The second major Eastern European tournament has provided British joy in the past. Dan Evans was a finalist in 2007 whilst Dan Smethurst went one better in 2008, catapulting both into the top 100. George Morgan and James Marsalek augment the Slovak field after their encouraging performances in the Glasgow Futures. George is seeded 3, but the first seed he is likely to meet is Slovak finalist Matthias Wunner. Ashley's first round opponent lost to Lewis last week.
R1 (L64)
(14) Christopher Simpson BYE (11) Tom Farquharson BYE Ashley Hewitt v Aleksandre Kondulukov (RUS) Lewis Burton v Antun Pehar (CRO) (6) James Marsalek BYE Liam Broady v Timur Neymatov (RUS) (3) George Morgan BYE (12) Richard Gabb BYE Stefan Sterland-Markovic v Evgeny Karlovskiy (RUS)
Liam makes another good start, but is up next against the other beaten semi-finalist from last week.
R1 (L64)
(14) Christopher Simpson BYE (11) Tom Farquharson BYE Ashley Hewitt d. Aleksandre Kondulukov (RUS) 6-3 6-4 Antun Pehar (CRO) d. Lewis Burton 6-3 7-5 (6) James Marsalek BYE Liam Broady d. Timur Neymatov (RUS) 6-1 6-3 (3) George Morgan BYE (12) Richard Gabb BYE Evgeny Karlovskiy (RUS) d. Stefan Sterland-Markovic 7-6(6) 6-0
R2
(WC) Vaclav Safranek (CZE) v (14) Christopher Simpson (11) Tom Farquharson v Denys Mylokostov (UKR) (4) Yaroslav Shyla (BLR) v Ashley Hewitt (Q) Claude Benz (SUI) v (6) James Marsalek Liam Broady v (10) Tim Nekic (GER) (Q) Vladyslav Manafov (UKR) v (3) George Morgan Tomas Prokop (CZE) v (12) Richard Gabb
How old is Tom Farquharson btw, because there's a big discrepancy between his ITF profile and LTA http://www.lta.org.uk/Players/Player-profiles/Boys/FarquharsonTom/ http://www.itftennis.com/juniors/players/player.asp?player=100115759
How old is Tom Farquharson btw, because there's a big discrepancy between his ITF profile and LTA http://www.lta.org.uk/Players/Player-profiles/Boys/FarquharsonTom/ http://www.itftennis.com/juniors/players/player.asp?player=100115759
He's definitely 18 in February, as per the ITF profile. The LTA profiles are often feeble (no information and/or no photo) inaccurate or both. for a while after a player moves into the top 10 juniors.
Liam narrowly lost the battle of the Slovak semi-finalists, but otherwise it was a good day, with Ashley taking out the 4th seed (not unexpected on Shyla's recent form).
R2
(14) Christopher Simpson d. (WC) Vaclav Safranek (CZE) 6-4 6-1 (11) Tom Farquharson v Denys Mylokostov (UKR) Wednesday Ashley Hewitt d. (4) Yaroslav Shyla (BLR) 7-5 6-3 (Q) Claude Benz (SUI) v (6) James Marsalek Wednesday (10) Tim Nekic (GER) d. Liam Broady 6-2 4-6 7-6(3) (3) George Morgan d. (Q) Vladyslav Manafov (UKR) 6-2 6-4 (12) Richard Gabb d. Tomas Prokop (CZE) 7-5 7-6(4)
Yes, the LTA site is in my opinion generally very poor and we should expect better from that body. There are so many inaccuracies in such as their news items and other places and that is joke as a profile. What I slso find really concerning is I get the impression much of it is written by folk with not a great deal of feel or understanding of this great game.
-- Edited by indiana on Tuesday 19th of January 2010 11:20:41 PM
Just as yesterday was good today was bad - hope Tom's retirement is nothing serious:
R2 cont
Denys Mylokostov (UKR) d. (11) Tom Farquharson 2-1 rtd (Q) Claude Benz (SUI) d. (6) James Marsalek 6-3 6-4
R3
(1) Peter Heller (GER) v (14) Christopher Simpson Ashley Hewitt v (13) Ralf Steinbach (GER) Vasile-Alexandru Ghilea (ROU) v (3) George Morgan Leonard Stakhovsky (UKR) v (12) Richard Gabb
At least there was good news in the doubles:
Doubles SF
(5) Gabb/Hewitt v Burton/Marsalek
Tomorrow's a big day - Chris, Ashley and Richard could all move into the top 100 if they win. Chris has a tough task though against the top seed, whose 11 match winning run includes a thumping of George Morgan in the final of the Zentiva Czech Junior Open last September.
A good day for Ashley who ensured that he moves into the top 100 and then reached the doubles final. George joined him in the quarters with an impressive win over a strong player who had hammered last week's winner. He next has a chance to avenge Liam's earlier defeat.
R3
(1) Peter Heller (GER) d. (14) Christopher Simpson 7-6(2) 6-0 Ashley Hewitt d. (13) Ralf Steinbach (GER) 6-2 5-7 6-2 (3) George Morgan d. Vasile-Alexandru Ghilea (ROU) 6-3 6-1 Leonard Stakhovsky (UKR) d. (12) Richard Gabb 7-6(3) 6-2
QF
Ashley Hewitt v (Q) Claude Benz (SUI) (10) Tim Nekic (GER) v (3) George Morgan
Certainly is (of Sergiy) and with fairly similar junior records. Sergiy had a career high of 28 and Leonard's progress (he is 1993 born) is comparable.
george will deliver, he has really stepped up his game over the past few months, and i expect it to continue here. even thou weirdly the 10th seed is actually ranked higher than george