2010 Cup results

[Caprioska]

Welcome to the official page of the Caprioska Cup 2010 results!

We decided to split our page into three separate ones: results, ranking and cup holders. It allows for easier viewing and posting.

[Caprioska]

The very 1st cup of our second year saw return of one of our early days contender - before cup became an official Wackers' tournament - a legendary Awol! This is what he had to say to the press before the match:

"The CapCup was one the main things supporting me on my way from back surgery to the tennis court! The vision of me wearing the precious prize - THE HEADBAND - was maintaining my spirit during these long six months and I'm glad to be back!"

Awol paired with Rainman to challenge the formidable Wine Barrel/Caprioska team.

The match was a real proof of raising professionalism of CapCup'ers - each team was winning their serves and Awol - after six months break - was doing this easier then others!

But at the and The WIne Barrel/Caprioska team prevailed : 6:4, 6:4

[Caprioska]

Short and sweet:

Two teams were competing:
Rooster/Bean Counter vs Caprioska/Jelly Bean

In three trilling sets the Rooster/Bean Counter team prevailed: 6:3, 2:6, 6:4

[Caprioska]

It's getting more serious

This cup saw defending champions Rooster/Bean Counter missing out due to their late entry. They had to play exhibition singles match while two other teams were competing for the cup.

The two other teams were: Caprioska/The Fountain vs Rainman/Awol

In tight three sets Caprioska/The Fountain team has prevailed: 6:3, 6:3, 6:4

The forth set was played between Caprioska/Rainman and The Fountain/Awol. The teams ran out of time at 5:4 to The Fountain/Awol.

[Caprioska]

Blistering form!

4th cup (delayed for a week due to the rainy weather) was played between two teams: The Fountain/Rainman vs Caprioska/Soulman.

Two seeded players and defending cup holders Caprioska and the Fountain drew their partners (under-ranked due to just the beginning of the season) and the battle began.

It quickly became clear that The Fountain/Rainman team was unstoppable - they were successful in an every aspect of the game! Serves, volleys, smashes, dropshots, forehands, backhands - everything was going their way! Even Soulman's titanic efforts didn't save his team from a painful defeat: 6:2, 6:2, 6:1 to the new cup holders - The Fountain (his second cup in a row - two out of two!) and Rainman (his first one in a season).

Special congratulations go to Soulman for the first cup of the season he played. And played really well!

Attention all CapCuper's!

The Fountain is on his way of winning Caprioska Cup Grand Slam - four cups is a row. Can anyone stop him?

[Caprioska]

This day was too big, so report is coming a bit later. Read on!

Eight contenders (including a new talented inductee - Big Ben) met to decide the fate of the prestigious trophy. The teams were decided as:

• Caprioska/Big Ben
  
• The Fountain/AWOL
  
• Rainman/Soulman
  
• Rooster/Bean Counter
  

1st round:

• Caprioska/Big Ben vs The Fountain/AWOL - 6:0 (!) Unexpected result! Blistering performance from a regular Cup'er and his young partner!
  
• Rainman/Soulman vs Rooster/Bean Counter - 4:6 - tight, down to the wire
  

2nd round - winners vs losers

• Caprioska/Big Ben vs Rainman/Soulman - 6:4 - two very close ones in a row for Rainman/Soulman - but still no points!
  
• Rooster/Bean Counter vs The Fountain/AWOL - 7:6. Here we should stop and explain.
  
  The cup is a FRIENDLY tournament, we play it because we love tennis and choose to come here on Saturday afternoon, often sacrificing our other duties.
  Let's not forget it when we deal with situations on court, let's behave accordingly to our partners on both sides of the net - they are here for the same reasons.
  

3rd round - last and final

• Caprioska/Big Ben vs Rooster/Bean Counter - 2:6. The newly formed team couldn't recover after waiting for too long for their competitors to finish their match, and the unbeatable Rooster/Bean Counter combination
  prevailed!
  
• Rainman/Soulman vs The Fountain/AWOL - 5:5. Exhausted after the previous matches the two teams battled till late, but ran out of time!
  

And the winners are: Rooster/Bean Counter!

Teams	Caprioska/Big Ben	The Fountain/Awol	Rooster/Bean Counter	Rainman/Soulman	Sets	Games
Caprioska/Big Ben		6:0	2:6	6:4	2	14:10
The Fountain/Awol	0:6		6:7	5:5	0.5	11:18
Rooster/Bean Counter	6:2	7:6		6:4	3	19:12
Rainman/Soulman	4:6	5:5	4:6		0.5	13:17

[Caprioska]

After a very turbulent last week we expected a reasonably quiet tournament between just two pairs. But it wasn't supposed to!

A defending champion Bean Counter paired with Rainman versus Caprioska and AWOL! Based on paper (using old ranking system) teams combine ranking - 33:33! Perfect setting for tough match! So it was!

First set.
Bean Counter/Rainman took a lead - 5:0. Capriosk/AWOL were very close to a disgraceful defeat. But it was not to be. They have bounced back - 3:5 and Caprioska is serving. Despite all the support from his partner quickly restoring his formula one form, Caprioska couldn't hold his serve - 6:3 to Bean Counter/Rainman.

Second set
Caprioska/AWOL weathered the storm with the new found form - 7:6 (7:3 in tiebreak)! It's all down to the decider. As the teams were running out of time it was decided to play professional tiebreak - to 10 points (see changes to the Cup rules).

Third set - professional tie-break
The tie was really tight! But the Bean Counter/Rainman team were better in the end - 10:6 to them!

[Caprioska]

1st cup after introduction of new ranking system. The pairs were selected based on their ranking to achieve the most balanced teams.

The team's ranking is defined as the total of players' ranking. So for the Caprioska/Rainman team it was 7.2 + 6.1 = 13.3,
while the Fountain/AWOL team has slightly lower ranking of 11.2 (8.2 + 3).

