Josh very average, just knocked balls up the centre with lots of topspin. Gabb the far more assertive and served well, fully deserved win.
That's been the problem at Challenger and ATP level for Josh, far too passive and defensive, waiting for mistakes. The encouraging news for GB tennis is that this approach is clearly not enough anymore at GB $10k or $15k level, although perhaps Josh's level may have dropped a little too. If these setbacks encourage Josh to just go for it, well, it wouldnt be a bad thing.....whats to lose now.....do or die.
Some very good wins for the likes of Broady, Gabb, Hewitt. All of whom are ranked 700 or higher, bodes well for the depth of Britsh men's tennis and i can see the standard of British 10K's going forward being very high due to depth of talent around.
I can see at least 15 players who could break into the top 500 at the same time and at least another 8 or 9 in the 500-700 range. It might mean that some may have to take a risk and go searching for weaker tournaments abroad
One of two qualifiers ranked outside the top 1000 ( one is Tom Farquharson ) in R2, and if he were to win that Ashley Hewitt or the French 8th seed in the QFs.