Things not going well for Milts:  2-6 *0-2.

bigboyjumbo wrote:

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Brydan for DC

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Might be a case of last man standing by the looks of it. 

Thoughts from a very sunny afternoon in Surbiton:

Brydan deserved to win, in the end. There was a worry in the first set - he was constantly clutching his back and struggling to get down to drop shots and low slices and finally called the trainer having just been broken at 3-4*. I was concerned when he did eventually surrender the first set, despite breaking back, especially when he could be audibly heard muttering to himself "Play through it, play through it!" (assuming he was talking about the pain...) However, he rallied, and his serve in particular was handy in a couple of tight moments in the final two sets. Ultimately, though, he was the better player and it was a pleasure to watch and support him.

A quick note on Kudla, his SF opponent - he was simply awesome. His serve is very Roddick-esque and is the best we saw all day. He absolutely dominated against the Jap and I expect him to win the tournament. Sorry Brydan - I'd love to see you prove me wrong...

Milts didn't play particularly well. McGee was solid, served well and mixed up his game nicely, coming into the net with enough regularly to keep things interesting. At 2-6 *1-5, Josh all of a sudden began to be a lot more aggressive, probably because he felt at that stage there was nothing to lose, and played some really nice tennis, but was unable to turn the momentum enough in his direction and was beaten shortly afterwards - a case of too little, too late in the end. It was a shame, but you had the sense his head wasn't quite in the game - constant glances at his coach/family, comments about the volume of applause from the audience, and generally a sense of nonchalance to his play. I expected better, having heard decent reports from earlier in the week.

I won't be back to Surbiton (at least this year), but I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and it's a good, well run tournament if any of you fancy heading down for the latter stages.

BradMarx90 wrote:

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It was a shame, but you had the sense his head wasn't quite in the game - constant glances at his coach/family, comments about the volume of applause from the audience, and generally a sense of nonchalance to his play.

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I wouldn't read too much into it. Josh's body language and comments frequently give the impression that he couldn't give a damn even while he is giving his all while the points are being played.

Klein had a break back point at *30-40 but Kudla held serve and took the first set 6'4.

Stircrazy wrote:

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If a Brit can't take the title here, I hope Matt Ebden does:  he's just thrashed Harrison by 0 & 2 (& he beat Donaldson (6) by 2 & 3 in the second round)!   Wonder if Liam was watching...

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Ebden proceeds to dump out McGee by exactly the same score!