British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

indiana · Tennis legend

Week 25 - ATP 250 - Lexus Open - Devonshire Park, Eastbourne, Great Britain (grass)

Doonan · Strong Club Player

And Hussey qualifies! 6-4 7-5

Jeff Stelling · Club Coach

Buzzing for Giles what a win. He has main draw pedigree here let us not forget.

Dreadful look for the SW19 wildcard committee though after Felix got utterly piped by the same grass-hater in the previous round.

-- Edited by Jeff Stelling on Sunday 21st of June 2026 03:06:30 PM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Jeff Stelling wrote:
Buzzing for Giles what a win. He has main draw pedigree here let us not forget.

Dreadful look for the SW19 wildcard committee though after Felix got utterly piped by the same grass-hater in the previous round.

-- Edited by Jeff Stelling on Sunday 21st of June 2026 03:06:30 PM

You could say dreadful look for the LTA organising wildcard playoffs, as Sofia Johnson lost straight off and then took out the top-60 woman in the world

Or indeed for Giles himself losing easily in the wildcard playoffs

-- Edited by Coup Droit on Sunday 21st of June 2026 03:12:18 PM

indiana · Tennis legend

Jeff Stelling wrote:
Buzzing for Giles what a win. He has main draw pedigree here let us not forget.

Dreadful look for the SW19 wildcard committee though after Felix got utterly piped by the same grass-hater in the previous round.

-- Edited by Jeff Stelling on Sunday 21st of June 2026 03:06:30 PM

Giles had his chance in the WC Q play-offs and lost, as did a few more who have then been looking good in Eastbourne.

Re Felix ( not his fault ) but to my mind ( as I may have said! ) Billy for one should clearly have been ahead of both him and Harry for a Wimbledon MD WC.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

What a cracker from Jan !

0-4 down in the third-set TB

And came back to win it by a whisker

Jan · Hall of fame

Brilliant!! I was watching a stream, then it stopped part way through the TB!

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Stircrazy wrote:
FQR: (q7) Aleksandar Vukic (AUS) WR 100 defeated (qWC) Hamish Stewart WR 301 by 7-6(5) 4-6 6-4

Round-up of the rest:

FQR: (q1) Matteo Arnaldi (ITA) WR 34 defeated Toby Samuel WR 150 by 3-6 6-4 6-4 hmm

FQR: (qWC) Giles Hussey WR 293 defeated (q5) Marco Trungelliti (ARG) WR 92 by 4 & 5 biggrin

FQR: Jan Choinski WR 106 defeated (q4) Marcos Giron (USA) WR 86 by 7-5 6-7(2) 7-6(5) biggrin

Not a bad transition from clay to grass! wink

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Stircrazy wrote:
L32: Thiago Agustín Tirante (ARG) WR 52 (= CH) vs (WC) Jake (or should that be "Hake"?) Fearnley WR 130 (CH = 49 last June)
L32: Román Andrés Burruchaga (ARG) WR 62 (CH = 56 in May last year) vs (WC) Arthur Féry WR 140 (= CH)
L32: (5) Brandon Nakashima (USA) WR 32 (CH = 29 in May last year) vs Jack Draper WR 113 (CH = 4 last June)
L32: (WC) Jack Pinnington-Jones WR 147 (CH = 132 last month) vs Camilo Ugo Carabelli (ARG) WR 58 (CH = 43 last August)

L32: (Q) Jan Choinski WR 106 vs Alexei Popyrin (AUS) WR 90 (CH = 19 last August)

L32: (Q) Matteo Arnaldi (ITA) WR 34 vs (Q) Giles Hussey WR 293

Winner of the latter match gets Fonseca, the second seed...

Sheddie · administrator

I was at Eastbourne for the first round of qualies yesterday - here's a few reflections.

First of all, I hadn't been to qualies for about 18 years! (going all the way back to Queens in 2008), and I'd forgotten just how epic the courtside view is on the outer courts. You notice so much more when just a few metres from the players. And at just £15, it's one of the few modern sporting experiences where it's phenomenal spectator value for very little.

Got there a little late, by which time Toby was already 6-2, 1-0 up! At which point it rained quite heavily for ten minutes and play was delayed by about an hour. On the resumption, was very impressed by Toby on the grass. So smooth, and a great all-court game for grass. I'd known he had an excellent kick second serve from watching him on streams this year, but it was interesting to view just how effective it was, even on a lower bouncing court and against a top 100 player. Much slicker anticipation at getting to the net to finish off points than some of the Brits. as well.

Halys is very intense - constant barks of 'Allez, Allez' to try and rev himself up, but Toby was all over him from the resumption, and took full advantage of some dodgy serving from the Frenchman (a couple of ill-timed double faults) to go 6-2, *4-1 up with the double break.

The one area which still holds Toby back though is the occasional lapse in a match where he goes wandering for a few points/games with some sloppy shots. I noticed it a bit in some of his matches at the lower levels (even when he was winning ITFs and 50ks for fun but he got away with it as he was such a class above the rest of the field). It almost happened in the second set - he gave a break away very easily, and suddenly it was 6-2, *4-3. Halys had 0-30 on Toby's serve, the bit between his teeth and it was very much game on.

Thankfully for Toby, something clicked, he dug himself out of the hole with some clutch serving, and then served out the match with confidence.

Overall it was a very classy display and I thought he'd have a real chance against Arnaldi today. I didn't see any of the Italian's game with Ali Gray but it seemed like one which could have gone either way - Ali was threatening to break at 4-4 in the first set when the rain came, and was a bit unfortunate as that disrupted his momentum.

However, from monitoring the scores today, it seemed like Toby had a couple of those lapses - one in the early stages of the decider where he lost serve from 40-15 up and was never quite able to get back into the match.

