Toby wins 5 & 1

Liam took the 1st set 6-1

Luke yet to win a single point on the Mullane serve

Luke down 6-2 5-3* and serving to stay in the match.

Scott though is now 5-2* up in the 2nd and looking to take the match into a decider.

Eek - only 1 out of 3 against the unranked qualifiers

L32: (8) Luke Bambridge WR 549 lost to (Q) John Patrick Mullane (USA) UNR by 2 & 4
L32: Toby Martin WR 729 beat Patrick Davidson (USA) WR 1399 (CH 1188 in 2013) by 5 & 1
L32: Scott Clayton WR 1179 lost to (Q) Randy Blanco (CUB) UNR by 6-2 2-6 6-3
L32: (2) Liam Broady WR 366 beat (Q) Samuel Monette (CAN) UNR (CH 1259 in 2012) by 1 & 1

L16: Toby Martin WR 729 v (4) Bjorn Fratangelo (USA) WR 448 (CH 292 last Oct)
L16: (2) Liam Broady WR 366 v (Q) Randy Blanco (CUB) UNR

Poor old Toby has a tough second round match.

I think Scott Clayton is quite a nice player, but hasn't got that killer instinct yet, but is definitely one to keep an eye on. Not the greatest trip so far.

Having read the Oli Golding thread and seeing Mitchell Frank emerge again here as a potential winner it makes you think that the ITF/ challengers route was probably to tough for him and that perhaps the TLC of collegiate tennis would have been the way forward despite a tennis talent level too good for it. Would he have coped better hitting the ITF challenger road full on at 22 having been able to sample the life in his college holidays and not grind his way day to day on tour as a teenager?

Oakland2002 wrote:

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Having read the Oli Golding thread and seeing Mitchell Frank emerge again here as a potential winner it makes you think that the ITF/ challengers route was probably to tough for him and that perhaps the TLC of collegiate tennis would have been the way forward despite a tennis talent level too good for it. Would he have coped better hitting the ITF challenger road full on at 22 having been able to sample the life in his college holidays and not grind his way day to day on tour as a teenager?

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Fair question. Which, of course, we'll never know. There's certainly a lot to be said for it.

However, in a perverse way, maybe the anti-college argument might have some force in this case as, if Oli has absolutely nothing to fall back on (qualifications wise) and is not far off, in terms of tennis ranking and talent, of making some decent-ish pay cheques, he may realise that tennis is by far his best bet at making a good living.

I always thought (as an outsider) that Dan Evans behaved perfectly rationally - as in, messing around rather, getting dropped by the LTA, until, last year, when his Dad told him to buck up and either make a living out of tennis or quit, he wasn't having him lolling around at home any longer. At which point, Dan pulled his finger out and suddenly results and pay-cheques followed.