bbc originally and the LTA have them up now.

Only just managed to get the internet to work on the laptop so first chance to post my comments from Wednesday's play.

Martin vs. Illingworth.

Very high quality match and a shame for Illy to lose after fighting so hard and shows that if he can a bit of luck then he can get that ranking up inside the top 500 and beyond.
Martin was unplayable for the first six games and didnt give Illy a chance but he gradually worked his way into the match and got one of the breaks back and then got an early break in the second set.
The bad call in the tiebreak came when Martin had a very easy backhand pass and put it straight on the line, only for the linesperson to decide it was out. Most impressive thing perhaps was after the initial disappointment of the bad call, Martin put it straight behind and opened the third set by holding to love, which is something that the Brits need to learn to do... not one of the foreign players this week when they had bad calls against let it affect their game, while almost all of the Brits did.
Illy held a monster game at 0-1 where there was about 10 deuces but dropped serve next time out. He had a chance to break back and 4-2 and 5-3 but on both occasions netted a forehand. On match point Illy hit a great backhand pass that was so in it nearly missed the line but the umpire called it out inexplicably.
If Illy can improve his serve and his forehand then he should be well inside the top 500 as his volleys, movement and backhand are excellent...just the other stuff lets him down a bit.

Arlidge vs. Priddle.

Low quality match this with a lot of errors from both men with Arlidge playing very badly for the majority of it, which makes his close scoreline against Bautista even more surprising. He had lost his head totally in the third set and went a break down but somehow managed to get a break back and that confidence took him to the win. One of the few, if not the only player, who consistently serve/volleyed this week, which would be more effective on a faster surface than these courts which looked slow.

Capkovic vs. Slabinsky

Slabba dropped his opening service games in each set and that was in the end what cost him. Some great rallies in the match with two or three going well over 30 shots and all of them ended with Capkovic hitting a brilliant winner on the run which was a shame. In the end Capkovic was just a little bit better than Slabba at everything and he made too many silly errors which he wasnt making in the first round.

Evans vs. Milton

Milton was excellent until he served for the set at 5-4, where Evans played a great game to get the break back and from that point he sort of lost his mind getting frustrated far too easily. Every time I see Milton I think he should be ranked higher than he is.

Smethurst vs. Pauffley

Opening set was very long and not particularly good, although the match got better as it went on. Far too many points to begin with ended with a simple ball dumped into the net or put long, but Smethurst was just good enough in the end to get the set. Not too sure what to think of him as he is in the final this week but hasnt looked to have played that well in any of the matches I saw, but the fact the courts are slow has helped him a bit as he looks like he would be better on the slower courts. Dont see him as a top 100 player unfortunately as he is missing that one weapon which he can rely on but should be a solid challenger level player.


In the final, I would expect Bautista-Agut based on what I saw this week, but he looks to have struggled against Arlidge while Dan has got better, so a possibility of the upset.

Wolf's twitter so far:

Rba 65 ds dan missed bp
2 minutes ago via txt Rba 54 ds
11 minutes ago via txt Rba 43 ds dan missed 2bp
18 minutes ago via txt Rba 21 ds
38 minutes ago via txt Rba 20 ds
43 minutes ago via txt About 100 people. RBA to serve first

Rba 75 32 ds
2 minutes ago via txt Rba 75 21 ds dan missed another bp
8 minutes ago via txt Rba 75 10 ds dan missed bp

Rba 75 54 ds finally well done
4 minutes ago via txt Rba 75 53 ds 3mp saved
9 minutes ago via txt Rba 75 52 ds another bp missed
15 minutes ago via txt Rba 75 42 ds

have to go out so will miss the end of the match.

Rba 75 64 ds

sorry, too slow.  Good effort but not quite enough.


-- Edited by goldfish on Saturday 13th of March 2010 12:51:19 PM

Shame for Dan to lose having finally managed to get the break and having had so many chances throughout the match but still a good week for him nonetheless and will get his ranking up to a new best.

Probably secured him a wild card to Jersey as well so that will be a chance for him to see where he is at in regards to challenger level.