Searle may be able to make an impact in pro tennis. Benjamin Becker was UNRANKED a year ago and he was born in 1981. Now it looks like he will playing Tour tennis regularly by the end of this year.
He graduated from Baylor University in 2005 and decided to play pro tennis.
Very pleased to see Alan Mackin, Daniel Cox, and Richard Irwin go through. Especially Daniel Cox, I have been following his ranking since he made the breakthrough last year and it has been pretty dull. I think wild cards have had a negative effect on Daniels career as always gets a bad draw, playing qualys has given him a chance to build some mometum this week
Shame about the Slabba but Robert Searle is an exciting new name to follow.
Quarter-Finals
(1)Alan Mackin (GBR) vs (q)Robert Searle (GBR) (q)Daniel Cox (GBR) vs (8)Riccardo Ghedin (ITA) Julien Maes (FRA) vs (3)Lee Childs (GBR) Richard Irwin (GBR) vs (2)(q)Conor Niland (IRL)
Found this as well - "If you have questions about Robert Searle's plans and schedule, please contact Shaheen Ladhani at shaheen@rice.edu for information. "
Another great win for young Cox!!! Is he still just 16?
Last weeks winners Maes of France is still looking ominous in bottom half of draw.
BBC says Alan Mackin won by that scoreline. I hate it when they get it wrong like this because I checked that before I saw this so I thought he'd won! Lee got hammered didn't he!
johnnylad wrote: BBC says Alan Mackin won by that scoreline. I hate it when they get it wrong like this because I checked that before I saw this so I thought he'd won! Lee got hammered didn't he!
LTA originally had Mackin as winner but it's now changed!
Another disappointing week for the Brits. No one past the semis.
I din't manage to get down there in the end which I was gutted about as I was hoping to go on Thursday and watch Mackin vs Searle and Cox vs Gheddin.
Mackin absolutely thrashed Searle bagel and breadstick which doesn't say much for Searles prospects. Still, not a bad start to a professional career for Rob Searle so far, gaining a handful of points in a handful of events, just hope he can build on it!
Highlight of this tournament definately has to be Daniel Cox's sensational run to the quarter-finals at just 15 !!! Since the grade 1 junior event at Roehampton this year, his results have been fantastic. Earlier this year, he followed in the footsteps of Andy Murray by moving to Spain to train against the wishes of the LTA who wanted him to stay at Loughborough. The move definately seems to be paying off, all 3 of his performances in the main draw this week have been brilliant and last month in Felixstowe he took a set of the Indian Harsh Mankad who's been a nemisis for so many Brits, on Mankad's favourite surface of grass.
The 2nd highlight of the week has been the gradual realisation that the LTA are starting to cover british tennis over than the big 3 plus wheelchair and deaf tennis. Each week they've been providing daily reports and quotes from the GB tournaments and interviewed Mel South after she won a challenger last month, it's really fantastic
Daniel is very much of a 'mini Andy' in my opinion. They share quite a few similarities. They were/are based in Spain; both of them are best on hardcourts but naturally talented on grass and they are both physically weak. And if I take the word of mouth, Daniel has a great returning capability too.
But what makes Dan really special is that Andy did not win even a single point till he was 16 years and 2 months old.
He has been phenomenal since Roehampton. Hopefully he will be able to enter the qualies of the US Open Juniors.