Shocking draw for the Brits to be honest - don't think it could have been done much worse than it was.

Section 1 is reasonably strong and section 3 is loaded, while sections 2 and 4, especially 2, are weak, so no prizes for guessing which section the Brits are in!!!

Goodall as top seed really should be looking to qualify, but he's likely to meet Dimitrov in the final quali round, which should be a very interesting match in the battle of the Queens WC's... and to be honest, I'd expect Dimitrov to win that, so it's a massive match for Josh.

Just Milton in section two, and he's got the 2nd seed, so interest in that section won't last long, but that would have been the section to be in as there's no outstanding players in that section.

Section 3 is just horrible with Ward, Marray, Dent and Groth all in it. Would say Ward has a good chance, but if he happens to meet Dent on a day where his serving is on fire, then he's going to struggle to come through it. Ward should look to get through it, but I'd not be too surprised if he didn't given the quality in the section.

Last year I'd have backed Slabba to come through this section, but given how he's played this year, it would be very unlikely for him to do so. Don't think Belmarens or Marchenko have a game that would thrive on a grass court, so hopefully either Slabba or Skupski (if he plays like he did at Surbiton last year) could come through.

Hopefully we'll get a qualifier or two here, but I wouldn't be 100% surprised if we didn't actually get anyone through here.

I think you're right there, mjd, but I think what FD meant is that given who's actually entered qualifying here, we might have hoped for the draw to work out a bit better than it has.

where is bloomers bloopmfield !?

steven wrote:

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I think you're right there, mjd, but I think what FD meant is that given who's actually entered qualifying here, we might have hoped for the draw to work out a bit better than it has.

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Yeah, that's what I did mean - didn't quite phrase it as well as I could have done.

The toughest sections to qualify are the ones involving the British players, while the weaker section has only one Brit, and no disrespect to Milton, but it would be a massive surprise if he did qualify.

Ward has arguably ended up in a section with 3 or 4 players who you would give a great chance of qualifying to, while Goodall has ended up with Dimitrov in his section, who is perfectly capable of beating him.

Goodall and Ward should still both be favourites to qualify, but it wouldn't be too much of a surprise, given how the draw has worked out, if neither of them did.

is this a chance for Ian Flanagan to shine again?

Cox vs Grosjean
Evans vs Amritraj
Fleming vs Evans (Brendan)
Eaton vs Anderson
Boggo vs Q

-- Edited by jamatthews on Sunday 31st of May 2009 12:45:45 PM