Soeda wins

Luzzi has a point for 5-0 and takes it to serve for a bagel final set

Bamford vs Childs follows soon

The rain eventually stopped and they continued playing until after 9 pm. Here's a round-up and a preview:

QR1: (WC) James Ward WR 684 lost to Go Soeda (JPN) WR 220 by 5-7 6-0 6-3
QR1: (WC) Richard Irwin WR 847 lost to Sam Warburg (USA) WR 206 by 4-6 6-3 7-5
QR1: (WC) Jim May WR 972 beat (q30) Lukas Lacko (SVK) WR 166 by 4 & 3
QR1: (WC) Tom Rushby WR 589 lost to (q8) Federico Luzzi (ITA) WR 117 by 6-2 2-6 6-1
QR1: (WC) David Brewer WR 933 lost to Zack Fleishman (USA) WR 169 by 3 & 2
QR1: (WC) Lee Childs WR 404 beat (WC) Neil Bamford WR 864 by 7-6(4) 6-3
QR1: (WC) Chris Eaton WR 775 beat Carlos Salamanca (COL) WR 302 by 4 & 2

Alan Mackin was withdrawn from QR1 at the last moment.

Lacko was beaten by Greg last week, so it always looked like Jim, another serve and volleyer, might have a chance. A straight sets win against a player ranked over 800 places higher was very impressive though!  Salamanca lost to May at Surbiton and Evans in Nottingham Q, so it was obvious that Chris too had a good draw, but again a straight sets win (this time against a player ranked nearly 500 places higher) was a great result.

James, Richard and Tom also did well to take a set each off opponents ranked hundreds of places above them and Richard put up a titanic battle against Warburg, breaking the first time the American served for the match, but James and Tom faded badly in the 3rd set. It was a good day though - David and Neil were the only Brits not to win a set.

QR2: (WC) Jim May WR 972 v Sam Warburg (USA) WR 206 - other seed in this section: (q7) Kevin Kim (USA) WR 120

I wonder if Richard managed to soften up Warburg enough to give Jim a chance of another spectacular win.

QR2: (WC) Lee Childs WR 404 v Pavol Cervenak (SVK) WR 268 - no seeds are left in this section

As far as I can tell, this is Cervenak's first-ever tournament on grass, though he did well to knock out Kubot in his QR1 match. Lee must have a chance though, with the added incentive of there being no seeds left in his section of the draw!

QR2: (WC) Chris Eaton WR 775 v (q14) Mischa Zverev (GER) WR 129 - other seed in this section: (q20) Stefano Galvani (ITA) WR 139

I doubt Chris has much hope against Zverev, but the 4 points he has got for winning QR1 are a good result for him already.

No OoP yet ...

-- Edited by steven at 22:40, 2007-06-18

LTA report:

First on Court 15 was 19-year-old Eaton who is playing the Wimbledon qualifying tournament for the first time.

However, despite the breezy weather conditions, Eaton looked like he's been playing matches at this level all his life.

Despite going down a break early on against Carlos Salamanca of Colombia, ranked over 400 places ahead of Eaton, the Surrey youngster used his volleying skills and his powerful forehand to get back on level terms with Salamanca, and then to go on to break the Colombian at 3-3.

Looking comfortable and confident on serve, Eaton went on to close out the set 6-4.

Eaton capitalised on his advantage and quickly got on top of Salamanca in the second set, breaking early to lead 3-1 as the Colombian double faulted.

After a short rain delay, Eaton came back out in a determined mood and broke Salamanca once more before serving out the match with some impressive serving and volleying, 6-4, 6-2.

Afterwards, Eaton was delighted with the win: "I played really well, it's fantastic. This is definitely the biggest tournament I've ever played. I'm sure a few of these guys are not very comfortable on grass so it's nice to have a little edge."

May, who recently beat Sam Querrey at the Surbiton tournament, was equally impressive in his opening match, against No.30 seed Lukas Lacko of the Slovak Republic.

Ranked over 800 places below Lacko, 26-year-old May was particularly impressive on serve as he dismantled his young opponent.

At 3-3 in the first set a lob winner gave May a break of serve which he went on to convert into a one-set lead 6-4. One break of serve was all May needed in the second set to secure victory against a frustrated opponent.

"I served particularly well, and I've played a lot of matches on grass recently. He didn't look like he knew what to do whereas I had a pretty clear game plan," May said.

Both players hold easily to draw level at 2-2

Eaton - Zverev: 4-4