UltimateSlabbaFan wrote:

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mjd wrote: UltimateSlabbaFan wrote: The tournament told me that there were 6 qualifying wildcards I'm very surprised at how late the draw has been made, it's normally made the afternoon before but when I phoned they said it wouldn't be made until 9.30pm Ah! I understand now - they meant the six wildcards into qualifying, I thought you meant main draw. But they still havent announced the MD wildcards - What a cockup!   They have announced the main draw wildcards mjd. That was on Thursday, the tournament told me they were Baker, Bloomfield, Parmar and Martin Lee. I posted this earlier in the thread, you must have missed it.

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No! -  I didnt miss it - thanks a lot.

What I meant was they Haven't OFFICIALLY annouced them to the general public like they did the Ladies and they even updated the list of players to include the Ladies wildcards - plus now the list of players is way out of date.
[Edit] In fact I just checked and it was last updated 19th May (now 4th June)
Play starts in less than 2 hours and drawsheet still says "When available"

It appears that it is only the Mens part of the site that doesn't get updated as the ladies has been daily.

This is a professional body we are talking about but they seem to stumble along like a bunch of amateurs but whoever is responsible for the ladies is much more efficient than those responsible for the men.

Good job ATP are on the ball!

-- Edited by mjd at 08:54, 2006-06-04

-- Edited by mjd at 08:54, 2006-06-04

Rd1 qualies:

J May [GB][wr:722] bt F Granbow [Ger] [wr:673] 7-6[4], 6-4

L Childs [GB] [wr:485] bt F Nielsen [Den][wr: 366] 6-3, 6-0

S Jenkins [USA][6] [wr: 246] bt J Auckland [GB] [wr:368] 6-4, 6-4

G Carraz [Fr][2] [wr:201] bt J Marray [GB] [wr:447] 6-4, 6-1

N Bamford [GB] bt C Fleming [GB] 6-2, 3-6, 6-4

W Arthurs [Aus] [3] [wr:209] bt N Lalji [GB] [wr:934]

J Delgado [GB] bt R Hutchins [GB] 6-1, 6-2

None!

Thanks to the fact that it's the only grass court challenger before Wimbledon qualifying, this Challenger has a ridiculously strong field for a 25K+h - shame on the LTA for being so stingy and denying players who do well the extra points they deserve ... and would have got had the prize money been more like 100K, which would have made a lot more sense given the strength of the players here.

The only Brits who would have been seeded in qualifying all got WCs into the main draw so with no Brits in the top 8 seeds and only 4 to qualify, our boys are likely to have to win three matches against higher-ranked opposition to make it to the main draw unless they have been lucky enough to draw a fellow Brit in QR1, in which case they may 'only' have to beat two higher-ranked players.

Still, after all those losses to lower-ranked players in the GB clay court Futures, the onus is on the Brits to step up on their favourite surface and take some of these higher-ranked players out. That's why I was disappointed with James and Jonny going out in QR1, but well done to Jim and especially Lee who thrashed his higher-ranked opponent.

-- Edited by steven at 16:03, 2006-06-04

More results:

A Kennaugh [GB] bt J Murray [GB] 5-7, 6-2, 6-4

S Stakhovsky [Ukr][7] bt I Flanagan [GB] 6-3, 6-2

A Mackin [GB] bt H Darko [Gha] 6-4, 6-3

J Pequery [Fr][4] bt E Corrie [GB] 6-1, 6-0

A Qureshi [Pak] bt C Eaton [GB] 7-5, 6-1

W Whitehouse [RSA] bt D Corrie [GB] 6-4, 7-6[4]

J Goodall [GB] bt R Bopanna [Ind][8] 6-2, 6-4

Rd2:

L Childs [GB] bt S Jenkins [USA][6] 6-2, 6-3

G Carraz [Fr][2] bt N Bamford [GB] 4-6, 6-0, 6-1

Rd2 to play:

J May [GB] v F Niemeyer [Can][1]

A Kennaugh [GB] v S Stakhovsky [Ukr][7]

A Mackin [GB] v W Arthurs [Aus][3]

J Delgado [GB] v P Simmonds [USA][5]

J Goodall [GB] v W Whitehouse [RSA]

Lee's done fantastically well so far but is probably going to have to beat no. 1 seed Niemeyer to make the main draw (unless Jim May takes him out first!) - that's how tough it is!

Josh will probably have to play Pequery if he gets past Whitehouse, also very tough.

Still, it's not often that there are 5 GB wins against higher-ranked overseas players in the same event on the same day!

-- Edited by steven at 19:40, 2006-06-04

More QR2 results:

QR2: Jim May WR 722 lost to (1) Frédéric Niemeyer (CAN) WR 198 by 6-4 6-7(4) 6-2
QR2: (WC) Andrew Kennaugh WR 783 lost to (7) Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) WR 251 by 5 & 4
QR2: Alan Mackin WR 323 lost to (3) Wayne Arthurs (AUS) WR 209 by 2-6 7-6(4) 7-6(4)

Alan did exceptionally well to push Arthurs so close, but given that you don't get any points for Challenger qualifying unless you make it to the main draw, he must be kicking himself for losing two close tiebreaks after winning the first set so easily. :( Let's hope he softened him up for Jamie, if Jamie can beat Simmonds. Jim did well to take a set off Niemeyer too, but after all that, we only have one player in the final qualifying round for sure, and even he's got an uphill battle if he wants to make it to the main draw. :(

Still to play:

QR2: Jamie Delgado WR 381 v (5) Phillip Simmonds (USA) WR 236
QR2: Josh Goodall WR 377 v Wesley Whitehouse (RSA) WR 602

QR3 possiibilities:

QR3: Lee Childs WR 485 v (1) Frédéric Niemeyer (CAN) WR 198
QR3: Delgado or Simmonds v (3) Wayne Arthurs (AUS) WR 209
QR3: Goodall or Whitehouse v (4) Pequery or Qureshi

... and, at last, the MAIN DRAW!

R1: Alex Bogdanovic WR 136 v Amer Delic (USA) WR 176
R1: (WC) Arvind Parmar WR 211 v Lars Burgsmuller (GER) WR 153 (winner likely to play no. 1 seed Moodie)
R1: (WC) Martin Lee WR 257 v (5) Hyung-Taik Lee (KOR) WR 106
R1: (WC) Richard Bloomfield WR 267 v (WC) Jamie Baker WR 292

Well, we'll have one player in R2  ... the draw could have been a lot worse for our boys, actually, with the top four seeds all in the top 100! How can this only be a 25K+h :( - the LTA could never attract such a good field for that prize money if this wasn't the only grasscourt Challenger before Wimbledon qualifying.

Still, Berdych (WR 20!) and Hrbaty are playing in a Challenger in the Czech Republic this week!

-- Edited by steven at 20:12, 2006-06-04