When not to peel off the block
Bo Soderberg and Anders Hoyer showed us why they have become a regular in the World tour main draw, with what I thought was a pretty solid performance against a team that on paper, was simply a level above them.
The first five side outs from Anders were touched or thrown back by Dalhausser’s massive block, but despite the constant pressure, the Danish guys hung in there, keeping the score within a few points through out the set. They had a genuine chance towards the end, winning three consecutive points on Dalhausser with some very effective deep float serves. Dalhausser shanked one out of the park, then made a couple of bad passes, leaving him out of position to attack and finding Ander’s block.
Dalhausser made Anders work hard for every side out
Bo’s defence was impressive, scrambling and getting his hand to just about everything he could, and were it not for an unusually high number of service errors, Bo and Anders might have come through that first set.
At the end of the day though, when Rogers-Dalhausser needed to make points, they did. I was seriously impressed by Roger’s back court speed, not only digging great line shots, but getting to the ball with so much time, and in such a well balanced position. It was a great game to watch.
On a side note, it’s good to see Bo and Anders back on the tour after rumours that they were looking at hanging up the shorts. We have it from the horses mouth, (or at least the horses wife
) that the Danish boys have their eyes set on the 2012 Olympics.
Hoyer-Soderberg lost their second match to our old friend Sasha Heyer (Heyer-Heuscher), and now play against the Japanese team of Asahi-Shiratori JPN to get out of their pool.