L128: (Q) Marcus Willis WR 772 defeated Ricardas Berankis (LTU) WR 54 by 3, 3 & 4
L128: Dan Evans WR 91 defeated Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) WR 86 by 6-3 6-7(6) 7-6(4) 7-5
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L64: (3) Roger Federer (SUI) WR 3 (CH = 1 in February 2004) vs (Q) Marcus Willis WR 772 L64: Dan Evans WR 91 vs (30) Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR) WR 33 (CH = 13 in January)
Needless to say, there is no head-to-head in either case.
I saw most of the Willis match, and I was just waiting for him to choke - and he didn't. He just seemed to be loving every minute, abit like a child, no expectatons, just doing his best. I was in tears at the end. Soooo happy for him.
I hope he's on centre on Wednesday. I'm not expecting him to beat Fed, but I'd like him to play well - and make Fed step up to beat hiim.
Well done Evo too. Two Brits into the second round one the first day - and neither of them Mr Murray. How far British tennis has come.
Fabulous wins for Marcus 7 so far on his trip to 50K, I have loved watching him play, still can't work out how he ever lands a backhand he hits so flat and inches over the net, minimal margin for error. Slightly relieved that he may be able to quit coaching kids at the rowing club!
A remarkable turn round for both Marcus and Evo over the last 12 months coming through big troughs in their careers to really get stuck into realising their talents. Marcus has made some progress in terms of getting into shape fantastic seeing him reaping the rewards. As pleased for Evo, thought he was down and out after the fall, hope his groin settles before the next round.
Fantastic to see Marcus making the front pages - and even brilliant to see him contrasted with the England football team, given that Wimbledon fortnight always used to be open season for the media to shout about how useless our tennis players were (even when they weren't)
Nice to see Marcus with someone intelligent as a partner too - back in the day, sports stars used to just pair up with beauty queens and the like. Though it seems that he has found a kind of compromise between the two here - see www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/coventry-news/coventry-university-hospital-dentist-miss-3059650 LOL - weirder still, I'm not sure whether Jennifer (an absolute tennis legend in her own right already for getting Marcus back on the circuit! ) 'manages' Willbomb exactly, but by a weird coincidence, the Iceland football team is managed by a dentist. Fangs for that ...
Great to see Dan and Marcus supporting each other so much too, it must really help when your fellow pros believe in you that much.
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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!