Shorty saves mp's and takes it into a third

cheers fitz, well done today. We'll have to ask Josh when he gets back why the club was so nice!

Three LLs, it seems:  Tim Bradshaw, Dan S & Marcus Daniell.

In the MD, Fitzy has drawn Barry King (IRL), Alex Ward Chris Eaton & Matt Illingworth Vincent Stouff (Q/FRA).  Neil P (WC) plays Bloomers (6), Jamie B (WC) McGee (4/IRL), Marcus Willis Clément Reix (FRA), James Marsalek (WC) Klec (5) (which one, I wonder?  Ivo?), Jack Carpenter (WC) Sadik Kadir (8/AUS) & David Rice (WC) Colin O'Brien (IRL).

LOL @ Short...Coupland must be kicking himself so much after that

Good draw for Fitz, i could also see Wardinator and Pauffley upsetting Eaton and Bloomers. Id hope Marcus can get a good run this week, he didn't finish the grasscourt season very strongly

I was in the room when they drew the qualifiers. Bloomers picked from a set of what looked like poker chips with the numbers 1 to 8 on them, corresponding to their order in the qualie draw. They were placed in corresponding order in the main draw, but Bloomers read them out too quickly for me to catch all of them, although I did get fitzy as he was the 1st name out. Basically it was just a really posh golf club, with a few tennis courts squashed in the corner, just past a packed outdoor swimming pool. It was a bit of a mission to actually find where they were playing the matches, having to follow about 10 Aegon signs.

Phillips v Nott was the 1st match and I saw most of the 1st set where it looked like it was only a matter of time until Morgan broke, but after saving loads of bps Nott broke to win the set. I didn't see much if the last two sets, but I guess Phillips started to take his many chances and cut out some of his errors on the bigger points.

Oli Evans played really well and didn't seem in too much trouble throughout, so it was a bit of a surprise when he was broken serving for the match, but he hit a great return winner to get the mb in the tie break and served the match out.

Fitzy v Smethurst started with quite a few tight games on Smet's serve, which seemed to fustrate him loads, even though he was winning them. When Fitzy broke for the first time, he smashed a ball into fence and was complaining to anyone who would listen. I missed the rest of the set but came back just in time to see the last point. In the 2nd set Smet pretty much lost it completely, going 4-0 down very quickly and said he was playing 'like a lost little boy'. Fitzy was regualarly hitting the lines which added to his frustration and throughout much of the 2nd set was complaining about the balls being too soft and said somehting about them being softer than a sponge. It looked like Smethurst might get back into the match when he pulled it back to 4-3, but Fitzy kept the pressure up and Smet double faulted on match point.

I had popped over to see Daniell hadn't lost a game against Strouff, and assumed he was completely dominating, so was a bit surprised when I saw they were deep into a 3rd set. Strouff kept yelling out stuff in French which could be heard on every court and I saw the final set tie break which I think only had 1 mini-break.

During the start of the Bains v brassington match bains was making the strangest grunt I'd ever heard. He sort of moaned like a cat being put down on every shot, whether it was a dropshot or a big forehand; only he didn't do it as he hit the ball but had a slight delay and so started when the ball was crossing the net and finished when Brassington was just about to hit the ball. Either the umpire or Brass must have told him to stop because he shut up after about 4 games. Bains was saying to his Mum (I think) that he was playing awful and deserved to be a set and a break down , but once he managed to break at 4 all he didn't look back and only dropped one more game. There seemed to be a little bit of ill-feeling between the two of them with a few stares after the point had finished, which I think started from Brassington complainging about how long Bains was taking inbetween the points.

Ward was far too strong against Bradshaw and never looked in trouble, seemingly hitting winners at will. Bradshaw was probably a little lucky to win 4 games.

Also Thornley never looked like losing, although every game I did see tended to be the server holding quite easily, with Thornley breaking whenever i wasn't watching.

Short had the trainer on quite early against Coupland, who was serving well and looked too good for Short. At 6-2 5-3 it didn't look like anything over than a straight sets win, although Short never gave up and managed to up his game and broke Coupland twice when he was serving for the match and saved a match point in the tie break. He broke quite early in the third, which then went with serve, with both guys serving well and Short managing to hit a big first serve whenever he looked in a bit of trouble. he had the biggest celebration of the day, firing a ball into the trees and had about three very vocal supporters, who were all cheering very loadly when he won.


They are planning on playing all the first round of singles and doubles tomorrow. I took a few photos of the doubles draw on my phone but I don't think they came out very well, although I can remember that the top seeds had a bye and none of the Brits were seeded.

Great report Josh. Have to say i cracked up when i read "moaned like a cat being put down". It really does sound like Wardinator might trouble Eaton as well

Having seen a bit of Ward, hes very much the more solid player off the ground and looks to be one for the future and if Eaton doesnt hit a high percentage of first serves (60-70) Ward should get the win.
Having said that, with that bit more experience and maybe playing at a bit of a higher level-I still think Chris can show he can play and put a good effort in to these tournaments,
Chris to win in 3.

Bloomers and Pauffley should be a very interesting match, Pauffley having an amazing week last week and obviously in some great form. Whereas Bloomfield- coming back from injury with his back problems. But before that, playing to a much higher level than Pauffley has ever.