I live in Leeds only about half an hour down the road from this event. Was really hoping to go for the first time this year, esp. with it now being a challenger but am visitting family in Portugal (cant really complain I guess). So I'm watching on livestream.

First time I've watched Marcus for a bit other than the highlights of the recente Futures win (thanks Bob!). Some good stuff in the first set from him, esp. on bps. Both players had lots of chances. Marcus had a couple of break points to serve for the set and was perhaps slightly tentative on them (though maybe no more than in the rest of the set) and would have served for the set had he won it. He also had a lead most of the way through the tie-break only for Zemlja to find his best return of the match off a first serve just as Marcus closed in. Marcus is only 25% on second serve.

It always seems to me when watching Marcus that he just gives away short balls that bit to easily and needs to be a bit stingier with this. Anyone else think that too?

What´s the story with Zemlja's rankings dip? Injury, loss of form? I think Marcus has been a little unlucky here an there in the grass season and suspect he knows that if things started to go well for him these last few weeks they could suddenly go very well for him. I imagine that he has dreams of playing at his best in front of home crowds that little bit more than most just because he it such a crowd pleasing kind of player.

To expand a bit on what I said about him being more stingy with short balls - it's easy for me to say from my armchair view but I just get the sense generally about Marcus that he has got used to hitting shots that are a bit medíocre in amongst al the spectacular/brilliant ones. Obviously this must to some extend be down to playing a more risky style in some ways and allowing the creative side we all love to have some freedom but I just wonder (and this may have been said before given I never saw him play until the whole snickers and RC cola thing last autumn) whether he might benefit from being around some people with that more stingy, never give anything away for free mind-set (Andy Murray springs to mind - I'd love to see what some time with him and Leon Smith in the Davis Cup squad did for him). Please dont misunderstand me - i'm not saying he doesn't fight or scramble - it seems to me he does. I just think that maybe the outcome of the points is down to him more than he gives himself credit for and if he decided to focus that bit more on keeping the ball deep he would find players cant hurt him as easily as he can hurt them. He may well be trying to do all this and just not have control to do so or something but he appears to me to be skilled enough to do this and if he did, especially on a grass court on a good serving day he could really frustrate even top players and even start winning some matches at tour level.

I'd be interested to know others' thoughts on this.

GBJ, the point that comes to my mind when I see him play is: how come someone with such a crack of a serve doesn't have any real power on his groundshots?

Because I agree, he does seem to give away too many soft balls, mixing it up, and trying to place the ball strategically, but then leaving it a little short and getting punished. He rarely lets rip with his forehand, practically never with his backhand, and just doesn't have enough acceleration to cover the court as well as he'd need to to if he wants to just play the scrambling around game.

His serve is SO good, he must be able to power a forehand, surely? I think, rather as you say, that it's too much playing at the 10k level, where there's often not much to be gained from taking risks, just wait for the error.

Everyone has their own style, and I may well be wrong, but you said you wanted comments . . . .

Wonderful win for Mr Milton. Well done.

Recap:

L32:  (1) Malek Jaziri (TUN) WR 80 defeated Liam Broady WR 179 by 4 & 4
L32:  James McGee (IRL) WR 163 defeated (WC) Luke Bambridge WR 641 by 6-2 7-6(6)
L32:  Yuki Bhambri (IND) WR 153 defeated (WC) Cam Norrie WR 854 by 1 & 0
L32:  (WC) Josh Milton WR 319 defeated (6) Adrián Menéndez (ESP) WR 111 by 1-6 7-6(5) 6-4
L32:  (Q) Grega Zemlja (SLO) WR 307 defeated (WC) Marcus Willis WR 369 by 7-6(8) 6-4

*****

L16:  Yuki Bhambri (IND) WR 153 vs (WC) Josh Milton WR 319

Depressing, but hardly unexpected... 

More nonsense on Marcus Willis, bags of talent, not likely. Serve aside his game is lacking in every department. There is no power to his game and just seems to 'spoon' the ball back. He will never be quick enough round the court to make it (top 150) as a singles player. Having seen him play live several times over the last couple of years he is no better than any other GB player and his results, which is the only way to judge a player, especially at challenger level back this up.
However I believe with the right partner he has top 100 potential in doubles and doubles is now what he needs to put first even if it means playing 15H futures to lift his ranking. I know Burton let him down but I question why his management team have not focused on the doubles aspect. Oh well, at least it's not my money down the drain.