QR2: Edward Allinson WR 1534 lost to (q2) Aleksandr Yarmola (UKR) WR 732 by 3 & 2 QR2: (q5) Andrew Kennaugh WR 746 bt Carlos Gomez-Herrera (ESP) UNR 6-0 4-6 6-4 :biggrin QR2: Konstantinos Kalaitzis WR 1243 lost to (q6) Andre Miele (BRA) WR 749 by 3 & 2 QR2: Edward Corrie WR 1417 bt Thomas van Cauter (FRA) UNR 5-7 7-5 62 QR2: (q7) Alexander Slabinsky WR 779 bt Pim van Mele (BEL) UNR 6-2 7-6(5)
QR3: (q5) Andrew Kennaugh WR 746 vs Piotr Zielinski (POL) UNR QR3: Edward Corrie WR 1417 vs (q6) Andre Miele (BRA) WR 749 QR3: (q7) Alexander Slabinsky WR 779 vs Agustin Boje-Ordonez(ESP) WR 1417
It's already Tuessday, and still they have two rounds to go just to get into the main draw, three if they want just a single ranking point!
Talking of the main draw:
R1: Ian Flanagan WR 631 v Vladislav Bondarenko (UKR) WR 620 R1: Tom Rushby WR 673 v (5) Cesar Ferrer-Victoria (ESP) WR 521
Winnable R1 matches, but overall not great draws for Ian and Tom - Ian would probably face the no. 1 seed in R2, and with 22 of his 27 points up for defence this week, that is the last thing he needs.
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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!
Noooo, what happened to Slabba Those Spanish grinders are so tough to beat on sluggish hard courts like the ones in Faro.
Real shame about Kennaugh and Corrie, those matches were close. From what I've heard about Corrie, his game does seem to suit slower surfaces more.
Great win for Flan the man though and much needed with all those points dropping off this week. Tom Rushby plays his first round match on Wednesday. The Derbyshire 20 year old is up against the extravagantly named Spanish 5th seed Cesar Ferrer-Victoria, who's ranked 152 places higher at 521. The Spaniard enjoyed a successful 2006 season in which he reached a career high of 381, won two futures titles and made a further 3 semis. However, since last August his form has tailed off so Tom may be in with a chance though unfortunately the surface isn't in his favour.
T Rushby (GB) bt C Ferrer-Victoria (Esp)(5) 7-6(5), 7-6(7)
That's some win for Tom on this surface !
Re Flan the man: The problem is simply consistency. A different Flanagan seems to turn up each week, apart from at last year's GB sat when he managed to string together good performances for 3 straight weeks and then didn't do anything till October ! On his day he's top 300 standard but he can quite easily lose to players outside the top 700.
One of the great things about Flanagan's win is that it is outside of the UK. This guy hardly ever travels for whatever reason. I think this is only his 4th oversea's win, the first since 2004.