just answered my own question.

Cherbourg :

Michael Ryderstedt SWE [4] has a Bye
Anthony Thiebot FRA [WC] vs. Maxime Bonami FRA
Eddy Chala FRA vs. Marcio Torres BRA
Nicolas Tourte FRA vs. Alexander Slabinsky GBR [8]

Nice to see Ken didn't withdraw from the the Future he was down for next week for nothing. Strangely enough, I predicted that he and Bloomers would end up in the same Challenger qualifying event last week, but they didn't, I think that's only because he didn't make the qualifying cut (and they didn't make the doubles cut) there though.

QR1: (q8) Richard Bloomfield WR 333 v (WC) Tore Waldhaussen (GER) UNR
QR1: Ken Skupski WR 660 v Roman Valent (SUI) WR 962

Bloomers has a very nice R1 draw against a WC who is not even on ITF yet, so must be playing in his first tournament. (q2) Martin Fischer (AUT) WR 267 is the top seed in his section.

The top seed in Ken's section is Izak van der Merwe (RSA) WR 278, while his first opponent had a career high of 300 in 2003. Valent hasn't played since losing 1 & 2 to Bastl in Basel ATP qualifying last October but the main reason for his low ranking is that he withdrew injured from the FQR here last year and didn't mange to play again until mid-August, so 962 is well below his true level.

Valent beat Aucks, Hilton, Parmar, Hutchins & Sherwood in 205 and overall he holds an astonishing 8-0 record aganst Brits in previous Challenger & Futures singles matches, but is 0-4 against Brits in doubles!

Bloomers is 2nd on Court 1 after 08.30 GMT, while the Skupster is 8th on Center.

-- Edited by steven at 23:05, 2008-02-22

Richard won 6-3 6-3

Confirmed no live scores until main draw
I should receive Ken's result when he finishes much later.

Excellent. It didn't seem like a German Challenger would give a WC to a complete no-hoper, even if he was someone who had never played a pro tournament before, but I would still have been a bit alarmed had Bloomers not won in straights!

The stripper at last night's party, btw, was coincidentally (or maybe not!) Tommy Haas's ex-girlfriend. Extract from a German tabloid ...

"Die dreifache Mutter, mit Sinn und Hang für die schönen Seiten des Münchener Nachtlebens, sei für Tommy nicht mehr als ein Sex-Spielzeug, sagt Peter Haas. Er denkt, dass Verbindung zwischen seinem Sohn Thommy und Giulia "keine Beziehung von Dauer" sei."

Or in other words ...

"The three-time mother, with a taste for the beautiful sides of Munich's nightlife, is no more than a sex-toy for Tommy, said Peter Haas. He think that the relationship between his son Thommy (sic) and Giulia is "not a long-term relationship". * ouch *

Anyway, if Bloomers was looking to 'relax before his match' (cheeky reference to last year's interview in GQ - I think it was GQ anyway), probably best to hope it wasn't with her ...

Skupski won :

6-7(4) 6-2 6-4

Will play Van Der Merwe next, who also won in three sets.

QR1: (q8) Richard Bloomfield WR 333 beat (WC) Tore Waldhaussen (GER) UNR by 3 & 3
QR1: Ken Skupski WR 660 beat Roman Valent (SUI) WR 962 by 6-7(4) 6-2 6-4

Just to remind everyone - Valent has been out injured, had a career high of 300 and had an 8-0 record against Brits before this match, beating 5 Brits (Aucks, Hilton, Parmar, Hutchins & Sherwood) in one year back in 2005, so that's quite a streak Ken has busted here!

QR2: (q8) Richard Bloomfield WR 333 v Juho Paukku (FIN) WR 434
QR2: Ken Skupski WR 660 v (q4) Izak van der Merwe (RSA) WR 278

Before yesterday, Paukku hadn't won a match since early November except when he beat Baxendine and Brassington in qualifying for Sunderland before going out in R1, and this was a tournament that Bloomers ended up wonning of course. He lost to Josh last year and while he has beaten all the other Brits he has played recently, they've all been outside the top 500.

Van de Merwe played in the Nottingham 2 Future last year, losing to Josh in the QFs. The fact that Edward Allinson took a set off him and Rob Dee once took 2 games off him in Botswana should give some hope to Ken, but vdM won a Future last year and has been playing in Challenger main draws, so while I'd like to think there might be an outside chance of an upset here, vdM will definitely be the favourite to win.

Wolfsburg Sunday's OOP