Week 18 Futures - Great Britain F6 ($10K) - Edinburgh

Drew · May 6, 2009

Week 18 Futures - Great Britain F6 ($10K) - Edinburgh

Fitzy · Intermediate Club Player

Cheers, yeah i mean it was a good result to get past those two players.

Erm my plans are malaysia for 3 weeks, but also wimbledon WC play off's which if i got through clashes with the first week of malaysia.

But should all work out fine as if i did get into wimbledon qualis the rules state i can play it instead without penalty.

Money still tight so not as much travel as i need which is a shame

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Fitzy's post above prompted me to check the ATP site for any doubles results (the ones I quoted earlier were taken from the ITF site). Further Brit R1 results:

Niall Angus & Neil Pauffley WR 2896 beat Dan Cox & Josh Milton WR 1872 by 4-6 6-3 [10-6] smile

Fitzy & Tom Knights UNR beat (3) Guillermo Alcaide & Guillermo Olaso WR 993 (ESP/ESP) by 3 & 4
biggrin

Burnham Arlidge & Kyle Brassington WR 2663 beat Nick Cavaday & Ben Pritchard by 6-3 4-6 [10-6] smile

Richard Gabb & Ashley Hewitt beat (2) Claudio Grassi & Francesco Piccari
(ITA/ITA) by a walkover biggrin

So, QFs (a much better outlook than in the singles! biggrin

) :

(1) Agustín Boje & Ignacio Coll (ESP/ESP) WR 555 vs Dan Smethurst & Marcus Willis WR 2244

Niall Angus & Neil Pauffley WR 2896 vs Fitzy & Tom Knights UNR

Burnham Arlidge & Kyle Brassington WR 2663 vs Richard Gabb & Ashley Hewitt UNR

-- Edited by Stircrazy on Wednesday 6th of May 2009 11:10:52 PM

steven · Tennis legend

A quick round-up of the story so far, with R1 having finished today and R2 almost finished.

L32 Q1: (WC) Jack Carpenter UNR beat (Q) Ben Pritchard WR 1423 by 6-7(6) 6-3 6-3 biggrin bleh
L32 Q1: (Q) Nick Cavaday WR 1171 lost to (5) Francesco Piccari (ITA) WR 372 by 6-2 7-6(5) cry
L32 Q2: (Q) Dan Smethurst WR 1055 lost to (4) Mathieu Rodrigues (FRA) WR 342 by 7-6(4) 6-4 cry
L32 Q2: Dan Cox WR 637 beat Tim Goransson (SWE) WR 538 by 7-6(4) 6-1 biggrin
L32 Q2: (Q) Andrew Fitzpatrick WR 1348 beat Matt Illingworth WR 702 by 4 & 5 biggrin bleh
L32 Q2: (WC) Marcus Willis WR 908 beat (8) Gaston-Arturo Grimolizzi (ARG) WR 489 by 7-6(4) 1-6 6-3 biggrin
L32 Q3: (WC) Oliver Golding UNR lost to Agustin Boje-Ordonez (ESP) WR 626 by 6-4 0-6 6-2 cry
L32 Q3: Burnham Arlidge WR 842 lost to Andoni Vivanco-Guzman (ESP) WR 601 by 3 & 3 cry
L32 Q3: (3/Q) Dan Evans WR 320 beat (Q) James Marsalek WR 1549 by 3 & 1 smile cry
L32 Q4: Richard Gabb UNR beat Josh Milton WR 703 beat by 6-4 3-6 7-6(4) biggrin bleh
L32 Q4: (LL) Kyle Brassington WR 1253 lost to Grégoire Burquier (FRA) WR 568 by 2 & 1 cry

L16 Q1: (WC) Jack Carpenter UNR v (5) Francesco Piccari (ITA) WR 372 - to finish (no score posted anywhere) blankstare
L16 Q2: Dan Cox WR 637 lost to (4) Mathieu Rodrigues (FRA) WR 342 by 7-6(9) 6-3 cry
L16 Q2: (WC) Marcus Willis WR 908 beat (Q) Andrew Fitzpatrick WR 1348 by 5 & 4 smile cry
L16 Q3: (3/Q) Dan Evans WR 320 lost to Andoni Vivanco-Guzman (ESP) WR 601 by 5 & 0 bleh
L16 Q4: Richard Gabb UNR lost tov Nacho Coll-Riudavets (ESP) WR 469 by 0 & 3 cry

QF: (WC) Marcus Willis WR 908 v (4) Mathieu Rodrigues (FRA) WR 342

It looks like Dan Cox's R2 match hinged on that long 1st set tiebreak and he wasn't too far off, so hopefully Meatball can give Rodrigues something to think about tomorrow too.

-- Edited by steven on Thursday 7th of May 2009 03:47:15 PM

Drew · May 7, 2009

Wating to her on how young Jack got on...im sure Lilly will keep us informed on how Marcus gets on later !

Drew · May 7, 2009

From Gill at event office...

MS Vivanco bt Boje Ordonez 6/1 7/5
MS F Piccari bt Carpenter 7/5 6/3

steven · Tennis legend

QF: (WC) Marcus Willis WR 908 lost to (4) Mathieu Rodrigues (FRA) WR 342 by 1 & 5 cry

Overall, not quite as dire as last week, though it's hard to escape the feeling that this is largely due to more Brits being drawn against fellow Brits this week. Marcus himself did well to get this far of course, as did all of the Brits who beat higher-ranked Brits, but points seem to be very hard to come by in these home Futures on clay.

