Doubles:

R1:

(1) Goodall/Irwin v Loucareas/Serkedakis (GRE)

Baker/ Marray v Kuseta/ Piyamongkol (CRO/GER)

(2) Bamford/May v Balafoutas/Spyrou (GRE)

Jamie Baker and all the other Brits here in Syros received a massive stroke of luck a couple of days ago when France's Jo Wilfred-Tsonga withdrew from the field. Although currently ranked 259, Tsonga was closing in on a top 100 place in May 2005 before injury struck. This year he's been making up for lost time, winning 3 successive 15K futures and then reaching the Lanzarote Challenger final. Apparently his schedule has changed as he feels that 10Ks are beneath him and he's got bigger fish to fry.

The draw looks good for the Brits, Jamie should win his rd1 match comfortably and then he's likely to play Jim May in rd2. Jim faces Greek wildcard Alex Jakupovic in rd1 [wr:973], Jakupovic is 200 places below Jim and lost 6-1, 6-1 to Josh Goodall in rd1 last week. Bammy has again got rather jammy as he's got an unranked Greek wc in rd1.
If Jamie reaches the quarters, he's likely to face either Bammy or 5th seeded Aussie Raphael Durek. I expect that he'd rather play Durek as he's beaten him twice on outdoor hard this year.

Looking at the lower half of the draw.... It's great to see Jonny Marray back in action after several weeks off spent working on his game. Hopefully he'll return to the top 400 and to this site in the near future ! Jonny has got a nice draw, a lowly ranked qualifier in rd1 and a qualifier for certain in rd2. There's a potential Goodall v Marray match-up in the quarters which would be interesting.

The Brit with the worst rd1 draw is Richard Irwin [wr:762]. He faces Andreas Haider-Maurer in rd1 [wr: 742]. The 18 year old Austrian reached a 10K final in Cuba in March, beating Jamie Murray in straights along the way.

Lots of Brits playing qualifiers in rd1, they're not as much of an easy draw as it would seem on paper. Tursunov put it neatly, qualifiers have already played and won 3 matches on the courts so they're more used to conditions. Plus you're expected to win so all the pressure's on you while they can just go out swinging.

Good to see Jamie Baker playing some doubles aswell, can't see beyond another Goodall/Irwin - Bamford/May final and hopefully that'll be the case.

Yay! Glad Jonny's come back with a win. I hope it continues. I wonder if he'll reappear on this site, hope so it was good to get insight from him.

Let's see if the Brits can dominate this tournament in singles and doubles, wouldn't that be great! fingers crossed.

UltimateSlabbaFan wrote:

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Bammy has again got rather jammy as he's got an unranked Greek wc in rd1

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Now where have I seen that sentence before.

Seriously, great to see Jamie and Jonny making a good start this week. I was a bit worried we might have lost Jonny forever - it must be pretty daunting having to climb all the way back up again having dropped over 200 places this year, especially when he's likely to get less wild card 'help' than the last time he was making his way up from the 400s to the 200s. I'm glad he's persevering though.

I hadn't realised Tsonga was originally down for this, I'm glad his plans have changed because I fear he'd have walked it!

May lost 6-2 6-2 to Greek wildcard Alexander Jakupovic ranked 973

Bamford wins 6-1 6-2 against unranked wildcard Serkedakis and plays Durek next.

Goodall beat De rijke 6-0 6-3.

Irwin beat lucky loser Platevoet (Belgium) 6-4, 7-5 and plays  doubles partner Goodall next 

They linked up as No1 seeds to win 61 61 in doubles first round.

Bamford/May and Marray/Baker also won and play each other round2.

A good day except Jim's surprise loss in singles

 

steven wrote:

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UltimateSlabbaFan wrote:
Bammy has again got rather jammy as he's got an unranked Greek wc in rd1

Now where have I seen that sentence before.
Seriously, great to see Jamie and Jonny making a good start this week. I was a bit worried we might have lost Jonny forever - it must be pretty daunting having to climb all the way back up again having dropped over 200 places this year, especially when he's likely to get less wild card 'help' than the last time he was making his way up from the 400s to the 200s. I'm glad he's persevering though.
I hadn't realised Tsonga was originally down for this, I'm glad his plans have changed because I fear he'd have walked it!

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LOl, apologies for pinching your catchphrase steven !!

I'm very surprised at Jim May's loss, though Jim is at his best on indoor courts which aid his game more.

Jakupovic is a decent player, Slabba played him in Aus F2, Alex was recovering from jetlag and Jakupovic won the first set 6-0, but Slabba came back to take it in three.

Jamie Baker's playing doubles this week for the extra match practise. I would think that he'd have too much class for Jakupovic but I said the same thing last week about Kolick so who knows. Jakupovic's best result this year has been reaching a 15K semi in Australia on clay.

Richard took advantage of his good fortune in rd1 which was good, but I can't see him overcoming Goodall who's a heavier hitter.

Hopefully Bammy can upset Durek in the quarters, Durek is a gritty baseliner. It'll be Bammy's flair versus Durek's consistency. Jamie will be hoping that Durek wins as he's already beaten the Aussie twice in 2006.

Baker, Goodall and Marray through to quarters. 

Bamford lost easily to Durek.  

 

In doubles Irwin and Goodall won and  

Baker/Marray beat Bamford/May