Hehe Bob in Spain tried quite hard to jinx Billy, but I think that last sentence might just have helped Billy squeak through this one. It would be hard to have two closer sets and match than this - there was just one point in it over the whole match.
The potential QF opponent would be Antoine Hoang. Billy lost to him in the QF 2 weeks ago losing 7-6 in the 3rd. Hoang went on to win the SF 2&3 and the Final 3&1. He is currently in the 3rd set decider (against Cagnina) of this week's final as well.
Well this isn't going to happen. Having won the title two weeks ago and reached the final last week, Hoang has been beaten in the 1st round this week.
Very good effort by Billy, but had a bit of a slump in the third set - although fought back with a love hold in the 9th game with two aces.
He's playing well above his ranking though, so I'm sure the points will keep mointing up. I think Billy has 16 counters at the moment ( including a number of single pointers) and I believe that 18 is the maximum.