If the ATP 2009 results page is to be believed, they did.
Nice to have a couple of rays of sunshine at last shining through the wreckage of Brit bids for tennis success this week. Well done, Jamie & James. Pity you have to meet in the QF.
Aucks & Luczak must have won. Jamie's web site says that he went out at the quarter-final stage, but there's no indication of the score yet.
Edited in: Now confirmed - 4-6 5-7!Close, but not close enough! At least we're guaranteed a semi-finalist... Aucks & Luczak will face the third seeds, Allegro & Tecau (SUI/ROU), or the unknown Bulgarian WCs, Grozdanov & Ivanov, in the SF.
-- Edited by Stircrazy on Friday 24th of April 2009 12:45:59 PM
He said something along the lines of it feeling like a kick in the teeth for not being considered? Hang on...
QUOTES:
Lloyd had decided that Jamie's form was not good enough to keep him in the team and instead turned to Hutchins, whose rise up the rankings has come in no small part thanks to his extra training alongside Andy. The decision clearly hurt Jamie.
"It was disappointing and I felt like it was a bit of a kick in the teeth," he said. "I hadn't necessarily been playing the best tennis but I still felt that I was more than capable. It's the first time in my career that I was struggling a little bit and for John to not really back me was more disappointing than necessarily being in the team.
"It was disappointing to not play considering I was still sort of No1 in the country," he said. "[But] once Andy pulled out, it didn't matter whether I played or not because they would have lost. To be honest, it was probably a good thing that I was able to take that time to go Miami and train hard with Alan [MacDonald, his new coach] and think things through about how my career is going. If I'm playing well and feeling good about my game, then I put myself back in the frame to get picked [to face Poland in the Euro-Africa zone play-off in September]."
By the way, I have fallen in love with your signature, Count. It has literally made my day!
-- Edited by Silver on Friday 24th of April 2009 02:24:49 PM
-- Edited by Silver on Friday 24th of April 2009 02:25:57 PM
Not sure how I feel about this result, I have a bit of a soft spot for Aucks. I know Murray senior hasn't been playing well, but I would have thought with Hanley as his partner they would have had enough to beat Aucks & PL. This new coach of his has much to do to get him back on track, will he be able to I ask myself? However, well done to the winners, now go on and reach the final.
Aucks & Luczak must have won. Jamie's web site says that he went out at the quarter-final stage, but there's no indication of the score yet.
Edited in: Now confirmed - 4-6 5-7!Close, but not close enough! At least we're guaranteed a semi-finalist... Aucks & Luczak will face the third seeds, Allegro & Tecau (SUI/ROU), or the unknown Bulgarian WCs, Grozdanov & Ivanov, in the SF.
It'll be Allegro & Tecau who have just won 6-3, 6-2. Looks like a tough match for Aucks/Luczak but I seem to remember Aucks beat this pair last year in the final of the Rennes challenger.
Aucks & Luczak must have won. Jamie's web site says that he went out at the quarter-final stage, but there's no indication of the score yet.
Edited in: Now confirmed - 4-6 5-7!Close, but not close enough! At least we're guaranteed a semi-finalist... Aucks & Luczak will face the third seeds, Allegro & Tecau (SUI/ROU), or the unknown Bulgarian WCs, Grozdanov & Ivanov, in the SF.
It'll be Allegro & Tecau who have just won 6-3, 6-2. Looks like a tough match for Aucks/Luczak but I seem to remember Aucks beat this pair last year in the final of the Rennes challenger.
All by himself?
If Aucks & Luczak get past them - & the third seeds should be a pushover for the pair that toppled the Number 1s ( ) - Hrbaty & Skoch (SVK/CZE) lie in wait in the final after they toppled the Number 2s, Kohlmann & Zovko, by 2 & 3 today!
Post by one of the many morons who frequent MTF, a Spaniard with the ID "El Burro", i.e. "the donkey" (or "ass" or "idiot"...), in response to the news that Jamie & Paul had lost:
Well, this is the real Jamie Murray (top 100 standard, but little better). And there is so much worse to come, particularly over the next 3 months, unless he gets his act together sharpish. Ranking can all but disappear, and he isn't inspiring confidence in other players (apart from driftwood) who might once have wished to partner him.
Grrr...
* Reluctant as I am to concede it, he may have a point (or two)... Which unattached doubles players, I wonder, though, consider themselves "driftwood"...
The semi will kick off at no earlier than noon BST tomorrow...
Except it didn't: I believe rain wreaked havoc with play again today! The semi will instead be played tomorrow, after the unfinished singles semi between Ivo Minar & Alexandre Sidorenko, which stands at 5-3 to Minar & kicks off at 08.00 BST! If they win, they will have to go back into action against Hrbaty & Skoch after the men's singles final (11.00 BST KO)!
That's a bit of a bummer. The task was going to be difficult enough against a pair who had knocked out the 2nd & 4th seeds, if they reached the final, without the weather deciding to interfere yet again. Now they're going to have see off the 3rd seeds and then take on the seed-bashers.