I think he misses out completely due to being in Eastbourne.

Steven, you going to give us some info and predictions on each match and stuff ;)

wolf wrote:

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steven wrote:

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This qualifying draw looks incredibly strong - a real pity that the two players here who are in the GB top 5 have the worst draws, making it even more unforgiveable that the powers that be have contrived to stop the other member of the GB top 5 who's not already in the main draw from playing here.

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They didn't force Ward into playing Eastbourne....

 

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Yeah, why should those in charge bother using all of the resources at their disposal when they can force our most talented players to choose between one and the other?   

If anyone pulls out after qualifying starts the place goes to a LL

Id quite happily settle for one qualfyer out of that lot right now. 2 would be great.

Potted previews

I'm going to be very rash and put very approximate % chances of a QR1 against each player ... it's hard to imagine any of them getting past QR2 though unless Josh suddenly finds some form or Boggo or Evo are feeling absolutely inspired.

15% - Cox v de Chaunac - H2H 0-1, 1 & 2 @ Newcastle Future 2007 (clay) - no chance for Dan, I'd say. Edit: increased to 15% based on de Chaunac's dire form in the last couple of months and not having played on grass since reaching the Wimby FQR last year.

20% - Smethurst v DeHeart - no H2H - DeHeart lost to the Wardinator in Nottingham and to Greg Jones WR 197 in Queen's Q but Dan's 1 & 0 thrashing by Boggo at Queen's Q suggests that he's not in good enough form to trouble him.

5% - Phillips v Kudryavtsev - no H2H - Kud qualified in Halle then took a set off Melzer - not a bad draw though, but I doubt Morgan will make much impression on him on this surface.

25% - Rice v Brzezicki - no H2H - the Argentine has not played on grass since Wimby Q last year, when he beat fellow Argentine Alvarez before going out 3 & 3 to Tomic in R2 - in many ways this is a plum draw on this surface and I would expect the better Brits to beat Brzezicki here but I'm not sure Dr No is strong enough. Probably a better chance of a GB win than the first three matches, but that's not saying much.

70% if Josh can get out of muppet mode, 5% otherwise - Goodall v Ramos-Vinolas - no H2H - Ramos beat Smet in San Remo (clay) in 3 sets but as far as I can tell, he has never played on grass before and he lost 1 & 4 to Burnham Arlidge in Glasgow last year. If Josh hadn't been playing like such a muppet recently, I'd make him a heavy favourite to win this one. The winner will play Kirillov or Alund, whuch looks very inviting, so if Josh can't get himself up for the QR1 match tomorrow, that would be extremely worrying.

5% - Milton v ERV - no H2H - ERV lost to the other Josh on grass in Nottingham last year, the only time he has lost to a Brit in his last 10 matches against them. I can't see Milton troubling him unfortunately.

70% - Eaton v Karanusic - no H2H - Roko qualified for Wimbledon last year, beating Slabba on the way, but he lost to Chris's doubles partner BBD 3 & 4 in Jersey and has lost 9 of his last 10 matches, the only win coming against a player now ranked outside the top 800 in Belgrade qualifying. I'd make Chris the favourite for this one and he must have a chance against Hernych or Aranguren as well, setting up a possible FQR match against Ilhan, which would be more than intriguing with DC on the horizon. Ascione may well get through the top half of that section though.

60% - Wardinator v Ouanna - no H2H - Ouanna hasn't played on grass since losing to Qureshi in straight sets in QR1 on 2008 and the only other time he played singles on grass (in Ilkley in 2006), he beat Richard Irwin before losing to Tom Rushby 6-7(10) 6-0 6-1 - given that and the way Alex has been playing on grass this year, this has to be another match where we are looking for a GB win. There would be less hope against Kendrick or Krajinovic in QR2, I think, despite neither of them being seeded.

85% - Boggo v Hocevar - no H2H - Hocevar beat Wardy 7-6(5) 7-6(8) in Manta about 6 weeks ago but has lost his last four matches - RG FQR + 2 Challenger R1s. Last year in his first matches on grass, he beat Lorenzi n QR1 then lost 4 & 4 to Zampieri in QR2. It would be a major disaster if Boggo didn't come through this one, but Mahut (one of the best grass court players in the whole draw) or Dancevic (H2H 0-2, including an agonising 5-7 6-4 7-6(5) loss in Queen's Q last year) in QR2 is the kind of draw of which nightmares are made.

65% - Evo v Smyczek - no H2H - Smyczek has come straight over from a string of hard court Challengers in N America, which has included two QFs in the last 3 weeks and a 3 set win against Jamie B in Baton Rouge. He hasn't played on grass since going out in Newport ATP QR2 to Wayne Arthurs way back in 2006. Having shown reasonable form at Queen's, Eco should fancy himself for this one, but Berankis or Harrison in QR2 is another draw of which nightmares are made, if not quite as bad as Boggo's.

Based on these %s, getting 4 players through R1 would make it a decent day (or possibly 2 days - the weather forecast is not good!), 5 or more would be excellent, 3 or less a bit disappointing.

-- Edited by steven on Monday 14th of June 2010 05:09:31 AM