It's Liam's & Ollie's lucky day: they've been given a walkover into the quarter-finals of the doubles by the French pair, Fabrice Martin (the third seed in the singles who crashed out to a Dutch qualifier of whom I've never heard, Wesley Koolhof, by 5 & 1) & François-Arthur Vibert!
Ollie Golding played very well against an opponent over 500 places above him. He was always the better player but was made to work harder in the second set by his opponent's use of the drop shot. Gomez has obviously worked on this. Not only the shot but dealing with his opponent's scambled returns. Ollie got frustrated but did not let it change the overall pattern of the match which he deservidly won by some distance.
James Feaver played an excellent match against the much higher ranked Olivetti. A bit of a battle concerning the time taken between first and second serves on the Italian's serve. He wanted to take the second serve quickly but Feaver always insisted on clearing away the first serve ball. I felt sometimes Feaver was not quite ready for the second serve but in the end his opponent got too frustrated and Feaver was the more steady of the two.
Jonny O'Mara is a local player who has been a top hope to make the big time for several years. A wild card, he battled bravely against the much more experienced Rice. The score would have been even more emphetic for Dr. No but for some obvious service problems. A lot of double faults from a serve which has a very low ball toss. Sometimes it generates a lot of power, but is not too accurate.
Slaba's match was very close, but he was more controlled than his more excitable opponent.
Sean was a big bully against his much younger opponent and dominated from start to finish. Nothing wrong with that of course!
Marsh ran out of steam far too early against Glasspool. Once Lloyd went for his shots he exposed Tutu's fairly limited game on clay.
The match which looked interesting was Broady v Willis. But this was thinking of Willis as he was a couple of seasons ago. Gone was the bandana and agressive attitude. No more heavy shots, at least ones which land in! If anything he was out powered by Broady. Liam is a player who gives little away. He has a good serve and never gives up on the point. A good rallier without being flash or demonstrative. Far too good for Marcus today.
Broady's match is being covered by bet365 today and should be on by now. However I am unable to access it from work, so does anyone fancy posting updates? Much appreciated.
yes olly, stormed through qualifying and storming through the main draw thus far, at this stage i really hope he can go atleast one stage further, time to push on, and get up there with liam