Roko Karanusic benefitted from several rain breaks to edge past Alex 4-6, 7-6, 6-2 on a soggy afternoon in Zagreb.

Both players started quite erratically but the heavens opened with Alex serving at 1-2 resulting in a 4 hour delay with the officials needing to dry the court once the rain stopped. On the resumption, both players exchanged comfortable holds, Alex was making less backhand errors and moving Roko all over the court while the Croat's serve was keeping him out of trouble. Alex made the breakthrough in the 9th game, breaking to lead 5-4. The break was pretty much gifted to him as Karanusic made 3 successive forehand errors to go down 0-40 and then netted a very makeable smash. Alex wrapped up the first set 6-4, holding to love with an ace down the T.

Alex started the second set in the same vein and appeared to be cruising to his first challenger win on clay when he broke to 30 in the opening game with a sublime cross-court backhand pass. He opened up a 6-4, 2-0 lead but 2 games later, the Croat broke back. A dodgy netcord put Alex 0-30 down and then Karanusic found the lines with some sledgehammer forehands to get 3 break points. Alex saved 2 with some big hitting into the corners off both flanks but could do nothing about another big Karanusic forehand on the 3rd and the set was all square at 2-2. In the first set, Karanusic was very erratic from the baseline, missing numerous forehands. However, in the 2nd he started to draw his margins in and stopped going for such flashy winners, as a result he became harder to break down and the match became a lot closer.  In the 5th game, Alex came close to getting the break straight back, setting up a chance with a whipped forehand pass. However, 3 backhand errors cost him and Karanusic held to lead 3-2. For the rest of the set, neither player had any more clear cut chances to break, there were several service games which went to 30-30 but each time either Karanusic or Alex came up with the goods with some big forehands. However, unfortunately Alex got off to a shocker in the tiebreak, within moments he was 4-0 down and Karanusic went on to take it 7-0.

The Croat then broke straight away to 30 at the start of the 3rd and Alex looked on the ropes. The rain came again, delaying play for another hour and enabling Alex to regroup. On the restart he broke straight back for 1-1 but his consistency from the baseline had gone and he was broken to love, 3 groundstroke errors and a double fault put him 2-1 down. Karanusic virtually sealed the match two games later when he got the double break to lead 4-1 and he wrapped up the win a couple of games later.

Alex really struggled in the 3rd set, I think by that point, all the rain had really slowed the court down and he was struggling to make inroads with his groundstrokes, ending up overhitting. Karanusic moves well and had completely cut down on the errors, he was just rallying from the back and looking to frustrate Alex, the damp courts favoured this type of play much more than Alex's shotmaking. Alex's chance came midway through the 2nd set, if he'd been able to get that break back I think he'd have gone on to win in two. As it was, Karanusic really upped his level and played a superb tiebreak, credit to him.
            

Mertl proves too tough for Alex in Prague

Alex's clay-court season got off to a slightly disappointing start with a 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 defeat to Czech Jan Mertl in a gruelling encounter which lasted more than 2 and a half hours.

The conditions in Prague were slow and very damp after heavy overnight rain, hardly ideal conditions for Alex's shotmaking game but he started strongly, breaking to 30 in the opening game and then breaking again a few games later to open up a 4-1 lead with the double break.

However, more errors started to creep in and Mertl retrieved one of the breaks immediately. It went with serve till 5-4 with Alex serving for the set, he had chances but it was the Czech who broke again to level at 5-5. The next game proved to be key as Alex had and missed a break point at 30-40 but Mertl held on and then broke to love to wrap up the set 7-5.

Mertl was now well and truly in the driving seat and Alex was just about able to cling onto his serve in the first few games of the 2nd with some dogged defensive play. It paid off as a sloppy service game from Mertl gave Alex the break to lead 3-2. The Czech broke back for 4-4 but by now both players were struggling to hold serve on the slow clay and Alex ground out a marathon 9th game to break again before sealing the set 6-4.

The 3rd set went with serve  till the 6th game when Mertl broke to lead 4-2. This proved to be decisive, Alex had a break back point in the next game but couldn't take it and the Czech opened up a commanding 5-2 lead. At 5-3, Alex saved two match points but could do nothing about the 3rd.

Alex then headed back to London for a few days before flying out to Zagreb for this week's 50K+H challenger

Alex begins clay-court season against Mertl
Alex today begins a series of clay-court tournaments which he hopes will culminate in the French Open main draw in a few weeks time.

