I managed to make it to Sheffield yesterday, Tuesday is always a good day to go to British futures events, so here are a few reports.

Marsalek looked fine throughout his win against Porter and while obviously he was playing a fairly weak opponent I didn't see anything in James' game to explain his recent woeful results. His serve actually looks better than it did a year ago, he was solid off the ground, looks to be in good shape physically and as always his attitude was first rate. Early on he did look like he was lacking in confidence, understandable given his form, but after a good first service game he visibly perked up. The first set was as comfortable as the 6-1 score suggests and he was mostly on top in the second although didn't manage to secure the breakthrough until the 10th game of the set. His only moment of danger was at *4-4 in the second when he briefly allowed himself to be upset by a woeful piece of umpiring on the first point (a clear ace was called fault) and found himself at 0-40 (two double faults and an UE) before recovering the situation very well with a big forehand winner and two big first serves. As an aside there has been a lot of mention of James being part of Team Aegon but he didn't have a coach with him today..

Butler v Hingley was a compelling match, at least for the first set. Both looked like they fancied their chances of getting their first ATP point and the first set was as close and competitive as the scoreline suggests. Samm wasn't as good as he was last week against Broady but he still looked pretty good and while the first set was close he always looked to have that bit more and deservedly took the tie break. He then maintained his form in the second set while Hingley's level dropped. Matthew can however console himself with a moment that would have graced Arther Ashe stadium. At *5-5 30-30 he was lobbed and looked to be out of the point before producing our of the best tweeners I have ever seen to keep the point alive and two shots later won it with a quite wonderful drop volley. If Murray manages anything remotely as good this week then Mark Petchey will be screaming with delight.

Jhun v Paris was another fascinating match. First things first, my god does Josh have a gloriously good looking back hand. If like me you are a sucker for a good single hander where elegance and style take precedence over brute force then if you ever get a chance to watch this kid don't turn it down, I promise you that you won't be disappointed and his forehand is pretty stylish as well. As for the match, Josh really should have won, but Alex's mental strength and and a ruthless streak saw him through even though he wasn't playing well. Josh took a close first set before Alex stormed back in the second. Pretty much every game in the third was competitive but Josh established a *4-1 lead and it could have been *5-0 had Alex not saved 4 break points in the other game. At this point Alex was absolutely disgusted with himself but through a combination of talent, determination and some pretty blatant gamesmanship he fought his way through his demons to take five games in a row. Josh had the look of someone who couldn't understand how he lost the match but for me the explanation was that his opponent had a level of fight, cynicism and a nasty streak that made the difference. Alex has a curious on court persona in that he is extremely critical of himself on a near constant basis and frequently looks like he is about to implode but he always seems to regain his composure and focus for the next point.


I didn't see enough of any other matches to offer serious analysis but a few comments. Malik again looked pretty good and could have easily taken a set, at the very least I think he has the making of a pretty good futures level player. Hutt led Pauffley *3-2 40-0 before being pegged back to deuce and then completely self destructing after a poor call on a 4th game point. He was still complaining 10 minutes later, even openly admitting that he couldn't get that decision out of his head. Hoyt looks to have pretty big forehand and from what I saw was pretty dominant against Carpenter, a player who has nothing to hurt his opponents with.