I'm amazed there isn't a full qualifying draw too given that it's the only Challenger not being played on clay this week. None of the qualifying seeds were in the top 15 Alts either, so it looks like there must have been quite a few w/ds from the main draw, hopefully enough for Bloomers and Slabba to get in. Certainly if they turned up, I think they must be in the main draw.

The player in qualifying who was highest on the Alt list (Ti Chen at no. 16) was above Chris Eaton though, so Chris can't have got into the main draw and must have thought it not worth turning up - he probably had no idea that he'd have been seeded as high as 2 in qualifying, I certainly wouldn't have guessed it looking at the entry list.

QR1: Colin Fleming WR 571 v Lars Pörschke (GER) WR 560

QR2: Fleming or Pörschke v (q1) Ti Chen (TPE) WR 350
QR2: Ken Skupski WR 628 v (q8) Karlis Lejnieks (LAT) WR 496

The other seeds in these two sections are (q6) Ricardas Berankis (LTU) WR 470 and (q2) Vladimir Obradovic (SRB) WR 408 respectively.

Colin has only been back playing for 6 months and if you doubled his current points, he would be ranked about 350 (and that's without any benefit of seedings he would have got in Futures in the meantime had he been ranked higher), so he shouldn't be too scared of the no. 1 seed.


-- Edited by steven on Saturday 4th of April 2009 06:35:42 AM

Eaton having a nice three-week holiday in the middle of the season - Zarrafak's rant the other day seems quite apt now

I wonder if Flem is asking Ken if he can swap places in the draw "I want the points more!" lol

-- Edited by The Knight on Saturday 4th of April 2009 11:38:16 AM

QR1: Colin Fleming WR 571 beat Lars Pörschke (GER) WR 560 by 4 & 4

QR2: Colin Fleming WR 571 v (q1) Ti Chen (TPE) WR 350
QR2: Ken Skupski WR 628 beat (q8) Karlis Lejnieks (LAT) WR 496 by 5 & 4

FQR: Fleming or Chen v Oudsema or Berankis
FQR: Ken Skupski WR 628 v (q2) Vladimir Obradovic (SRB) WR 408

Just when we'd given up on Ken in singles ... - Obradovic had a tough QR2 match, 11-9 in the final set t/b v Brian 'double-handled' Battistone.


-- Edited by steven on Saturday 4th of April 2009 10:29:37 PM

L32: Alex Slabinsky WR 336 v Qualifier (winner likely to play (5) Dorsch GER, in same quarter as (4) Becker GER)
L32: Alex Bogdanovic WR 192 v Marinko Matosevic (AUS) WR 236 (winner likely to play (7) Evans USA or our old friend Martin Fischer, in same quarter as (2) Spadea USA)

Matosevic is at a career high and has just had a month's break after winning a Future in AUS and then reaching the Final of the Melbourne Challenger, stuffing Udomchoke 1 & 0 on the way before losing to Tomic in the Final from a set up.

His record against Brits is 5-2 - beat Miotto and lost to Blake in 2004, lost to Slabba (5 & 2) then beat Seator (6-7 then double bagel), Eaton (2 & 2) & Kennaugh in 2006 and beat Brassington (5 & 0) last year - it looks like you have to hit him hard in the 1st set before he's woken up then not let up!

-- Edited by steven on Saturday 4th of April 2009 10:53:05 PM

Btw the qualifiers here get Slabba, Groth or one of two WCs, making qualifying here even more worthwhile than usual, I'd say.

Not the worst draw for Boggo as even though Matosevic has had a decent season, he's got a lot of points from the weaker Australian events, and really shouldn't be beating Boggo, so it will be good to get into the second round, but then Evans and then Spadea may be a bit tougher.

Slabba can't complain about the draw and should be the kind of draw to get him some points again, but he's probably going to get Berankis, which would be the worst draw he could get.

Hopefully Fleming and Skupski can qualify here, although Skupski has the better draw and could give Obradovic a good match - but Fleming will have to beat Chen and then probably Berankis to qualify, which could be a tough task.

Sorry, from the tournament website:

"Qualifying continued on Sunday. It was a tough day for American players as 4th seeded Cecil Mamit (PHI) defeated former LSU player Colt Gaston 6-1, 6-2. Also losing in the second round was Christopher Klingemann (USA) who fell to 5th seeded Tobias Clemens 6-4, 6-4. And American Scott Oudsema lost a tough three set match to #6 seed Ricardis Berankis (LTU) 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.

Other winners included Daniel Yoo (KOR) a 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 winner over Artur Chernov (RUS) and Frederic Niemeyer (CAN) who breezed by Sanchai Ratiwatana (THA) 6-3, 6-0. Also Ti Chen (TPE) defeated Colin Fleming (GBR) 6-3, 6-2. Ken Skupski (GBR), former LSU player, lost a close one to Vladimir Obradovic (SRB), 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.