However, before Roland Garros, Alex is grinding it out on the dirt in challengers in Prague  and Zagreb. He's seeded 8th in Prague and faces Czech Jan Mertl in the first round. It's again one of those tricky matches as although Mertl is ranked a lot lower than Alex at 188, he relishes clay. Mertl's had a pretty good season so far, coming through a strong field to make the Sarajevo challenger final and he also made the semis of the Wroclaw 100K. However, his last few tournaments have left something to be desired with first round exits in Barletta, Saint Brieuc, Chiasso and Ostrava (last week).

Alex has played Prague once before, losing in rd1 back in 2004 to Jan Masik, also from the Czech Republic.

Looking ahead to the later rounds, Alex would be likely to face Greek Konstantinos Economidis in rd2. Economidis has been quite successful on the clay, making the quarters in Casablanca last month but he's since had 3 first round exits.

Unfortunately Alex is in the same quarters as Tomas Zib, Felix Mantilla and Diego Hartfield, three of the hot favourites for this tourney

Alex in a seeding position for French Open qualies

French Open qualifying starts in 2 weeks time and the entry list is out. The cut for the French Open is usually the highest for all the grand slams and this year's tournament is no exception. Even Mariano Zabaleta (world no: 89)  has just missed it. Alex is no 20 on the list and so he'll be seeded. He'll be hoping that some withdrawals enable him to sneak into the top 16 seeds which means that the highest ranked player he could face in the 3 rounds of qualifying would be among the seeds 16-32 

Baccanello outserves Alex in Lanzarote quarters

Alex's run in the Lanzarote challenger ended today in the quarters with a 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 loss to Aussie Paul Baccanello.

Speaking afterwards Alex said "He was just too good today, served really well, I couldn't get into his service games. He was a set and a break up, I managed to comeback and level the match but he broke me at 4-3 in the 3rd."

Alex now heads to Prague for a challenger on clay next week

Brad Gilbert on Alex
Brad spent last week working with Alex, Andy and Tim Henman at Roehampton.

He said "For Alex, he cannot worry about whatever chain of command he had in the past. Good people want to help and if he learns to love the gym, great things can happen. If getting into the top ten was just about striking the ball nicely, it would be a very crowded top ten."

It's an interesting statement from Brad, I think that Alex has definately improved his fitness a lot in the last couple of years. Since he began working with Mike Raphael in the 2nd half of 2005, he's become a lot stronger and has more stamina for the latter part of tournaments and long, gruelling matches outdoors. He did a lot of fitness work in Florida in the off season and I think that showed during the series of tournaments in the USA earlier this year and in certain matches like the 3 set win over Delic in ATP Sydney qualies.  

Alex plans series of clay tournaments
Alex is planning to play 2 challengers on the clay as a warm-up for French Open qualifying in 3 weeks time.

Next week he's entered a 100K event in Prague and after that it's a 50K in Zagreb. Alex hasn't played either tournament in the past, last year he didn't play any tournaments between Lanzarote and the French Open due to a hip injury. In 2005, he played the San Remo 25K but lost in rd1 to Olivier Mutis 1-6, 6-3, 6-2.

Alex's best results on clay came in 2004 when he made the final of the Bournemouth 15K, losing to Gael Monfils who he beat a week later in Edinburgh

The entry list for Prague is really strong with 5 top 100 players (Hernych, Hartfield, Udomchoke, Hajek and Roitman), Alex is 12th on the list and so won't be seeded.

Zagreb is slightly weaker and if Alex reaches the final in Lanzarote he'll be seeded, Karlovic and Delic head the entry list.

Alex battles past Tourte into Lanza quarters
Alex set up a quarter-final against Aussie Paul Baccanello after battling past France's Nicholas Tourte 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 earlier today

Afterwards Alex told alexbogdanovic.com "It
was a tough match, I was a break down in the 3rd, did well to get back into it and turn things around."

Baccanello defeated Israeli Noam Okun 7-6, 6-3 in rd2. He's currently ranked 235 but has been as high as 129 (November 2003). He's had an average 2007 so far, reaching rd2 of a few futures and challengers. This is the first tournament this year at which he's won 2 successive matches. However, he shouldn't be underestimated as on his day he can beat anyone at this level, he shocked Andy Murray back in 2005.   

The conditions in Lanzarote are proving tough for the players to deal with this week as it's so windy.

Alex comes through tight match to reach rd2
Alex reached round 2 of the Lanzarote challenger with a battling 6-4, 7-6 win over Aussie Rob Smeets.

