Some great results from Ireland yesterday and Slabba came oh so close to a massive upset....

R1:

U Vico (Ita)(3) bt A Slabinsky (GB) 7-5, 3-6, 7-5

J Blandin (Fra)(q) bt R Searle (GB) 6-2, 6-3

M Kasiri (GB) bt A Feeney (Aus)(4) 6-4, 1-6, 6-3

D Brewer (GB) bt R Junaid (Aus)(5) 6-4, 6-2

R2:

R Irwin v M Smith

M Kasiri v E Allinson

D Brewer v J McGee (Irl)(WC)


Irwin and Smith have played once before, Smith winning 6-3, 6-7, 6-3 back in 2002. However, going by both players' form and considering the fast, low bouncing astroturf, Irwin will go into this one as favourite with his big serve and serve-volley game.

Allinson has done well to qualify and win a round here but Kasiri should take that one after beating Feeney. Irwin, Smith, Kasiri and Allinson are all in the same section, so a Brit in the semis is guaranteed....hopefully it'll be Kasiri

Great chance for Brewer to make a first futures quarter-final for ages...McGee is unranked and beat qualifier Richard Wire in a final set breaker in rd1

3 quarter- finalists!!


R Irwin bt  M Smith  6-3 1-6 6-0

M Kasiri bt E Allinson 6-4 3-6 6-1

D Brewer bt J McGee (Irl)(WC)  6-4 6-3

  nice one lads!!

Irwin faces Kasiri and Brewer faces Julien Maes(FRA, 545), who knocked out number 2 seed Ti Chen today

Just spoken to Slabba he's a bit gutted about the Vico match as he was 3-0 up in the final set with a double break and served for the match at 5-4....unfortunately he started to think too much about who he was playing and got a bit tight..double-faulted on the 1st pt at 5-4 and didn't get the 1st serves in.Vico played the big pts well...Still although it sounds like a missed opportunity, he's got to take a lot of confidence away from the fact that he should have beaten a player who's been top 200. He said that before the grass season he worked a lot on fitness and serving. He's looking to try and improve his serve, get some more free points off it as that will help him rise higher.

Good to see Kasiri progressing and Brewer making it 3 in the quarters I thought Irwin would take that with his serve-volley game, serve-volleyers are always gonna have a big advantage on astro where the ball skids off the court so much...plus Smith doesn't seem to be able to string wins together atm It's been good to see this turnaround in form from irwin sine April...I guess that the big test will come in August, can he have the same success on the slower hard courts

Kasiri and Irwin have played once before, Kasiri won 6-0, 6-3 on outdoor hard in Greece last month. However, this time the courts will suit Irwin a lot more....Kasiri lost to Jim May (who has a similar game style) on the grass a couple of weeks ago in 3 sets

Gonna be a tough one for Brewer, Maes is playing some quality stuff atm. Ti Chan is top 275. Maes is 26, ranked 544 and has never been higher than 440ish. He made the semis last week before losing to the eventual winner in a tight 3 setter.

I don't know much about Maes' game....he had a lot of success in British futures last summer so likes the grass and astro. However, there have been rumours from several players that he's "on something".....and u know there's no drug testing in GB futures

Brewer came closer than a lot have...

Kasiri for the title? Is this 15k? Is he back in the top 600 yet?

Stunning win for Kasiri over an in-form opponent....he's been on a roll over the past couple of months. This is a 15K, so he's guaranteed 6 pts which will take him up to approx 654, a leap of 69 places. His aim for the end of 2007 is top 500 which looks very likely now...he could even make top 400 !

Should be a close match against Maes

report on bt.net here