Very long delay now at 1-1, 15-0

Ward up 5-3

2nd set is currently on serve at 4-4

Wow, nothing for 26 minutes and we post within 4 seconds of each other!

Ward takes it 6-4 6-4

Just two break points faced all match and he didn't lose another game after saving them. Hopefully things are just as straightforward for Evo as they have been for Boggo and Ward.

Interim update, since Evo won't be on court for hours. Not the most convincing of victories so far, given how low-ranked their opponents were, but at least they've both won in straight sets!

QR1: Alex Bogdanovic WR 171 beat Martin Slanar (AUT) WR 687 by 4 & 3
QR1: James Ward WR 261 beat (WC) Matt Reid (AUS) WR 503 by 4 & 4

QR1: Dan Evans WR 266 v (WC) Sean Berman (AUS) - later

QR2: Alex Bogdanovic WR 171 v (q24) Marsel Ilhan (TUR) WR 153
QR2: James Ward WR 261 v (q9) Ilya Marchenko (UKR) WR 121

Born in Uzbekistan but playing for Turkey, Boggo's next opponent Ilhan is 22, 1.90 m tall and is just two places below the career high of 151 that he set last May. He has a 5-2 record against Brits but Boggo beat him in the Manchester Challenger QFs last year and Wardy beat him in Chennai ATP qualifying a couple of weeks ago. In both cases, the Brits won 6-4 in the 3rd having recovered from a set down!

Wardy's next opponent Marchenko is 21 and is also two places off his career high of 119 set in October 2008. He is 3-2 against Brits, including a win against Josh Goodall in last year's DC tie, but he has been beaten by Chris Eaton (in the dead rubber of that DC tie) and by Jonny Marray in the Dnepro Challenger way back in 2006, though Ilya has improved a lot since then.

-- Edited by steven on Wednesday 13th of January 2010 03:16:28 AM