Speaking afterwards Alex told alexbogdanovic.com "It was a tough match, was very close. It's very windy out here and the courts are playing slower this year which makes things difficult."

This sets up a second round encounter with France's Nicholas Tourte who edged past big serving Michael Ryderstedt 4-6, 7-5, 6-3. He's ranked 217 but hasn't had much success in challengers so far this year, juust 1 quarter-final in Tallahassee and lots of rd1 defeats.

Bogdanovic v Tourte is at 1pm GMT today

Alex opens against Smeets in Lanzarote

Alex will be hoping to make it a hat-trick of challenger finals this week and he'll be confident of getting past Aussie Rob Smeets in the opening round. They played a couple of weeks ago in the Valencia challenger and Alex won 6-3, 6-2 despite not being at his best.

Smeets is a leftie, ranked 276 with a career high of 233. He enjoyed a successful spell down under at the start of the year, winning a round at the Aussie Open before losing to Berdych in straight sets, reaching the quarters of the Tasmania challenger and winning a 15K title. However, since then he hasn't had as much success though he did reach the semis of the Bath 15K before losing 6-3, 6-7, 7-6 to Richard Bloomfield.

Alex's primary focus this week will be reaching the quarters and defending his points from last year when he lost 6-4, 6-2 in the last 8 to German Benedikt Dorsch. Lurking in Alex's quarter this time round is Israeli nemesis Noam Okun. 

The courts in Lanzarote are fast and bouncy which should suit Alex's game.

Niemeyer proves too strong in Cardiff final

British no 3 Alex Bogdanovic is through to his 2nd successive challenger final in Cardiff continuing his superb series of results over the past fortnight and extending his winning streak to 9 matches.

On Thursday, Alex battled past Germany's Simon Stadler 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 in a hard-fought quarter final and he reached the final without having to play his semi as 2nd seed Wesley Moodie withdrew beforehand with heart problems (Tachycardia). Alex told us that Wesley has been struggling with a virus last week and by playing here he'd overdone things. Tachycardia is an abnormal heart rate which can be very dangerous, Wes had to head straight to hospital.

Reaching the final here means that Alex's back in the top 120 and his ranking has increased by around 40 places in 3 weeks !  He's now within touching distance again of reaching the top 100 and will be hoping to do so over the next couple of months.

Alex defied the jetlag for the second day in a row to extend his winning streak to 7 matches. He always had too much for Slovak Pavel Cervenak, coming through 6-3, 7-6, looking very relaxed on and off court. This means that Alex has defended the points he won in Cardiff last year so anything else now is a bonus.

Alex is now the last remaining Brit in the draw as Richard Bloomfield, Josh Goodall and Lee Childs all went out.

He plays Goodall's conqueror Stadler today for a place in the semis.  Stadler mustn't be underestimated, he plays his best stuff in Britain, qualifying for Wimbledon last year and picking up a 15K title. He's currently ranked 219 and is a big hitting leftie.  Bloomers beat him 6-3, 7-6 in Wolfsburg in February and Marray beat him 7-6, 7-6 last autumn. Stadler made the quarters of Kyoto in March but apart from that his results have been ordinary.

Speaking afterwards Alex told alexbogdanovic.com "It's going to be a tough match tomorrow, still feeling tired from the jetlag and he beat Goodall pretty easily today

Alex was able to pull off a very satisfying opening 6-3 6-0 win here, despite having been back in the Britain for less than 24hrs after his 2 month stay in the States. It was an extremely impressive result against the highly experienced Jan Vacek. Alex was delighted with the speed with which he managed to adjust to the indoor conditions, and being back on his favourite surface he'll be looking to go deep into the draw.

Afterwards, he told alexbogdanovic.com "I played well today, I guess I got away with it but tomorrow it's going to be a lot tougher because I'm going to feel more tired and it always hits you on the 2nd day. I'll see how it goes."

Alex comes to Cardiff as the Number 3 seed, straight from winning the title in Valencia, so it'll be quite a surface change for him. He's up against big serving Czech Jan Vacek in rd1. Vacek is currently ranked 264 and at 30, he's past his best but he got as high as 61 back in 2002 so is still a dangerous opponent especially indoors. They've played twice before, Alex won an epic battle 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-5 in the Belgrade 50K back in 2005 but Vacek got his revenge on the grass of Manchester later that year, winning 6-3, 7-6 in the quarters. The last British player he faced was Alan Mackin last autumn, who beat him 6-4, 4-6, 6-0.