It was meant as a proper compliment, Kels - the silly bit of it stems from me having seen too many of Shaun and Speedy's conversations on the pick em threads.

Here's my preview of the R1 matches - I hope not too much of it repeats stuff that has been said already:

It's a good thing this is a Challenger and there are 2 points for qualifying, else Jim May would probably end up with no reward for his efforts. However, Querrey does not have much experience on grass (a L16 loss to Cilic in Wimby Juniors 2 years ago and a R2 loss to Andy in Newport last year), so Jim catching him cold having qualified himself may be the best chance a Brit gets to take the American out this week.

Tourte plays on grass quite often - he won the Felixstowe Future last year, beating Stretch, Searle and Bammy on the way, then reached the Frinton Future Final, where Bammy got his revenge. However, he lost in R1 of both grass court Challengers he played in last year. Del has played him twice, both on hard courts, losing in (close) straight sets both times.

Terrible draw for Josh, though he did win a very tight match against Gucci on grass at the Manchester Challenger last year, before the Australian extracted full revenge with a 2 & 3 win in New Orleans later in the year. Josh also lost to him here a couple of years ago.

Bloomers looks to have a relatively straightforward R1 match against compatriot Sean, assuming his shoulder is now ok, but we could have done without Boggo and him colliding in R2. Kuznetsov is quite a tough R1 opponent for the Boggster, but his only previous senior outing on grass was a straight sets loss to Aucks in Newport qualifying last year, so Alex should be pretty confident.

Rushby may have a small chance of a big upset against Giraldo, a clay courter whose only experience on grass was a straight sets loss to Bloomers in Nottingham qualifying last year.

Jamie v Jonny is the most intriguing match of the day. Jamie stormed to a 1 & 1 victory in their one previous meeting, the Final of a hard court Future in Nottingham last year, but that was a bit freakish and I would back Jonny to beat Jamie on grass if it wasn't for the fact that Jonny is still making his way back from injury. A tilt at Giraldo (see above) awaits the winner, which is a good incentive.

Muller made a name for himself by beating Agassi in Washington 3 years ago and then Rafa at Wimby and Duckboy at the USO the following year without ever really fulfilling his potential. He lost all four matches he played on grass last year and has lost 9 of his last 10 matches this year (the win being a retirement), but I can't see Edward getting anywhere near him here.

Finally, Healey is pretty keen on grass and Lee will have to play very well to have a chance against him.

On Tuesday, Tom is 1st on Court 7 at 11.00 BST, while Josh is 2nd on Court A and Jamie/Jonny 2nd on Court B at about 12.30 BST. Everyone else must be starting on Wednesday.


-- Edited by steven at 09:10, 2007-06-05

seagull wrote: (on the women's thread, but it's about the men)

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Felgate was talking about how the Wild Cards were decided with one from each age group being picked. Apparently the last one was a lottery between Thornley, Prichard and Coupland.

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Neil Harman has a few choice words to say about this in the Times http://timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/tennis/article1884434.ece

Ridiculous that they didn't give one to Eaton if he wanted one.

yeah, alex's girlfriend is over from america for a while. To be honmest i dont know how well he gets on with the other brits. i know he gets on with big arvs, andy and a few of the real lower ranked guys, but not sure of the others.
i think he is also looking forward to the grass season fianly

seagull wrote:

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Baker won 6-2, 7-6 against Jonny

Goodall lost 7-6, 6-4

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That's shame. Feel that injury came at wrong time of career for Jonny and we could be seeing him following the footsteps of Martin and Alan. Shame really as he is one of my favourite players.

Finally got hold of Toby. Apparently, Jonny was 5-3 up in the 2nd, serving for the set. He played a bad game but at 30-40 thought he'd got back to deuce but lost out on an overrule.

Also, with Jonny 4-5 down in the T/B, Jamie won the point with a shot played while lying on his back, probably summing up both of their days!

Booty & Stretch lost the 1st set 2-6 but are 4-1 up in the 2nd.

Aucks and Huss won, 2 & 4 Toby thinks.

Doubles

(3)James Auckland/Stephen Huss (GBR/AUS) def Alejandro Falla/Santiago Giraldo (COL) 6-2 6-4

(2)Eric Butorac/Jamie Murray (USA/GBR) def Travis Parrott/Sergey Stakhovsky (USA/UKR) 2-6 6-2 12-10

Ilija Bozoljac/Robert Kendrick (SRB/USA) def (WC)Richard Bloomfield/Jonathan Marray (GBR) 3-6 6-4 10-8

no news?