Bamford and May are playing together in doubles, and are the top seeds. Raja/Querishi are the number 2 seeds, and their combined ranking is outside the top 1000, so Bamford and May should have a good chance
Don't know anything about the main draw yet, as it was delayed for some reason, and I had to go before they got around to doing it, but I'll guess it will be available reasonably soon
The person couldn't remember who the wild cards were given to, but Kasiri was definately there so I presume he got one, and I heard someone talking to someone called Morgan, so I guess that would be Morgan Phillips and he was a WC
Thanks a lot for all the updates and inside info, Dan.
I just need to find the piece of paper where I wrote down some notes from the matches, and then I'll have some mini-reports/comments on the players I saw today
Miotto vs. Illingsworth - only caught the very end of this match (as I arrived, Miotto was serving for the match), so I can't really comment on it, but Miotto didnt show any nerves as he held serve very easily.
Pedersen beat Raja in straight sets, and there was a very long final game in which I think Raja was broken. He looked to be distraught after the match, as he sat in his chair for 10-15 minutes after the match was over
Brewer vs. Meigel - Meigel has a lovely single handed backhand, and looks to be very good around the net, but seems to be more a headcase than Safin is. He was the better player in this match, yet managed to lose 4 and 1. The break in the first set was unlucky, as there were 2 dodgy line calls in the same game which went against him, which probably were the wrong decision, but from then on he appeared to have lost his mind. Lost 6 straight games to finish with. Brewer seems to have a solid game, with him being solid in all the shots, but nothing too special. Forehand is better than the backhand, and his serve was decent enough, and appeared to have a decent mental state as he didnt look affected by Meigel's tantrums
Corrie vs. Lacroix - Corrie has a decent game, but nothing too special in there. Didn't serve well enough in this match, as he was broken 4 times on fast carpet, and twice more was 0-40 down before coming back to hold. He did break Lacroix when Lacroix served for the match, but followed it with a very poor game and was broken to 15 to lose. Lacroix has a strong backhand, and he is better off that wing than the forehand. He looks to be a decent player, and could move up the rankings
Kennaugh vs. Connelly - first set was all about the serve until 5-4, when Kennaugh did enough to get the break. Connelly broke to start the second set, and then held serve, but then lost 6 successive games. Kennaugh doesnt appear to be the best player, as he was a bit erratic at times, but possibly could crack the top 500. Didn't see much of this match, as I was watching Brewer and Corrie's matches more
May vs. Norby - How Norby is ranked outside the top 700 I really don't know. He has an extremely impressive serve, and I don't think May got anywhere near a break. (maybe 1 or 2 games where he got to 30). Norby is also a very good volleyer, and returned extremely well, and probably should be a good 200/300 places higher in the rankings, if not more. May started the sets well on serve, but collapsed at the end with 3 successive double faults handing the first set to Norby, and at 4-3 down in the second he hit 2 more to put himself behind in the game. He has a serve, and a decent volley, but nothing from the baseline.
Bamford vs. Irwin - Bamford had a solid performance, and didn't do anything too special, but did enough to win. Irwin actually looked closest to breaking in the first set, and should have broken at 3-3 as he missed 3 break points, and was in control of the point in 2 of them. Bamford turned it up enough at the end of the set to break, and then ran away with it, although the service game he threw in at 5-1 was the worst I have ever seen, but he came back to break straight away. Irwin just goes for everything off the forehand and backhand side, and made far too many errors
I'll probably be going again tomorrow, as there is a fastest serve competition going on for anyone who wants to enter, so I'll try my hand at that (despite having an incredibly slow serve which is all about placement and spin), which goes with the rest of my clay court/stay well behind the baseline game, so I should be able to check out some of the players tomorrow
Don't want to have to get up too early, so hopefully all the Brits aren't on first so I can have a bit of a lie-in
QR3: Chris Priddle UNR lost to (q6) Juho Paukku (FIN) WR 789 by 2 & 2
Main draw
We have 10 players in the main draw - the four qualifiers, Matt Illingworth who got in as a LL (and was very lucky because he drew an unranked WC!), Matt Smith in as the last DA, Rushby and Kasiri are the WCs I've heard of, Coupland and Nott the unranked WCs I haven't heard of.
No Morgan Phillips though, which is bizarre, since he would have been a DA ahead of Smith and isn't playing anywhere else. I hope he hasn't injured himself in practice or gone down with Henman flu.
I'm just getting hold of the up to date (i.e. 19 Feb) rankings for all of them and then I'll post all the GB matches. If you can't wait a few minutes, see the ATP site.
-- Edited by steven at 18:43, 2007-02-19
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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
R1: (WC) Tom Rushby WR 672 (Q) v Alexandre Lacroix WR 1173 (winner likely to play no. 1 seed Torsten Popp) R1: (Q) David Brewer WR 924 v David Klier (GER) WR 476 (winner likely to play no. 5 seed Frederik Nielsen) R1: Andrew Kennaugh WR 746 v Niels Desein (BEL) WR 544 (winner likely to play no. 4 seed Julian Reister) R1: Matt Smith WR 655 v Malek Jaziri (TUN) WR 602 (winner to play winner of the next match) R1: (WC) Miles Kasiri WR 1417 v (7) Aisam Qureshi (PAK) WR 404 (winner to play winner of the last match) R1: (Q) Alex Miotto WR 919 v (8) Philipp Marx (GER) WR 434 (winner to play winner of the next match) R1: (WC) George Coupland UNR v Luka Gregorc (SLO) WR 438 (winner to play winner of the last match) R1: (Q) Neil Bamford WR 702 v (Q) Rasmus Norby (DEN) WR 712 (winner likely to play no. 6 seed Lars Uebel) R1: (LL) Matthew Illingworth WR 1534 v (WC) Christopher Nott UNR (winner likely to play no. 2 seed Stefan Wauters)
On Tuesday, Andrew is 1st on Court 2 at 10.00 GMT, followed by Matt, Matthew/Christopher, David and George. Miles is 2nd on Court 3 at about 11.30 GMT, followed by Neil and Alex is 2nd on Court 4, with Tom due on two matches later.
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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
Of course, Matt getting a DA must mean that Flan withdrew as well - I wonder if he's realised that he's going to drop almost out of the top 1000 when the Sat points come off and has given up?
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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
Thanks for the comments ForeverDelayed, they make good reading.
As for the wildcards the name Nott is ringing a very small bell in my head but I can't for the life of me work out why. Oh well. Coupland I have definitely never heard of though!
Thanks for the matches and rankings Steven it's really helpful to be able to see the respective rankings at a glance, I think the ATP should start doing it with their draw sheets but I doubt that'll happen anytime soon.
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To look at a thing is quite different from seeing a thing and one does not see anything until one sees its beauty