L16:  (1) Dan Evans WR 312 vs (Q) Anton Bettink (NZL) UNR

L16:  (Q) Ed Corrie WR 1737 vs (5) Rudy Coco (FRA) WR 418

L16:  (WC) James Marsalek WR 1104 vs (Q) David O'Leary UNR

L16:  (WC) Matt Short WR 973 vs (6) Michael Look (AUS) WR 431

L16:  (7) Chris Eaton WR 434 vs (Q) Mate Pavic (CRO) WR 1175

L16:  (Q) David Pel (NED) WR 1737 vs (4) David Rice WR 413

L16:  (8) Josh Goodall WR 462 vs (Q) George Coupland UNR

L16:  (Q) George Morgan WR 996 vs (2) Alexander Sadecky (SUI) WR 351

R1:  Andrew Fitzpatrick & Nathan Rooney UNR defeated Jean Erasmus & Andy Gauthier (NAM/USA) UNR by 3-6 6-4 [10-4]

R1:  (3) Julien Maes & Fabrice Martin (FRA/FRA) WR 1022 defeated James Hignett & Matt Short UNR by 7-6(2) 6-2

R1:  Ed Corrie & James Marsalek WR 1896 defeated Jiri Kosler & Ruan Roelofse WR 1683 by 7-6(4) 6-3

R1:  Marvin Barker & Albano Olivetti (NZL/FRA) WR 1324 defeated Keelan Oakley & Edward Louies Oueilhe (USA) WR 2648 by 7-6(4) 6-2

R1:  Anton Bettink & Nick Turner (NZL/NZL) UNR defeated (4) Lewis Burton & Marcus Willis WR 1036 by a walkover (*)

R1:  George Coupland & Alex Golding UNR defeated Maniel Bains & Dan Evans WR 2071 by 6-0 1-6 [10-4]

R1:  Alex Farquharson & Tom Farquharson UNR lost to (2) Chris Eaton & Josh Goodall WR 528 by 5-7 retired (*)

(*)   Hope the walkover & the retirement are not indicative of serious injuries to any of the players concerned.

Great day for Ed, James & George Coupland. 

Stircrazy wrote:

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(*)   Hope the walkover & the retirement are not indicative of serious injuries to any of the players concerned.

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 Burton had treatment (back and shoulders massaged) at the end of the first set against Goodall.

Okay a quick run down of the matches I watched today. Conditions were not good as it was shocking cold, pretty dull and quite windy. Starting off with the 3 matches that I saw all or most of.

Eaton v Fitzy

In the first set both players looked very strong on serve with Fitzy probably playing the better but neither player looking like breaking until Fitzy played a poor game at *4-5 to lose the set. In the second Fitzy broke to lead *2-1 but was broke straight back. His head seemed to drop a bit after that and it was no surprise when he was again broken at *4-5. Eaton relied heavily on his first serve and didn't play that well all in all. Fitzy will probably feel that this was a missed opportunity.

Evans v Roelofse

Pretty one sided match. Dan played fairly well in all aspects, served okay, good ground shots, attacked at every opportunity and finished points quickly either at net or from the back. Roelofse had a decent serve but any time Dan got into the point you though he was going to win it. His game to break at 3-3 in the second set was pure class.

Goodall v Burton

First things first. After winning Ilkley, Josh said "I am at my fittest and only wish I had got into this kind of shape earlier on in my career". This wasn't just words. Josh has lost so much weight that I nearly didn't recognise him. As for the match. Josh served well, hit his forehand well and was solid at net. When he does those three things he is a good grass court player, far too good for Burton who never really got into the match. Even when he was holding serve at the start of the second it was only every a matter of time.

The following two matches were ones that I watched between points or games of other matches, or between matches themselves. In both cases I saw enough to get a good flavour of the match.

Thornley v Look

Not a good performance from a foul tempered Sean and only marginally better from his opponent. Lots of long games and at least 8 breaks of serve in the match. Sean fought hard but was erratic in his play and always looked second best. Was berating himself for much of the match, probably far more than was good for him.

Corrie v Farquharson

The best I can say for this match was that it was close fought match between two guys who gave it their all, a titanic slugfest that swung one way and then the other, which if followed on live score would have looked like a great match. Sadly that wasn't the case. It was nearly 3 hours of mostly baseline rallies, consisting of seemingly endless exchanges of sliced backhands. Neither player was capable of hurting the other guy or putting a run of points together and it was simply a war of attrition. It was made worse by the constant moaning about the umpire (from both players). I appreciate that players get frustrated but they both complained about the most marginal decisions and lets face it, umpiring a tennis match with just one line judge to help is not exactly the easiest job in the world.

Finally a couple of matches where I saw bits, mostly from a distance

Short v Berman

Looked to be very close throughout but Short did look like the better player. He had that bit more on his shots and was much more eager to come to net. Two close sets was probably a fair reflection.

Rice v Salisbury

Rice looked to be on top for most of the match but Salisbury clung on in and ran him very close in the end. Salisbury looks to be quite an accomplished grass court player.