Didn't expect Ward to beat Bachinger but hoped he would have been able to run him a little bit closer than he did - there's always a lucky loser chance in Mexico though so hopefully he can get in that way.

Disappointing for Fleming and Skupski not to make the doubles cut, but I suppose that's a risk they had to take as their ranking is not quite at the level where they can safely make events - the problem is that winning futures doesn't get them enough points to move up the rankings quickly

Just a recap of the post that I made about Mexico City last year when Richard had a severe case of Montezuma s revenge, this may be an indication of why Colin retired -

"From the moment you disembark your plane at Mexico Citys Benito Juarez International Airport, your body must begin adjusting to the new atmosphere. It is thin, as the city sits in an enormous valley at an elevation of 7,300 feet, and also famously polluted. More striking is the smell. The air here tastes like charred corn. The history of the countrys conquest bears down upon the Valley of Mexico with the fury of the rain clouds that drown away the smog nearly every summer afternoon.

The city's atmosphere is thick with smog; a toxic soup cooking airborne chemicals into ozone. Eight out of ten days are declared hazardous to human health. Just breathing is said to be the equivalent of smoking two packs of cigarettes a day. Adding to the problem are 35,000 factories spewing tons of pollutants into the air."

Josh won his doubles match, 7-5 6-3 I think. It was straight sets anyway. A bit of bad weather there yesterday I guess as the OOP didn't get completed.

Good win for the two of them against the 2nd seeds. I hope Goody has gained some confidence from this win & he's able to carry on his winning streak in his singles match, whenever it's played.

Confirmed:

R1 Josh Goodall 209 bt Paolo Lorenzi 215 4-6 7-5 6-4

Looks a pretty tight game where his nerve held out despite a close 2nd & 3rd set

R2 Josh Goodall 209 vs Giovanni Lapentti 185

Lapentti knocked out No 3 seed Go Soeda WR 116 6-2 6-2 so confidence will be high

Interestingly, since it concerns Josh's half of the draw, the top seed, Kevin Kim (US),  is also out, having retired at 1-4 against the Mexican WC, Bruno Rodríguez!

Great result for Josh  it must be his best of the year so far and very unexpected given his recent troubles against Lorenzi. Typical that he should find some form just as his ranking dives thanks to his loss of points from his purple patch last year, but at least he's not going down without a fight.

His next opponent is the Giovanni Lapentti, the player who (when aged 17 and ranked 959) came back from 2 sets down to beat Arvind Parmar in the deciding rubber of the infamous Wimbledon DC tie, after his brother Nico (7 years older) had beaten Greg on day 1 (Greg then had to pull out injured) and together they had beaten Tim & Arv on day 2 - see http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/tennis/the-secret-of-the-lapenttis-success-709203.html for the reaction when they got home.

Giovanni never quite made it into the top 100 - his career high of 110 in 2005 is just below Boggo's 108 - and after dropping outside the top 400 for a couple of years after that, he seems to be moving up the rankings again. He won both of his home Challengers last year (one on hard at sea level, one on clay at altitude, though I assume the altitude gives him something of an advantage in the clay court Challenger in Quito, or at least keeps the strength of the entry list down!) and in the last month, he has reached the semis of the Bogota Challenger and qualified for Houston ATP, both on clay.

His last two matches against Brits were a loss to Muzza in the US Open FQR in 2005 and a victory against Aucks in Las Vegas the following year.

Being used to playing at high altitude may be a big factor in his favour in Mexico City, of course.

-- Edited by steven on Tuesday 14th of April 2009 11:45:41 PM