Seems as though Josh can do no wrong this week.  He & Neil are through to the doubles final, where they'll play the second seeds, Carsten Ball & his opponent in the singles QFs earlier today, Robert Smeets!   Can he make it two out of two against Smeets for the week...?     (or he will be, if he keeps this up!  )

Edited in:  Forgot to give the score in my excitement - 4 & 5!

-- Edited by Stircrazy at 23:44, 2008-04-18

Another report on the (excellent) Casablanca site

First the original Spanish to give anyone who can speak it a chance to correct any errors I might make ...

GOODALL VS OLEJCNIZAK
En otro orden de ideas, el británico Joshua Goodall dio la gran sorpresa al vencer en los cuartos de final al australiano Robert Smeets, segundo en la siembra y 167 en el ranking mundial de la ATP, luego que lo superó por 7-6 (5), 6-2.
Goodall sorprendió con sus tiros a las líneas y mantuvo la solidez en el fondo de la cancha desde donde preparó cada uno de sus puntos ganadores.
Por otra parte, el polaco Dawid Olejniczak obtuvo hoy doble triunfo y se metió a las semifinales.
En partido suspendido ayer por lluvia, Olejniczak dio cuenta por 6-4, 6-3 del veracruzano Santiago González, mientras que en partido por el pase a las semifinales venció por 6-4 y retiro al mexiquense Bruno Echagaray quien no se pudo recuperar de la contractura en la espalda baja.
Después de lo que el británico Goodall exhibió en su juego de cuartos de final ante Smeets, y la manera como se levantó en el primer set, la verdad es que se pronostica un durísimo encuentro por el segundo boleto a la final de este prestigiado torneo.

Moving on from there, the British player Joshua Goodall provided the big surprise [of the day] with his quarter-final win against Robert Smeets, 2nd seed and 167 in the ATP world rankings, beating him by 7-6(5) 6-2.

Goodall surprised with his shots onto the lines and maintained solidity from the back of the court, from where he prepared each of his winning points.

On the other hand, the Pole Dawid Olejniczak had a double triumph today to put himself into the semi-finals. In the match suspended yesterday due to rain, Olejniczak accounted for Veracruzan Santiago Gonzalez by 6-4 6-3, while in the battle for passage into the semi-finals, he beat by 6-4 ret. the Mexican Bruno Echegaray, who was unable to recover from a muscle spasm in his lower back.

Given the form that the Brit Goodall showed in his quarter-final match with Smeets and the way that Olejniczak rose to the occasion in the first set [of his QF], the truth is that we can predict a really tough encounter for the second slot in the Final of this prestigious tournament.

Olejniczak can't have been too popular with the locals yesterday, can he!

(my) Semi-final preview

SF: Josh Goodall WR 303 v (3) Dawid Olejniczak (POL) WR 269 (at CH)

Josh and Dawid meet again! In case anyone has forgotten, in the last batch of three GB Futures, Josh won the title in Bath, Olejniczak won the title in Jersey (beating Slabba on the way) and then they met in the semis in Exmouth, where Josh won 4-6 7-6(5) 6-2 before going on to win the title there as well.

That match, which ended a 7-match losing streak for Brits against Olejniczak stretching back to Bloomers win against him in 2006, was on the Pole's favourite surface, carpet, so I imagine Josh fancies his chance here, with even more points at stake.

Rankings implications

It would have been hard to believe a few weeks ago, but making the Final here would take Josh ahead of Boggo and winning the event would take him ahead of Jamie too!

Even if it doesn't happen, the possibility that it could gives a measure of how close things are in the GB 2nd-4th range, with Boggo having dropped like a stone in the last few weeks, Jamie having stayed much the same and Josh having gone on his storming run.

Hopefully, this gives some hope to Bloomers, another Brit who shouldn't be outside the top 300, and for whom a similar run would have much the same effect.

-- Edited by steven at 04:38, 2008-04-19

helki wrote:

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Olejniczak will be out for revenge then Steven! I hope Josh's good form holds up in the SF. Perhaps the locals will be cheering for him.

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You & I both, helki.  Let's hope they are.    And if he beats Olejniczak, the top seed, Sam Warburg, lies in wait in the final.  He's beaten Bastl 6-2 1-6 6-2!

Good run for Goodall here and he looks to have finally found some form after a toughish start to the season and he is getting back to where he should be in the rankings and could well be British number 2 soon is Baker and Boggo don't get their acts together and start winning matches

He'll probably build on this by winning the Mexico futures event (well, he's the favourite to do so) which would definately be a good few weeks for him

bamford must be doing some tooing and fro-ing to be playing the futures qualies as well.

mjd wrote:

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The fairytail ended!

DOUBLES FINAL
Carsten BALL (AUS)
Robert SMEETS (AUS)
def
Neil BAMFORD (GBR)
Joshua GOODALL (GBR)
6-7(5), 6-4, 10-3

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Disappointing day  but the week on the whole was pleasing. Taking the 2nd seeds to three sets is not to be sniffed at. Pity they couldn't have got that second set.