John, could you do a Futures preview for next week: Who's where, who's in qualies, who's in the main draw.....

Probably best to hold off from Challengers until we know if Bloomers has pulled out of Kyoto.

You could also do a Dubai preview for Andy and Greg?

Done the Futures preview. Will do an Andy preview and Greg review today sometime

Also, there is already a thread for this sort of thing that is sticked. Shall we take further discussion there?

Well why not simply un-sticky the other thread... Saves having two identical threads floating around.

Week 9 futures round-up anyone? Full with a glowing tribute to the Baker-boy of course.

Week 9 futures round up... I don't have the powers needed to upload myself so hopefully somebody will oblige and post the following:

Week 9 - Mens ITF Round-Up:
Baker adjusts sails to capture Harlingen title

"I can't change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination". A quote that could quite easily have been muttered by Jamie Baker as he battled against 45mph winds to take his second ITF Futures title within two weeks 6-2 7-6(5), defeating Stasiak of Australia at the USA F5 event. In doing so Jamie took his unbeaten run to 11 straight matches, a streak that had begun in Buenos Aires with a Davis Cup dead rubber win over Calleri.
The match was reduced to little more than hit and guess tactics due to the weather conditions, however Baker was able to keep his head and despite going down 3-0 in the second set rallied well to take the crown and collect the winners cheque of $1,950. Also of note from Bakers week is his victory over Hyung-Kwon Kim 3-6 7-5 7-5, a match that was played in sweltering heat and one in which Baker was barely able to make it to the net to shake hands with his South Korean opponent due to leg cramps. Baker will continue his Texan foray next week as he plans to compete just down the road in McAllen.

Week 9 was also of heightened importance due to much anticipated return of Morgan Philips who has been out for longer that one cares to remember, most recently due to a hole in his cruciate ligament. Much to the excitement of many forum members Philips flew out of the traps in Faro, Portugal F4 to win his QR1 match 6-2 7-5 against Rosa-Lopez [ESP] and despite proceeding this with a QR2 loss against Perez-Perez, 5-7 4-6, the general consensus was that winning his first comeback match was not to be sneered at and is only the beginning of a long, and hopefully successful, road back to fitness and winning ways. Main draw participants here included Miles Kasiri, Josh Goodall, Chris Eaton and James Ward. The former two succumbed to disappointing first round loses, whilst Eaton and Ward met their ends in R2.

Arise, O compatriots, Nigeria's call obey, To serve our fatherland. Yes, Nigeria F2 is our next stop where Ed Seator, Maniel Bains and Andrew Fitzpatrick [LL] were British main draw representatives. Although Bains fell in R1, Seator and Fitzpatrick cruised through, the latter showing excellent form to beat his nemesis in the qualifying rounds Misquith 6-4 6-1, an excellent turn around within a minimum amount of time. However Fitzpatricks tournament was to end in the next round, but Seator marched on with a 7-6(4) 2-6 6-2 victory over Gomez-Pinter [ESP]. Seator eventually succumbed in the next round, 61 46 16 to Accardo, a match that he admitted was decided in part by his reaction to the conditions, it was so hot today; I struggled to stay in there physically. Despite this loss Seator still had the doubles to look forward to and he was again partnering John McGahon, reforming last weeks doubles winning tandem, and although they couldnt repeat last weeks victory they made it as far as the semi-finals.

A brief round-up of the other Futures tournaments featuring British interest:

Thailand F3: No British player made it to the singles MD, however Ian Flanagan, partnering Eleskovic [SWE] made the doubles semi-finals.

Morocco F1 : Philip Barlow capitalised on receiving a LL spot to beat his R1 opponent Yassine El Ghazi 6-3 6-1 and thus earning himself his first ranking point of 2008. Barlow bowed out in R2, losing 6-4 7-5 at the hands of Rabie Chaki [MAR]

Spain F8: Myles Blake was a direct entrant to the MD and despite there being 10 British players in qualifying only Dan Smethurst made it through to join Blake in the first round. Whilst Blake found the going tough, losing 6-2 6-3 to Stephane Piro [FRA], Smethurst won his fourth match of the week 6-2 6-1 against Emilio Rodriguez-Navarro (ESP) to add another of those elusive ATP ranking points to his total. Unfortunately R2 proved to be Smethursts last singles match of the week as he was defeated 6-1 7-6(3) by David Diaz-Ventura (ESP); although as forum member XCW4EVA pointed out it was a "Good effort from smetty in the second set".

Italy F3: James Feaver failed to make it past QR1 losing 6-2 6-2 to Falgheri [ITA], however this was a fairly difficult draw.

-- Edited by James at 22:43, 2008-03-03

-- Edited by James at 22:44, 2008-03-03

-- Edited by James at 22:44, 2008-03-03

Enjoyable to read, James; thank you.