QR1: (q6) Colin Fleming WR 443 v Adam el Mihdawy (USA) WR 784 QR1: Ken Skupski WR 829 v William Mendler (USA) UNR
Unfortunately, el Mihdawy is in a bit of form at the moment, having reached the semis of USA F19 last week. However, the highest-ranked player he beat to get there was ranked outside the top 800 and he lost to WR 784, so Colin needn't be too worried. (q1) Tatsuma Ito (JPN) WR 265 is the main obstacle in the way of qualification. Ito has lost to Boggo and Goodall recently but has beaten Milton and Slabba.
Meanwhile, Ken has drawn an unranked 39-year-old with a career high of 1344 in doubles but never ranked in singles. Mendler played in qualifying for satellites in the early 1990s but since 1998 has only played qualifying here (and no other ranked events), losing to Big Arv in 1999. He last played a singles match in 2004, losing to a never-ranked American 1 & 4. As Challenger qualifying draws go, it's not to be sneezed at! (q5) Tigran Martirosyan (ARM) WR 415 is likely to await in QR2, with Bernard Tomic (AUS) WR 300 the top seed in the section.
__________________
GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
Would expect them both to get through their first round matches. Fleming could qualify if he plays well as Ito doesn't have that much in his game, but can't see Skupski doing so, especially with Tomic and Harrison in his section (which could be a preview of the future when they meet in round two)
Levy turned 31 this week and had a career high of 30 way back in 2001. As well as losing to Lester Cook in R1 in Granby, he lost to Tim Smyczek in R1 in Vancouver this week. BEfore that, he had gone on a 7-match winning streak, upsetting Andreev and Kunitsyn in Israel's famous DV WG QFs win and winning the Lexington Challenger, beating likely R2 opponent for the winner of this match in Binghamton, Marinko Matosevic, in the semis and Kuznetsov in the Final.
The H2H is 1-1 - on a similar surface to the one in Binghamton, Boggo beat him 3 & 2 on his way to winning the Valencia Challenger in 2007 but lost to him 5 & 5 in Surbiton last year.
__________________
GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
Two big unknowns here - firstly whether Boggo is fit, in which case I'd expect him to win ... except that (secondly) Levy has shown that he can be quite mercurial - winning the DC tie against Russia and then a Challenger on the back of that before going out in R1 the next two Challengers, so it also depends on which Levy turns up!
__________________
GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
Thought Flembo would do a bit better in qualifying, but perhaps not too surprising they didn't make the main draw. Hope for a good draw for them in the doubles.
Not too sure what to expect from Boggo against Levy, who seems to be unpredictable in when he plays well. Would be nice to get the win, but perhaps a defeat wouldn't be the worst thing as he could get plenty of rest ahead of the US Open qualies.