return and making sure that the net is closely guarded, especially focusing on the alleys.

With that being said, I think the match will come up to a couple of different factors. First is the return game; I think both teams will be trying to return the serve so that it puts them in a good place to rush the net. With that comes the service game, with both teams hoping to be consistent with good serving to win free points and deny their opponents points. Finally, there's the net game, with the servers' and returners' partners trying to set up good angles with their net skills. Despite Ronya's resurgence, I still think that the Xals have the edge in each of these areas... plus they have the fan support that can hopefully push them over the edge.

Winner: Xal/Xal

[Ceni]

Singles - Final

Botack Andiam (CEN)      4   6   4   6   4
Ardil Navsal (CEN)       6   2   6   4   6

Doubles - Final
To be scored by Chromatika in an additional post

[Chromatika]

Doubles - Final
Sonya Gredello/Rosa Levinsky (ETM) 2   5
Elia Xal/Fia Xal (CEN)             6   7