We've got another week of it too, in Newcastle.

Pugsley · Junior player

I understand the importance of playing on different surfaces to improve your overall game and understand the necessity of having UK Futures as a way of reducing travel costs but given that British players tend to have a competitive advantage on grass (thanks to Wimbledon and a number of other high profile tournaments played on grass) I don't understand why we aren't maximising that by having grass court Futures rather than 3 weeks of Clay Futures

This would give a number of our guys a head start going into the Grass Court Season and give them more opportunity to qualify for some of the higher profile events, plus gaining a few extra ranking points.

Sorry - rant over!!

steven · Tennis legend

I agree with you. Since they want players to play outside the UK as often as possible, why not hold all GB Futures on surfaces where the home players are likely to score more points and encourage those with the most potential to play the odd clay court event overseas - that way they would also get exposure to playing on 'real' (i.e. red) clay in conditions more typical of clay court Challengers and ATP events, i.e. hot and sunny.

I'm not sure how playing on green clay in cold, damp conditions gives players any meaningful training for playing in clay court Challengers (none of which are in the UK obviously), ATP events or RG qualifying later on.

Of course, there may be a practical reason why they don't try to hold Futures on grass in late April/early May, e.g. it is even rainier on average in early May than it is in late May-early July and uncovered grass courts (which most of the grass courts at potential venues for grass court Futures probably are) take a lot longer to dry out than green clay. They could continue to hold indoor Futures as well of course.

It may also seem odd that the number of GB clay court Futures has gone up from 2 to 3 this year, but given that the ITF requires Futures to be scheduled in 30K blocks, I thought it was quite a good idea to make the clay court Futures 10K events to discourage some of the higher-ranked overseas players from coming over to grab all the points. However in reality (at least on the men's side) it seems to have decreased the strength of the GB entry more than anything else. However, hindsight is a wonderful thing ...

MAC · Junior player

I'm not sure that GB players do still have any kind of advantage on grass these days - especially the younger ones. Most of them will train/learn/compete most on indoor fast courts surely?

Also looking at the top 25 - I'm not sure it is a weakened GB entry most of the active GB players that are playing at this 10K level are playing in these tournaments as well as the next batch of juniors making their first few steps onto the senior circuit, which is basically the players you'd expect to turn up?

-- Edited by MAC on Thursday 7th of May 2009 04:52:47 PM

Salmon · Tennis legend

MAC is spot on, I think.

The younger players play far more on hard courts and green clay, compared to grass. I do think that there should be a LOT more grass Futures, but these provide a good opportunity in the clay season.

How about a 15K on grass and a 10K on Har-Tru in the same week?

The best of both worlds.

clayfan · Lower Club Player

As my screen name sugests I am a fan of clay court tennis but although I might be biased I have to disagree with more grass court tennis. I really dont think there is much to be gained by extending the grass court season. British players have been hampered by too much play, especially at junior level, on a surface on which no one else in the world plays. They fail to develope the patient groundstrokes which are esential in the modern game.

A few years ago the LTA thought green clay was the way to go. Edinburgh ripped up the grass courts and put down clay, just as Bournemouth also switched to the surface. Since then things have stalled, and juniors grow up playing on fast indoor or grass surfaces. It is no accident that Andy Murray played more on clay, both in Scotland and over in Spain, and has a more rounded game. There is a place for grass, but we really have to lessen its use in the long term if our players are to progress.

As for the Edinburgh and Bournemouth tournaments, it is sad to see them downgraded year by year. They have good spectator facilities and have staged high level tournaments. Without higher standards of entry there is little to entice the general public and attendances have dwindled. It is not all about the British players but also taking more tennis to a wider audience. The number of big spectator tournaments in Britain now stands at 4 or 5, including Wimbledon and the ATP Masters. The number of futures and challengers is way below our large continental neighbours. No wonder we lack any strength in depth.

MAC · Junior player

You make some really good points there clayfan - I do think we seem to produce lots of players that can get by on a good serve and the odd flashy shot, but have little idea how to play on all surfaces and in all conditions.

However I'm still not convinced about this argument for putting on loads more futures and challengers. Didn't David Felgate try adding on lots of lower level tourneys a few years back - and that failed miserably to leave any kind of impact it seems to me. Spain, France and USA run the most tournaments, but these have 64/128 quali entries because they have so many domestic players fighting to make the grade. And the standard is much higher, so they don't need to go overseas to get the good levels of competition to keep them improving.

I'm not sure where the GB players are going to come from to fill up all these tournaments, we only have around 30-40 active men's players - and we don't have loads of top juniors or British Tour players lining up to compete for futures places. It's a real catch-22 it seems to me.

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

The doubles boys continue to shine some light amid the gathering gloom today:

Quarter-finals

Smethurst & Willis defeated (1) Boje & Coll (ESP/ESP) 6-1 6-1 biggrin

Angus & Pauffley defeated Fitzy & Knights 6-2 6-3 smile

Gabb & Hewitt defeated Arlidge & Brassington 6-3 7-5 smile

So

Semi-finals

Smethurst & Willis vs (4) O'Brien & Vivanco (IRL/ESP)

Angus & Pauffley vs Gabb & Hewitt

* Gabb & Hewitt are going like a train again this week! disbelief

At least Marcus has some consolation for his defeat in the singles. smile

Drew · May 7, 2009

A bit odd the double breadstick against the no1 seeds...im sure it was down to our highly skilled dubs pair !