Qualifying:

Bloomers got into the main draw as a direct acceptance. Parmar didn't get in as he was no 7 on the alternates and Denis Istomin who was no 5 on the alternates is top seed in qualies. Surprisingly though Parmar isn't in qualies so it looks like he's withdraw. Maybe he's asked for a wildcard into the Nottingham 15K next week to try and get a few wins and points under his belt.

rd1 qualies:

A Mackin [GB][6] v O Mutis [Fr]

L Childs [GB][8] v J Dasnieres de Viegy [Fr]


Mutis is 28 and ranked 834. His past year has been heavily interrupted by injuries hence why he's fallen so low. In 2003 he peaked at no 71 in the world and in 2004 he had the finest run of his career at Roland Garros where he beat Andy Roddick, Robby Ginepri and Fabrice Santoro on his way to the 4th round. In June 2005, he sustained an injury on grass in Germany which kept him out until September. He played another couple of tournament before the injury curse struck again at the start of October keeping him out until March. He was outhit by Tsonga in rd1 of a futures in France and then sustained yet another injury and he has been out until now. Incidentally they've played once before, on clay in Britain in 2002 when Mutis won 6-4, 4-6, 7-6[4] Mutis is a dangerous opponent but given his rustiness, Mackin should win.

Before seeing the draw I'd heard of the aristocratic sounding Frenchman Jonathan Dasnieres De Viegy once before. Andy Murray beat him in straight sets in rd2 of the 2005 French Open juniors. He's now 19 and ranked 570. He's a leftie clay-court specialist, Alan Mackin beat him in straights in Holland in August. The best results of his year came in the Bulgaria satellite in the spring when he won 2 of the weeks on the clay there. Given it's on clay, Lee's the big favourite.

Rd2 qualies:

A Mackin [GB][6] v N Renavand [Fr][wr:520]

This could be a tough one for Mackin, Renavand is a really big server and he also serve-volley. I read Bladetiger's report of a match between Renavand and Sherwood indoors earlier this year and Renavand simply powered Sherwood off the court. He's been in a bit of a slump since then and has lost 6 of his last 7 matches including a defeat to Jonny Marray on grass. His best results this year have been making a couple of quarter-finals in French futures. Good news for Mackin is that the 3rd seed [who he's seeded to meet in the final qualies round] lost in rd1. The bad news for Mackin is that he lost to Julian Maes who beat him on grass this summer.

L Childs [GB][8] v G Burquier [Fr][WC]

Burquier is 21 and unranked, he's never won a main draw match. In rd1 he beat Sebastian Louis [wr:1090] 6-2, 2-6, 6-1.

1 rd2 qualies result is in:

L Childs [GB][8] bt G Burquier [Fr][WC] 7-6, 1-6, 7-5

Good news from the final qualies round:

A Mackin [GB][6] bt M Pedrini [It] 6-4, 6-0

L Childs [GB][8] bt T Meniane [Fr]: don't know score

Alan really is in fine form at the moment and a superb win for Lee aswell. I don't know who they're playing in rd1 yet as the qualifiers haven't been added to the ATP draw. Their guaranteed to gain 4 points so far from this tournament: 3 pts for qualifying + 1 for rd1.

Richard plays Gilles Muller tonight

nice win by super al.  his game's picked up big-time since joining forces with raphael. (turtle power!)

think he's finally realised also that whilst he may enjoy playing on play, he's got better chance of scoring loads of points on other surfaces!

R1:

Gilles Muller LUX d. Richard Bloomfield GBR 61 64

Sally wrote:

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R1:

Gilles Muller LUX d. Richard Bloomfield GBR 61 64

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Really bad draw for Bloomers - What on earth is Muller doing playing a Challenger? He was well inside the top 100 when the entry lists were compiled, and would have been on the MD in all three ATP events this week. Ah well, good experience blah blah blah