... he can! 6-2 in the GB v rest of the world matches today means we are guaranteed at least 2 GB semi-finalists already

L32: (1) Ed Corrie WR 320 beat Myles Orton WR 1148 by 1-1 ret.
L32: Neil Pauffley WR 555 beat (WC) Clay Crawford WR 2124 by 2 & 4
L32: James Marsalek WR 615 beat Patrick Ciorcila (ROU) WR 565 (CH 558 in Oct) by 2-6 6-2 6-1
L32: Tom Farquharson WR 493 beat (7) Josh Goodall WR 461 by 6-2 ret.
L32: Toby Martin WR 882 beat (WC) Sam Hutt WR 1209 by 7-6(4) 7-5
L32: Luke Bambridge WR 707 beat (WC) Harry Meehan WR 1190 by 4-6 6-3 7-6(6)
L32: Jathan Malik WR 972 lost to (5) Peter Torebko (GER) WR 445 (CH 182 in 2012) by 3 & 2
L32: (Q) Scott Clayton WR 1153 beat (6) Enzo Couacaud (FRA) WR 457 (CH 456 last week) by 7-6(5) 6-4
L32: George Morgan WR 1204 beat (Q) Piotr Lomacki (POL) WR 1288 (= CH) by 7-6(4) 6-1
L32: (LL) Ryan Peniston WR 1984 lost to (Q) Robert Godlewski (POL) UNR (CH 507 in 2006) by 4-6 6-4 6-0
L32: (3) Dan Smethurst WR 341 beat Daniel Glancy (IRL) WR 722 (CH 718 in Oct) by 4 & 4
L32: Richard Bloomfield WR 920 beat (8) Liam Broady WR 469 by 3 & 2
L32: George Coupland WR 798 beat (Q) Adam Thornton-Brown WR 1332 by 1 & 2
L32: Jack Carpenter WR 818 beat (Q) Giorgio Portaluri (ITA) WR 1232 (CH 715 in 2011) by 2 & 2
L32: (2/WC) Dave Rice WR 307 beat (Q) Riccardo Bonadio (ITA) WR 1151 (CH 1148 in Dec) by 3 & 2

L16: (1) Ed Corrie WR 320 v Neil Pauffley WR 555
L16: Tom Farquharson WR 493 v James Marsalek WR 615
L16: Toby Martin WR 882 v (Q) Nicolas Rosenzweig (FRA) WR 1214 (CH 687 in 2012)
L16: Luke Bambridge WR 707 v (5) Peter Torebko (GER) WR 445 (CH 182 in 2012)
L16: George Morgan WR 1204 v (Q) Scott Clayton WR 1153
L16: (3) Dan Smethurst WR 341 v (Q) Robert Godlewski (POL) UNR (CH 507 in 2006)
L16: George Coupland WR 798 v Richard Bloomfield WR 920
L16: (2/WC) Dave Rice WR 307 v Jack Carpenter WR 818

H2Hs (there are a lot more for this round!)

Ed 4-0 v Neil - Ed won in straight sets in 2008 & 2013 plus two 3-set wins in 2012
James 1-0 v Tom - James beat Tom in 3 sets in Tipton last October
Toby 0-1 v Rosenzweig - the Frenchman (who upset the 4th seed today) won in 3 sets in Nottingham last year
Dan 1-0 v Godlewski - Dan won 2 & 2 on his way to the Roznov pod Radhostem Final in 2010
Bloomers 1-0 v George - Richard won 1 & 4 on grass in Felixstowe last year
Dave 1-0 v Jack - Dave won 2 & 0 on clay in Bournemouth back in 2009

Edit: I meant to add, there were quite a few rankings upsets (i.e. the results shown with  and/or  above) today, but a few were due to retirements, under-ranked players (e.g. Godlewski), Bloomers playing well above his current ranking when he is reasonably healthy, etc. The standout result of the day was Scott's win against Couacaud, obviously.

-- Edited by steven on Tuesday 4th of February 2014 05:32:00 PM

All in all. a very good day at the office for the Brits.

Coup Droit wrote:

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Bob in Spain wrote:

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All in all. a very good day at the office for the Brits.

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Yes, unlike the poor Italians who lost ALL their players, including their number 4 seed.

A portent of things to come - Davis Cup ?

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 I think it's probably a little inconclusive as a one off and this far ahead - maybe if it keeps happening we can start to make connections and assumptions we'll have to keep a watchful eye on them

 

My thanks to the scorers throughout the day, as BiS said, a good day for our boys

that's OK CD, neither was I (I rarely am)

Lots of good matches tomorrow - not least in the doubles. That's quite a doubles draw for a 10K.

Very enjoyable day and there are quite a few stories behind the scores as I got to see bits of most of the games and a chance to assess some of the players.

I watched the first set of Jathan Malik - Jathan has a nice game and looks like he has potential to go a lot further, however his serve really let him down today, DF'ed a lot and put himself under pressure. His head went down half way through the first set and his body language was such that he never looked like getting back into the match. His opponent Torebko wasn't that impressive and was poor at the net and I expect him to get knocked out in the next round by Bambo.