He's a real quality prospect though, and there's a very decent shot he'll be top 100 by the end of the year.

Sheddie · administrator

(Part 2)

Next up was Harry. I was even more impressed that he'd beaten Vukic in Queens qualies as the Aussie isn't half capable of clouting a forehand. Serious power on that side which did the real damage in the match, and a very effective serve.

Harry is a world-class returner and has a superb counter-punching game which kept him in numerous points where he looked down and out, but he just didn't serve well enough to give himself a chance and Vukic was putting him under constant pressure - it felt like every single service game, Harry ended up down 0-30 which took its toll in the end. He kept himself in the match for a long time because his returns were so good - he dropped his serve early in the first, broke Vukic as he served for the first to level things at 5-5. But then dropped his own serve immediately after.

Having also watched plenty of Harry earlier this year, I wondered how his game style of playing every point from four feet behind the baseline would match up on the grass, and that's maybe the aspect of his game that he needs to adapt if he's to break into the top 150? Vukic began to figure him out in the second set - he started hitting regular drop shots, and won the point pretty much every single time. From a break up in early the second set, Vukic won 5 of the last 6 games.

It also meant that on the occasions when Vukic dropped the ball short, Harry wasn't in position to take full advantage. By the time he'd got up the court, he was striking the ball below net height, and not able to generate as much of a venomous shot. He's done incredibly well playing a style of rather attritional counter-punching tennis and I'm a huge fan of his game, but feel he perhaps needs to develop a net game. He only came in very, very occasionally and when he did, it usually wasn't on the right balls and he got passed with ease - cue Harry throwing dark looks at his coach!

Harry had a coach courtside who was offering constant encouragement and advice. From the little I could hear, it was mainly along the lines of attacking the first two balls. But was good to see he had a support team with him.

Sheddie · administrator

(Part 3)

Hamish vs Nava

I saw Hamish had dropped the first set quite easily, but as he went a break up in the second, began hearing increasingly excited murmurs from the crowd on Court 2 so popped over for the final set and a bit.

Was delighted for Hamish, he looked incredibly pumped to be playing in front of one of the biggest crowds he must have had on the pro tour outside of Wimby qualies last year. He served really well and polished off the much higher ranked American with relative ease in the final two sets to the absolute delight of a elderly Scottish gentleman just behind me who kept enthusing on how 'Hamish is a fine Scottish name.'

I have to say that Nava was very poor. Didn't look comfortable at all on the grass and just missed so, so many fairly routine balls. In the final set, he barely made any groundstrokes from the back of the court - wasn't sure if it was the grass or the sheer lack of rhythm he was getting from Hamish.

Shame Hamish lost a tight one today, but Vukic is a great grass court player and it looks like it was incredibly close.

Sheddie · administrator

(Part 4)

1. Felix vs Marco Trungelliti

The Argentinian is 36 and enjoying the best year of his career. He's clearly a cool dude with his long locks and the kind of colourful top which looked more suited to a night out in nearby Brighton. He's also more at home on the grass than you might expect. Felix had his chances right at the very start of the match, could easily have been 2-0 up but instead, a few forehands that just missed their mark and he was 2-0 down.

Having watched plenty of Felix, I knew he was quite a slow starter but he worked his way into this one, using his lefty serve much more effectively in set 2. Should have forced a decider as he did so well in the tiebreak to come from 4-2 down to lead 6-4 but missed a couple of makeable forehands and that was the match.

He deserves his chance in the Wimbledon MD as like Harry, it's been an astonishing year from 15Ks to Grand Slam qualies and he did so well at Roland Garros. But it feels like he's very much applying his clay game to the grass (including his clay courter grunting - you could hear Felix grunting from the other side of Devonshire Park) and his heavy balls aren't quite as effective on the lawns.

2. Giles vs James Duckworth

It says something about how well Oli B, Paul, Max and Anton played in Wimby pre-qualies that neither Giles nor Charlie made it through. Giles played one of the standout matches yesterday and delighted he got the better of Trungelliti today, who's far from the slouch that some were taking him for!

Duckworth is a great grass courter, a big server who's adept at the net, but Giles kept him at bay with some thrilling tennis. Huge lefty serving when he needed it, great touches around the net, and some clever low slices off both sides to keep the ball skidding low on the grass.

Giles has a real chance against Arnaldi in the MD in my opinion.

3. Charlie vs Marcos Giron

Feel for Charlie as a month ago he would have had a direct entry into Wimbledon qualies. He's also playing some of the tennis of his life, even better than his form a couple of years ago when he got a MDWC and lost to Stan the Man, just not quite getting the results.

I watched his heartbreaker in the first round of RG qualies where he played a phenomenal match on the dirt against a much higher ranked Frenchman in front of a baying crowd and basically choked on several match points before losing.

This one was broadly similar. For the best part of two sets he barely put a foot wrong. Huge serving, colossal hitting off both sides, finishing points at the net and even throwing in some drop shots. Giron was bamboozled and early in the second set was getting very frustrated - I remember one, "Come on man" in a distinct drawl after missing a shot early in the second. Marcos upped his game considerably in the second and showed why he's a top 100 player - he was hitting the ball very, very big.

But Charlie stuck with him, and while he was outplayed in the second set tiebreak, he had real chances early in the third. Should have broken at 2-2 but missed 3 break points I think, and after that, faded badly and didn't win another game

A real shame as for the best part of 2 sets, you would have thought that he was the top 100 player. Hope he gets a few breaks soon as the level is definitely there.

JonH · Tennis legend

Good draw this year. Fritz, Fonseca, Cerundolo x 2, Draper.