May be this tiny advantage played its role, but it wasn't clear at the beginning.

First set.
AWOL to serve. He looses his serve to love (BTW does everyone know the origins of "love" and "deuce"?) - 0:1
Spectacular! - comments Caprioska, and does the same - looses his serve to love - 1:1
The Fountain is strong, he holds, while Rainman follows the suite - 3:1 to the Fountain/AWOL

The set was swinging from left to right -
4:3 to Caprioska/Rainman,
5:4 to Fountain/AWOL and Caprioska is serving to stay in the match.
6:5 to Caprioska/Rainman and Fountain is serving to play tie-break. Not this time.
7:5 to Caprioska/Rainman

Second set
After torbulent first set, the second one was reasonably quiet and went to Caprioska/Rainman - 6:1

New cup holders - Caprioska/Rainman

Consolation set was played between Caprioska/Fountain and Rainman/AWOL and it was the toughest set of the day. Rainman was flying on the court in a desperate fight to stay undefeated on the day! At 5:5 it was decided to play a tie-break decider.

Caprioska/Rainman team was better in the tie-break.

[Caprioska]

Rainman/Fountain vs Caprioska/Soulman

Combined Cap Cup (CCC) team ranking gives a solid advantage to Rainman/Fountain team - 15 vs 9.9
1st Set
However when 1st set went to Caprioska/Soulman in just 20 min - 6:0, the fairness of the ranking system was seriously questioned.
Second set
Second set started just like the 1st - Rainman was broken. Unfortunately for Caprioska he he couldn't hold either - 1:1.

Fountain holds, while Soulman is broken - 3:1 to Fountain/Rainman

After heroic efforts Caprioska/Soulamn equalized - 3:3

Rainman wins his serve, Caprioska is broken again - 5:3.

Fountain serves for the set and holds - 6:3 to Rainman/Fountain
3rd Set - the decider
Everything fell apart for Caprioska/Soulman while their opponents performed miracles - 6:0 to Rainamn/Fountain

New cup holders - Rainman/Fountain

Consolation set went to the winners as well - 6:4

[Caprioska]

It was worth waiting for 4 weeks!

Artful Dodger's return, first AWOL's cup, two tie-break sets, and finally - the very first CapCup Grand Slam winner - Rainman!

[Rainman]

Dear Alex

Sorry, I know that you have time limitations due to your responsibilities to the international circuit, but I do think Federer got more coverage when he finally won the French Open (and that was not even four in a row)!

Ribs are sore. I am pulling out this Wednesday. Hope to make it to the next CC, but will need to see how it goes.

Cheers

Rainman

[Rainman]

Dear Alex

Sorry, I know that you have time limitations due to your responsibilities to the international circuit, but I do think Federer got more coverage when he finally won the French Open (and that was not even four in a row)!

Ribs are sore. I am pulling out this Wednesday. Hope to make it to the next CC, but will need to see how it goes.

Cheers

Rainman

[Caprioska]

Dear CapCupers,

My apologies for being so late with the reports. As you may know I spend a significant amount of time away from active wacking flying to/from New Zealand and not having enough resources to invest in match reports.

But the last few cups deserved to be mentioned.

9th cup - the history book is written - the first CapCup Grand Slam Winner
While this post refers to 10th, 11th and 12th cups, we can't stay away from mentioning once again the great achievement of Rainman and his partner AWOL. In a thrilling encounter they managed to beat Caprioska and Artful Dodger - 2:1 (6:7 (0:7), 6:2, 7:6 (7:3)) to claim the first cup for AWOL and 4th in the row for Rainman and making him the first Caprioska Cup Grand Slam Winner!

10th cup - The return of the Fountain and rebirth of Wacko-Jacko
These two had all the chances to win - the power and the speed, the forehands and the backhands, the serves and the volleys, and the experience of playing together in a Sunday Morning Comp. And they did win but not so easy - 7:5, 7:5 against Caprioska/Soulman

11th cup - desperate to win Caprisoka is calling for a secret weapon - Big Ben
Previous short appearance of Big Ben promised a lot - young blood with punishing forehands and killing serves. They didn't win that time but were very close. This time they were considered as hot favorites against Fountain and Soulman. And the match started according to the expectations - 6:3 to Caprioska/Big Ben.
However pressure of HSC didn't let Big Ben to produce his best game and the hot favorites had to surrender to the Fountein/Soulman team :6:3, 2:6, 3:6.
Back to back win for the Fountain and the very first cup in 2010 for Soulman!

12th Cup - the first cup ever without a winner!
Two teams were led by the only Grand Slam winner - Rainman, and last two cups back to back winner - Fountain.
Rainman/Caprioska vs Fountain/Soulman. It was expected to be close but that close?!

First set - the current cup holders Fountain/Soulman took a lead - 4:1 after Caprioska in his what's become an unfortunate habit lost his serve with thee double faults (no wonder after two weeks of not playing). Rainman/Caprioska broke back, equalized and Rainman served for the match at 5:4 and had a set point. But it not meant to be...
At 5:6 during the longest game of the match Caprioska served 5 doubles but still managed to win his serve thank to unbelievable volleys of his partner.
6 all, tiebreak
3:3, 6:6, each team is having set points, but Fountain/Soulman prevailed - 9:7.

At 5:15 on the clock it was clear the teams will not have enough time to play three sets, but the Fountain/Soulman team needed just one set to claim the victory!

Second set - Rainman/Caprioska started on a high note - 3:1 after everyone served, and continued this way till the end - 6:3 their way and the very first cup without a winner!

[Rainman]

Caprioska

Thank you for the match reports.

Re the 12th Cup - tennis was the winner.

Rainman