QF:

Alan Mackin [GBR] v Arvind Parmar [GBR]

[5] Antony Dupuis [FRA] v Josh Goodall [GBR]

[2] Ivan Navarro Pastor [ESP] v [wc] Jonathan Marray [GBR]

Jan Vacek [CZE] v Lee Childs [GBR]

Wow. What a good tournament this has been for the Brits. Is it anything to do with the fact that a lot of them train in Nottingham??

Viva Mackin, Goodall, Childs, Marray!

So Josh finally runs out of steam, pity it couldn't have been yesterday [] but still congrats to him on another great tournament. Dupuis is a top-notch grass court player, reached Queens quarters in 2003 and he always does well at Newport. If he has a good serving day, he's so difficult to beat on fast courts.

I'm not surprised at Lee Childs' result, although Lee's had a couple of terrific wins Vacek was always going to be the big fav for this one. He's ranked 268 but is a former world no 61 and at ATP Nottingham this year he beat Thomas Johansson in 3 sets ! In this tournament last year he beat Bloomers in rd1 before losing to Bagdathis and in Manchester 2005 he reached the semis, beating Boggo on the way.

Navarro-Pastor is for most of the year an out-an-out clay courter so although he was ranked 163 I thought Jonny had a good chance. However, I've just seen that he qualified for ATP Nottingham this year and took a set of Gasquet in rd1 so he's also pretty good on grass.

At least we've got a guy in the semis. Who do you reckon it'll be - Mackin or Parmar ? Surprisingly they've only played once before and that was last month on the grass of Roehampton when Mackin beat him in the semis of the wild card playoff, 6-3, 7-5. My money's on Paisley's finest to do the same again today but in 3 sets.

Rankings for next week:

Josh Goodall will rise 12 places to 258, Colin Fleming will rise 17 places to 361, Lee Childs will rise 52 places to 435, Jonny Marray will rise 67 places to 477 and Ross Hutchins will rise 28 places to 561.

Colin heads to Vancouver to try and qualify along with Jamie Baker and Jamie Murray. Colin and Jamie will also link up for doubles.

I wonder whether Josh will alter his schedule and head there too or whether he'll continue on the grass to Ikeley. Now he's going to be high enough to play US Open qualies surely he wants to try and get as much hard court practise as possible.

Niall wrote:

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Big Arvs will be the one to carry British hopes in the Semis
Arvind Parmar (Gbr) bt Alan Mackin (Gbr) 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-1),-- Edited by Niall at 17:28, 2006-07-27

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Great result for Arv, this will boost his ranking slightly as he was defending points from making Valladolid Challenger quarters this time last year. Mackin will rise 17 places to 355.

Bad luck to Mackin, he must have come pretty close in that 2nd set, I wonder if he had any match points. Mackin's serve really has improved so much recently, it's a real weapon now especially on grass. He's heading to Ikeley aswell along with Smith, Childs, Marray and Slabinsky.

Niall wrote:

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Big Arvs will be the one to carry British hopes in the Semis Arvind Parmar (Gbr) bt Alan Mackin (Gbr) 3-6 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (7-1),-- Edited by Niall at 17:28, 2006-07-27

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Alan will be mad to loose this...being so close and being in better form than Arv of late !!!

or not.

Pastor/dupis final, big arvs going down 3&2 :(