Josh has made the main draw courtesy of 2 withdrawals.
Entry list:
1 Kendrick, Robert USA 143 2 Delic, Amer USA 145 3 Reynolds, Bobby USA 148 4 Morrison, Jeff USA 157 5 Russell, Michael USA 160 6 Querrey, Sam USA 174 7 Odesnik, Wayne USA 181 8 Guccione, Chris AUS 185 9 Witten, Jesse USA 189 10 Healey, Nathan AUS 195 11 Fleishman, Zack USA 197 12 Bogomolov Jr., Alex USA 204 13 Levy, Harel ISR 210 14 Widom, Todd USA 211 15 Mamiit, Cecil PHI 221 16 Warburg, Sam USA 238 17 Simmonds, Phillip USA 240 18 Lammer, Michael SUI 242 19 Weiner, Glenn USA 254 20 Okun, Noam ISR 255 21 Oudsema, Scott USA 256 22 Kindlmann, Dieter GER 257 23 Goodall, Joshua GBR 260 24 Ram, Rajeev USA 264 25 (WC) 26 (WC) 27 (WC) 28 (WC) 29 (Q) 30 (Q) 31 (Q) 32 (Q)
Kenner is 22 and unranked. He's played 4 pro tournaments so far, he's lost 3 times in the final qualifying round in US futures and in rd1 of qualifying for the New Orleans challenger he got beaten 6-2, 6-0 by a Moldovan ranked 1258. Ross should have few problems providing he's feeling ok after last week.
If Ross wins he's likely to play 7th seed Brian Wilson [wr:353] in rd2.
Rd1 qualies: N Kenner [USA][WC] bt R Hutchins [GB] 7-6[6], 1-6, 6-2
Thankfully, Josh has at last got a decent draw:
Rd1: J Goodall [GB] v G Weiner [USA]
30 year old American veteran Weiner is ranked 286, he's got a career high of 119 but that was back in 2004. The highlight of his year has been reaching the Mexico City challenger final on hard in April aswell as qualifying for Indian Wells. This week he's been on good form, making the semis of Lubbock before losing to Okun, so it could be difficult for Josh.
As steve said in the Lubbock thread, he's been on form in the past couple of weeks but has really had rotten draws, to take Querrey that close in Lubbock showed how well he's playing as Querrey just demolished the rest of the field, beating Russell 1 and 4 and Delic 0 and 2.
I was a little worried when I saw how well Weiner had done last week, making the Lubbock semis, beating Jeff Morrison and the 8th seed Odesnik. However, Josh could probably have got that far aswell if he hadn't drawn the eventual winner in rd1.
Josh should have a good chance against Morrison who's at his best on fast surfaces rather than medium-paced US hard. Morrison is ranked 160, he's been as high as 85 but that was back in 2002. He lost to Glenn Weiner 6-7, 6-3, 6-2 last week and Josh has just beaten Weiner in straights ! Morrison's best results this year have been qualifying for Indian Wells and beating Pavel in rd1, qualifying for the US Open before losing to Phau in rd1. He's reached the semis of a couple of US challengers: Joplin and Bronx and has also reached the quarters of Surbiton and Lexington. He also played ATP Indianapolis and reached rd3 before losing to Roddick.
A shame Josh wasn't able to get further as a quarters appearance would have been very handy points-wise but Morrison has a fantastic record against Brits, having beaten Parmar and Boggo several times in the past. Mackin is the only Brit who's won against him from what I can remember.
Josh will move back into the top 250 from 257 to approx 249.
This is the final tournament of his mini-USA tour. I'm sure he'll be glad to get back on faster indoor courts !
I wonder where Josh is heading next, he's not entered for any tournaments in the next two weeks. I wonder if he's maybe headed back to Mons or Metz to play qualies, he'd have had time to do that and then practise for a couple of days. Or he may be taking a training break.
