Update...

QR2: (q14) Dan Cox WR 805 def Matthias Kolbe (GER) WR 1428 7-6(4) 1-6 6-3
QR2: Marcus Willis WR 948 def (q11) Georgi Rumenov Payakov (ESP) WR 768 6-2 3-6 6-1

More of the same please !

Good result for Marcus there, too bad he's got to beat another higher ranked opponent just to qualify! Good luck to the rest of the lads.

Found the main draw on ITF:


Marsel ILHAN (TUR) (1) Vs Pierrick YSERN (FRA)
Michal TABARA (CZE) Vs Haluk AKKOYUN (TUR)
Ivan CEROVIC (CRO) Vs Nicolas SANTOS (BRA)
Kevin DEDEN (GER) Vs Thomas OGER (MON) (6)

Hans PODLIPNIK-CASTILLO (CHI) (4) Vs Valentin SANON (CIV)
Aldin SETKIC (BIH) Vs Gregoire BURQUIER (FRA)
Daniel DANILOVIC (MNE) Vs Baris ERGUDEN (TUR)
Qualifier Vs Sebastien RIESCHICK (GER) (7)
Daniel EVANS (GBR) (5) Vs Tuna ALTUNA (TUR)
Murad INOYATOV (UZB) Vs Miloslav MECIR (SVK)
Qualifier Vs Qualifier
Qualifier Vs Pierre METENIER (3)

Petre LUNGANU (ROU) (8) Vs Qualifier
Qualifier Vs Martin PEDERSEN (DEN)
Qualifier Vs Laurynas GRIGELIS (LTU)
Qualifier Vs Mathieu RODRIGUES (FRA) (2)


Evans' Draw:
R1- Altuna
R2- Mecir/Inoyatov
QF- Metenier
SF- Rodrigues

The wonderfully named Tuna Altuna is first up for Evans. An unranked Turkish wildcard who has only won 3 matches at qualifying level and provided limited competition to those who have faced him in the main draws.
As good a draw as the Brit could have hoped for.

Mecir WR: 520 The 21 year old Slovakian has already won 1 Futures event this year and reached another final. Scalps include #277 Nielsen, #296 Mertl, #373 Sieber.
Potential banana skin if ever there was one.
Inoyatov WR: 487 only played a handful of weak clay events in Egypt and one in Turkey a fortnight ago. Only 2 of his wins are over players ranked inside the top #500 so a win over Mecir would be a surprise despite their rankings.

(3) Metenier WR: 411 Not gone further than the 2nd round in any of his 5 appearances at Futures level this year and failed to qualify in both attempts at Challenger level. Beat Marray and took a set off of Bloomfield at Tipton, but lost to the former in Jersey qualifying.

(2) Rodrigues WR: 370 played mostly ATP/Challenger qualifying this year with no success (losing all 5 matches including to Marray in Cherbourg 6-3,6-4).
Posted only 4 wins on the Futures circuit over no one inside the top #750, until last week when he moved up to Challengers again and beat Snobel in straight sets before losing to Ascione in round 2.
Could be struggling for confidence.

Good opportunity for the Brits in qualifying to pick up a point for their efforts. 2 of the qualifiers face off, while another faces a Wildcard.






-- Edited by Aeneas on Monday 6th of April 2009 08:05:35 PM

-- Edited by Aeneas on Tuesday 7th of April 2009 05:12:17 PM

gem of a draw for evans.

QR2: (q14) Dan Cox WR 805 beat Matthias Kolbe (GER) WR 1428 by 7-6(4) 1-6 6-3
QR2: (q5) Matt Illingworth WR 695 beat Gancalo Falcao (POR) WR 1296 by 3 & 5
QR2: (q7) Josh Milton WR 717 beat Riccardo Maiga (SUI) UNR by 2 & 4
QR2: Daniel Smethurst WR 1074 lost to Juho Pakku (FIN) WR 899 by 6-1 3-6 6-3
QR2: Marcus Willis WR 948 beat (q11) Georgi Rumenov Payakov (ESP) WR 768 by 6-2 3-6 6-1

FQR: (q14) Dan Cox WR 805 v Markus Eriksson (SWE) WR 1094
FQR: (q5) Matt Illingworth WR 695 v (q16) Patrick Eichenberger (SUI) WR 867
FQR: (q7) Josh Milton WR 717 v Juho Paukku (FIN) WR 899
FQR: Marcus Willis WR 948 v (q8) Nils Langer (GER) WR 731



-- Edited by steven on Monday 6th of April 2009 07:41:04 PM

Good work from the boys in qualifying so far, and hopefully they can all make the main draw, but I wouldn't be surprised if only a couple of them did qualify as none of them have easy matches, with Cox having the best match, but Eriksson smashed the top seed to get here.

Great draw for Evans though to begin with at least - hopefully the final isn't an unrealistic aim for him here.

Stupid sending Milton considering the strength of the field because he needs to get to the semis for it to count in his scoring tournaments. OK it might have been helpful come the end of the year when the doubled points start to come off but even so.

A little more info on the next set of matches...

R16: Daniel EVANS (GBR) (5) WR327 Vs Murad INOYATOV (UZB) WR487

Inoyatov- only played a handful of weak clay events in Egypt and one in Turkey a fortnight ago. Picked up only his third win over a player ranked inside the top #600 by beating Mecir in round 1 (thank God I don't do pick'ems!) . As his best results are on clay one would guess the courts are pretty slow by the fact he beat the handy Slovakian.

R32: Marcus WILLIS (GBR) WR495 Vs Sebastian RIESCHICK (GER) (7) WR455

Rieschick- Career high at #312 in January 2006, the German has had a mixed start to the year, going 2-2 in Futures (including a first round loss to a player in Willis' ranking bracket) but has spent the last month and a bit at Challenger qualifying. He qualified in Sarajevo before losing to Bastl in round 1 without beating anyone inside the top #900 and lost in his first matches in Kyoto and Bangkok. Undeniably, his best win of 2009 came over Alex Kuznetsov WR343 in Wolfsburg qualifying before he lost in the next round to WR249 Reister.
Willis should struggle, as Rieschick may not have posted many wins this year but 4 of his 6 loses have been to players in the top #400, yet Meatball has impressed so far this week and can certainly give the German a run for his money.

R32: Daniel COX (GBR) WR703 Vs Costin PAVAL (ROU) WR962

Paval- Qualified for his third Futures event this week by beating WR787 Perez 6-1,6-1 as well as 2 other ranked players. Similarly to Cox has justification in suggesting he has had rotten draws as both previous 1st round opponents were inside the top #500.
Both men will probably fancy their chances and seeing the strength of the rest of the draw Cox could have done a lot worse. Nevertheless, Paval should be extremely tricky.

-- Edited by Aeneas on Tuesday 7th of April 2009 05:14:55 PM