Billy takes the second set in a tiebreak

It's a set all in Billy's match - Sky are not showing it, except behind QR code..

Ah, so close. Onto next week, then, for Billy. Billy has Madrid M1000 qualies next, then Estoril qaulies or Aix-en-Provence main draw, depending on how Madrid impacts entry levels, then Rome qualies (presumably) and then FO qualies after that.

Busy few weeks! And then we have the grass!

I saw a couple of points towards the end and Billy was getting run ragged and looked exhausted.

Priesty wrote:

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So near to the top 100 yet so far....again....

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 Such a pity. As Jon indicated, a win would have almost certainly meant top 100

Assuming it turns out so, this will be the third time at least ( I think it is 'just' 3 ) that Billy will have effectively been a set away from the top 100, losing a 3 setter where, all else being equal, a win would have meant top 100. 2024 US Open, 2025 Miami, and now 2025 Munich.

Onward ...

Watched a fair bit of the match. Billy battled well - he saved 6 match points in total as well, before succumbing on the 7th - but Goffin, as you might expect on this surface, just had a little too much class.

Billy's main chance came through first strike tennis - serving big and then launching a crunching groundstroke early in the rally. He employed this very well at times - at 34, Goffin isn't quite as metronomic from the back compared with when he was in the top 10, and Billy's power combined with the unpredictable bounces of the clay, had him a little rattled at various moments.

But a few things happened. Billy's moment was at the start of the third, he was serving well, had the momentum and had a few half chances to create an opening on the Goffin serve. Missed a few balls, the break points didn't quite materialise.

Then from 3-3 he started missing first serves, seemed to be trying to play his way into rallies rather than opening his shoulders and crunching it. And while Goffin isn't a top 10 player anymore, he's still just as capable of effortlessly working the angles, absorbing pace, changing direction, and caressing the ball into the corners, as he was at his peak. If the rally lasted more than 4-5 shots and Billy didn't have him firmly on the defensive, Goffin would almost always find a way of opening up an angle, wrong-footing him, and exposing Billy's defensive weaknesses.

Funnily enough at 3-5, 15-40 in the third, Billy threw off the shackles and started playing some of his best tennis in the match, absolutely hammering the ball and saving all those match points, but just couldn't quite get the break back.