Qualifying starts on Saturday for the under 18 Nationals, held at the National Tennis Centre, with a reasonably strong field forcing Lewis Burton and Ben Davis amongst others to qualify. The seeds in the main draw are Ahmed El Menshawy, Jack Carpenter, Alastair Barnes, Oliver Golding, James Marsalek, Richard Gabb, Christopher Simpson and Ashley Hewitt. Chris plays Andrew Bettles in round 1, which looks to be the tie of the round.
Keelan qualified, but Alastair Barnes has withdrawn, so Andrew Bettles becomes a seed, thus avoiding a clash with Chris Simpson (though he has to play one of the strongest qualifiers, Ben Davis)
A day of upsets in round 1, with Jack Carpenter (to Marc Westgate) and Ashley Hewitt (to Eamon Soulsby) being major casualties. Oliver Golding only just survived a tie-break third set against Robin Goodman
David O'Leary d. (1) Ahmed El Menshawy 6-3 7-5 (5) James Marsalek d. (Q) Eamon Soulsby 6-4 6-1 (4) Oliver Golding d. (Q) Joe Rogers 6-3 6-3 (Q) Lewis Burton d. (9) Andrew Bettles 1-6 7-6(5) 6-4
SF
David O'Leary v (5) James Marsalek (4) Oliver Golding v (Q) Lewis Burton
From the LTA this is David O'Leary on beating the top seed:
It was a tough match, we both broke lots and then lost the breaks again. It could have gone either way because Ahmed was playing really well the whole way through the match, said OLeary, who trains at Tennis Midlands in Loughborough.
Despite the result, I still think that Im not on top form. I was playing really well at the start but I got nervous in the second set which definitely affected my game and is something that I need to work on.
Im really excited to have got to the semis and Im confident that I can win the match, obviously Ill need to be on form tomorrow in order to do that but Ill go out there ready to win.
Marsalek probably not, but I wouldn't have picked Lewis Burton to come through a half of the draw with Jack Carpenter and Oliver Golding. Lewis seemed confident yesterday though saying: I train with Golding occasionally so I know his style quite well and Im fairly confident that I can get a good result in the semis, I guess winning his last Grade 4 event must have helped his belief as well
Tomorrow's final is best of 5 sets
SF
(5) James Marsalek d. David O'Leary 6-0 6-3 (Q) Lewis Burton d. (4) Oliver Golding 7-6(8) 6-1
Doubles Final
Jonathan Brooklyn/Oliver Golding v (2) Ahmed El Menshawy/James Marsalek
James wins 6-3 3-6 6-3. I hope he can move on from this and join the top 100 soon enough
I'll echo the sentiment - but they actually played 5 sets (I guess you picked up the score from the drawsheet, which for some reason curtailed the score)
James Marsalek d. (Q) Lewis Burton 6-3 3-6 6-3 2-6 7-5
James said: " The fifth set was especially tough, I think we were playing some amazing tennis throughout and it would have been a really good match to watch "
Doubles Final
(2) Ahmed El Menshawy/James Marsalek d. Jonathan Brooklyn/Oliver Golding 6-2 6-2