Lol Bethan

Some info on yesterday's matches:
[This paragraph doesn't contain info on Colin Fleming's win as his new official website will go live later today and you'll be able to read about it there]:

Arvind was forced to retire with a groin injury. He said "I did it in the wild card play off last week and I really couldn't move properly. That was why I retired and now I will have a scan and see what to do next." According to Ricky from BTZ, Arvind had looked in control of the 1st set and led 5-3 in the breaker before losing the next 4 points.

Speaking after his win, Josh Goodall said "In the first set I was a bit shaky because I got broken straight away. After that I seemed to get into it and at the beginning of the second set I started to serve and volley. I am not usually a serve-volleyer but it made me move my feet. I lost to Alan Mackin last week in the playoffs and this is my second chance. I prefer to qualify playing three matches rather than be given a wild card which I got last year. Then I had a lot of pressure on me and I don't intend to put any pressure on myself this time. Also, by winning 3 qualifying matches it shows that you can win a main draw match."

Ricky from BTZ wrote a match report: "I saw the final set of Josh who played really well. He seems to hit his forehand single handed most of the time now unless he had a lot of time when he reverts to the 2 hander. Apart from some dreadful volley errors he looked comfortably the better player which is impressive considering De Voest is ranked only just outside the top 100. When he served for the match the first time he had 3 match points. He double faulted on the 1st, De voest won a long rally on the 2nd hitting the baseline twice and then hit a return winner on the 3rd. After this I thought it was over especially when Josh was 0-30 and then 30-40 in his next service game but he played a great point to save match point and then got the break again when De voest seemed to lose his nerve at 7-7 and made no mistake this time serving out to love."

Ricky on James Auckland's match: "I didn't see much but I felt sorry for James as from what I saw Bolleli looked superb. Very big serve , great return and passing shots. James did well to keep it so close. I would be very suprised if Bolleli doesn't qualify.

Ricky on Jonny Marray's match: "Jonny's match was very dissapointing seemed in control only to lose his serve out of the blue. He then clung on in the second, broke from nowhere himself but couldn't serve it out. Played a great point to go 2-1 up with a mini break in the tiebreak only to lose 6 straight points. His serve seemed to let him down really I thought. His opponent had a big curly mullet haircut and looked like Craig McClauchlin from Neighbours about 15 years ago."

Photos will follow in my next post