QF OPPONENTS

Lucassen is one of a rare breed - he's lost to Slabba this year! That was a comprehensive 4 & 1 win for Alex in Bournemouth, though Lucassen thrashed Sean Thornley 0 & 2 in a similar event to the current one just under a year ago, having lost to him in 3 sets in a Jersey Future earlier in the year and been thrashed 1 & 2 by Bloomers in Bath. Kyle Brassington and George Morgan both took the 1st set off him last year before going down in three.

Sabau came into this tournament on a 6-match losing streak. He beat Feaver 6 & 1 the last time he played a Brit back in July last year and beat Bloomers in the Surbiton/Roehampton Challenger in 2006. His last loss to a Brit came in 2004 when Boggo beat him 4 & 2 in AO Q. In between the matches v Boggo and Bloomers, he hit a career high of 74 in 2005 after winning a couple of Challengers and reaching Gstaad ATP semis as a qualifier before losing
to Wawrinka in two tight sets. He has't ended any other year in the top 180.

As well as thrashing James today, Jakupovic handed out a 0 & 2 drubbing to Chris Eaton in UAE F2 last year. He lost to Bam Bam in the Kalamata Future semis at this time last year. He had taken Wardy to 3 sets in Mallorca a few weeks earlier but had actually beaten him before that. Like Lucassen (see above), he must be very streaky because despite some good wins against some of the Brits, he's never made it into the top 450.

wow what do they put in the water at Lucesti?!?!? i want some of it to give to the guys when they get to wimble...

Cmon the 3 Amigos....

Great wins for the youngsters again today, and in recent weeks, they all seem to have hit form in the last few weeks.

Hopeully they can all go one step further, but it does look like Willis has the best shot of doing so.

And Razan Sabau??? There's a name from the past who must be a contender for the most anonymous top 100 player of all time. Never remember him doing anything of note in his career.

Quarterfinals:

Marcus Willis WR 893 def. Peter Lucassen (NED) WR 706 6-3 6-4
(SE) Daniel Smethurst WR 1102 def. (5) Razvan Sabau (ROU) WR 567 1-6 7-6(3) 6-3
(2) Alexander Jakupovic (GRE) WR 491 def. Joshua Milton WR 703 6-0 6-2


Semi-Finals:

Marcus Willis WR 893 Vs. (3) Arten Smirnov (UKR) WR 472
(SE) Daniel Smethurst WR 1102 Vs. (2) Alexander Jakupovic (GRE) WR 491



As a great philosopher once said.. "Two out of three ain't bad" 

Well done to Marcus and Daniel and commiserations to Josh, who I'm sure was hoping for a closer scoreline. 




-- Edited by James on Friday 22nd of May 2009 04:23:49 PM

Marcus won 3&4
Daniel won 1-6 7-6 6-3

still a good week for josh who hasn't been in great form of late. great results dan and marcus.