Of the other opening matches, Jack seemed to have a very comfortable win. He served well and kept the ball in court and forced his opponent into mistakes. Scott went down an early break, had the trainer on for a shoulder problem and then looked a different player. I've seen Scott a couple of times time and I think he has gears and seems to be able to step up at crucial times. Definitely one player who will climb up the rankings quite quickly.
George Morgan, I didn't see much of that game, but it seemed to be quite a struggle in the first set with some very long games. I'm not convinced George will make big strides at seniors yet(I hope I'm wrong)

No idea what happened to Evan, but Peniston gave the Pole a game for a set and a half, until he got injured and had the trainer on and then faded away. He has a nice little game and will pick up odd points here and there, but is too lightweight to progress significantly. Sam Hutt v Toby Martin was a very tight game full of long raliies, but Toby was slightly more consistent and edged the match.

Of course I watched the whole of the Harry v Luke match and was stood with Josh following Harry. What an interesting match. Harry looked comfortable on serve in the first set, whilst Bambo was struggling for consistency on serve. Harry broke towards the end of the first set and served out to take the first set. Harry played a horrible service game at the start of the second set and was broken. I cannot remember whether he had the trainer on before or after the break to strap up that leg which was clearly a problem. Harry had a couple of chances to break back, but fair play to Bambo who stepped up on the big points. Third set was close and the quality really improved. Bambo served really well in the third set and only got into difficulty once when 15-40 and Harry got into trouble at 5-5 went ADV down and then faulted on first serve and sent down an absolute bomb of a second serve ace. The tie break was close Bambo went an early break up, but Harry broke back. Harry had a match point on his own serve after Bambo DF'ed and then went for two massive serves and DF'ed when he should have gone for the big swinger and played safe. Harry service point was chipped back and Harry tried the drop shot, but was picked up and passed and Bambo served out as Harry netting with a backhand crosscourt.
One other thing to mention from the first set was that Bambo, was calling shots out and pointing, which is against the rules. Josh told Harry to complain to the umpire. Harry did, Josh got told that he wasn't allowed to coach and Harry kept up bringing the issue and asked for a supervisor at one stage.

Harry has enormous potential it needs some tidying up and he needs some mentoring. He has a huge first serve and can serve that swingy left serve as well. He looks like a natural serve and volleyer and will be a real handful on grass and the quicker surfaces. Given that six months ago he was struggling to play three consecutive points from the back of the court, his back court game looks decent, he was a match with Bambo at the back of the court today. He runs around to his forehand a lot and his forehand was decent today. His backhand needs a bit of work, but it is not too bad now. Josh has done a good job to improve him so much so quickly. Harry needs to work on his on court attitude, concentration levels and tactics at crucial times. With Josh moving into full time work, it will be interesting to see what happens as Josh won't have much time to coach or travel with Harry now. Josh is virtually retired from tour tennis now with his new job.
Bambo on the other hand looks a nice player. He was a bit rusty in the first set, but has a good serve and a decent all round game. He will be going upwards as well.

Broady v Bloomers was an interesting match and the best performance of the day came from Bloomers. He served really well with good variety, has super hands and was making shot after shot. Liam had no answers. I'm not sure if Liam was a little rusty, but he was never in the match. Liam doesn't seem to have any major weapons and seems reliant on grounding his opponents down and based on that performance I cannot see Liam getting any further than top 350. If Bloomers can play at that level regularly, he will be one of Bob's 20 in the top 500 very soon.
George absolutely blasted Adam TB off the court and played very well and could be another that could jump very quickly up the rankings. Didn't see much of the Pauffley match, but that was a fairly comfortable win. Dave Rice was also made to work quite hard for his win.
Myles Orton was carrying a back injury before the match. Aggravated it in warm up, had the trainer on and managed to start and broke Ed straight away. However when he tried to serve, he couldn't get any power and retired.
Tom F also won by retirement as Josh injured his wrist, played on for a bit after Nigel Smethurst made yet another appearance and retired at the end of the set.

Dan Smethurst was not at his best against Daniel Glancy, who was another who needed the trainer and scraped through in straight sets.

I watched quite a bit of Marzi v the young Romanian(last game remaining) and the Romanian comfortably outplayed him in the first set. However Marzi upped his serving, was defensively excellent and kept the ball in court forcing his opponent into error. The Romanian's head dropped in the final set and it ended up a comfortable win. Again not sure what to make of Marzi. He has a solid game, but no big weapons and will pick up lots of early round wins, but I'm not sure he has enough to go long regularly.

Harry should never have played the doubles and was almost playing on one leg and gave up after one service game.

No signs of Ross Hutchins today, but Bambo said he wanted some match practice and rang Hilts to see if one of his guys was free to play and given that Bambo was due to play with Josh and Josh pulled out of doubles, Bambo stepped in. Bambo is quite happy and the doubles draw looks kind to them.