Fish to serve for it at:

7-6(5) *5-4. Bloomers just have to make fish play every ball.

Respectable effort from Bloomers but Fish just did what he needed to in order to reach the final and was never in any real trouble, especially when he won the first set.

Still, a great week for Bloomers and if he can keep this up for the rest of the year then he'll get his ranking back to the level it was before the injury problems began.

I had a really good time at DC but rather sorry I missed the latter part of this run - though thanks very much to Bethan and (towards the end) the Count for keeping all of us at the DC group meal informed during the QF, which looks like it was very exciting indeed.

An Italian on AM.com has found somewhere the stat that Bloomers is the lowest-ranked ATP semi-finalist for 10 years!

Trust the British press to attempt to spoil it by bringing up unsubstantiated betting rumours again and making it sound like Richard was implicated when, even if there had been any irregularities, the fact that he won means there's no chance he was involved.

It wouldn't surprise me in the slightest if people on MTF and other forums had started talking about this and then honed in on it being a good match to bet on - once you get reminded that Bloomers has an excellent serve, decent valleys and C Rochus is on a run of 8 R1 losses at Wimbledon, why wouldn't you see it as the best chance of the day to bet on a rankings upset?!

Anyway, Bloomers had the last laugh by winning two more matches, more than tripling his ranking points total and getting back into the GB top 5, and I hope it motivates him to go for one big last push over the next 12 months ... and that he does so well that he'll be in a good position to continue even after those points come off!

I was wondering who the last Brits to reach an ATP semi without ever making the top 100 in their career were:

Nick Brown - Manchester ATP semi-finalist in 1990 and Bristol ATP finalist in 1989
Chris Bailey - Livingston (USA) ATP semi-finalist in 1989
Andrew Castle - Seoul ATP finalist in 1988

They all made the top 150 at some point in their careers and all the other Brits who have made ATP semis in the last quarter of a century (Tim, Greg, Andy, Jeremy Bates, Mark Petchey, Martin Lee and Stephen Shaw) were all ranked in the top 100 at some point in their careers. Bloomers is still some way off even the top 150 of course, but at his best he was more than capable of getting there and hopefully this will give him the impetus to have another try at doing so.

-- Edited by steven on Sunday 11th of July 2010 11:56:29 PM

Never trust an Italian  (she's usually quite reliable for an AM.commer, but continuing on my quest to catch up, I've just come across that ATP article too) .. I've also come across the thread where the betting stuff was discussed in more detail.

Bloomfield has been reported as saying that the LTA is "rubbish", that nothing they do ever works, and that he doesn't even want them to contact him. Our players seem to be developing a habit of giving the LTA a kick as soon as they have any success. Presumably they want to make sure that Draper doesn't try to take the credit.

It's hardly the most compelling argument ever presented: he complains the problem is they keep changing the system and then proposes that to resolve this they change the system.

goldfish wrote:

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Thought I'd look at Steveg rankings this week to see Richard's name as 'mover of the week' but no, poor 'David' doesn't make that: -

"Grass court season wraps up in Newport
The very brief grass court season has come to an end with Mardy Fish taking the title in Newport. For Fish it's his first title of the year and he is this week's Mover of the Week, rising 30 spots to #49. David Bloomfield qualified and reached the semifinals, moving 260 big spots to #292. In Davis Cup quarterfinals action, David Nalbandian won two big matches to advance Argentina to the semifinals. As a result, he gains 130 points and 42 spots to #111. "

Not quite sure how someone gaining 30 spots is mover of the week over someone gaining 42 or 260 spots but hey, ho, it seems it takes an awful lot for some people to gain recognition for their success.

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I should've thought the answer was simple:  Rich is a Brit, while "the Mardy One" is a Yank ...!