I agree with Tim Hewitt's WC.  He won the U18 champs, with a field containing Cox, Evans, Milton, Atkinson, Ed Corrie, Skinner, Thornley, Bains.  ie. players who have received lots of WCs.

I noticed Hewitt has only played one senior tournament before, compared to Dan Cox's amazing 27 (a player that has just turned 16yo).

Here's a list containing of lots our U20s, and how many tournaments they've played in, ending with the great Robert Dee. (he'll soon not class as a prospect .  Poor Robert.)

(tournaments played) Age Name
(27) 16 yrs 0 mths Daniel Cox
(14) 16 yrs 5 mths Daniel Evans
(1) 16 yrs 6 mths Neil Pauffley
(3) 17 yrs 0 mths Joshua Milton
(1) 17 yrs 2 mths Tim Hewitt
(7) 17 yrs 3 mths Graeme Dyce
(10) 17 yrs 3 mths Chris Herbert
(16) 17 yrs 4 mths Sean Thornley
(12) 17 yrs 6 mths Maniel Bains
(13) 17 yrs 9 mths David Rice
(28) 17 yrs 11 mths Harry Skinner
(31) 18 yrs 0 mths Iain Atkinson
(21) 18 yrs 3 mths Chris Llewellyn
(26) 18 yrs 4 mths Oscar Podlewski
(9) 18 yrs 4 mths Chris Priddle
(42) 18 yrs 5 mths Burnham Arlidge
(7) 18 yrs 7 mths Simon Childs
(51) 18 yrs 7 mths Alan Wright
(37) 18 yrs 8 mths Edward Corrie
(17) 18 yrs 9 mths Ben Pritchard
(53) 18 yrs 11 mths Chris Eaton
(36) 19 yrs 2 mths Konstantinos Kalaitzis
(33) 19 yrs 4 mths Matthew Illingworth
(65) 19 yrs 4 mths Andrew Kennaugh
(64) 19 yrs 5 mths Andy Murray
(33) 19 yrs 7 mths Myles Blake
(50) 19 yrs 8 mths Edward Allinson
(61) 19 yrs 8 mths James Ward
(30) 19 yrs 9 mths Robert Dee

Plus Tim Hewitt has a fantastic name for a Top 10 tennis player.  (There's Bob Hewitt of Hewitt & McMillan fame, winner of a record 57 doubles titles 'til the Woodys broke it, as well as Lleyton). And a British player called Tim is a must. 

COME ON TIM!

i'm pleased that tim hewitt got the wild card - its a reward for success, and great encouragement to the guy - he deserves his chance.

whilst it may not please some members of this forum, to be honest slabinsky has done absolutely nothing this year to deserve a WC for the tournie!  tho also hutchins hasn't done much, but crucially has reached 2 challenger 2nd rounds earlier in the year!

that said, i'm surpirsed lee childs decided to go to basel instead of taking a WC here.  i presume the last one to hutchins was v last minute with mackin's DA.

 

Thanks for all the info on Tim Hewitt, now I know who he is I think he deserves the wildcard and I hope he can make the best of having drawn the third seed.

goldenboy wrote:

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ian flanagan's the only brit to make it to the final round, and is playing against top seed sirianni for a place in the main draw.  bit of a disappointing showing!

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Well to be honest, when I saw the qualifying draw I didn't think that we'd have any Brits through to the final round. None of them were seeded or ranked in the top 550.

Aswell as Flanagan's wins, the most promising results are Harry Skinner upsetting Motti, unranked wildcard Ben Pritchard pushed King-Turner extremely close and coming within a few points of victory - losing 7-4 in a final set tiebreak and Tom Rushby came close to knocking out the top seed in rd2 - also losing in a final set breaker.

Flanagan's done extremely well, hasn't lost more than 4 games so far. He beat Harry Skinner 6-2, 6-2. I reckon he's got a good chance against Sirianni.

Slabba lost 6-4, 6-4 to Cervenak in rd2 Given Alex's current luck with the draws, I wouldn't be surprised if Cervenak qualifies and then goes on to reach the quarters.

Flan the man and Bloomers are the only Brits in action in singles tomorrow.

Bloomfield v Masik: Richard has played Masik once before, in 2004 on indoor hard. Masik won 5-7, 6-3, 6-4. It's a good chance for Richard to get revenge, Masik is ranked 343 currently [his best was 269 earlier this year] and has been out injured since the end of September. Masik has played mostly on clay this year, his 2006 highlights have been reaching futures finals in Egypt and the United Arab Emirates and challenger quarters in Germany and India. I reckon Richard's got a very good draw here, I reckon he can beat Mertl indoors [Colin Fleming beat him in Wimbledon qualies]. I wouldn't be surprised if he makes the semis.

Delgado v Tourte: They've played once before, in the semis of a futures in France back in 2003. Tourte won 6-4, 6-4. He's currently ranked 221 and is at his best on fast surfaces. He's had a stunning year, reaching 4 futures finals, 5 semis, 2 challenger quarters and the final of the Grenoble challenger a couple of weeks ago - beating Gulbis, Gabashvilli and Muller.

Marray v Carlsen: The battle of the big-serving serve-volleyers. Carlsen is ranked 121 [peaked at 41 back in 1993 !!]. The Danish leftie is now 33 but is still playing great tennis, making the semis of Kolding last week. He's played mainly on the ATP tour this year, reaching rd3 in Indianapolis and Washington and quarters of Surbiton and Las Vegas. He's played 2 Brits this year, losing to Murray in straights in Auckland [Andy remarked they'd been playing like women afterwards] and losing in 4 to Henman at Roland Garros.

Mackin v Vico: If Alan plays aswell as he did against Waske last week, I reckon he'll beat Vico. The Italian has a big serve and a superb backhand but his forehand is a bit of a weakness. With both players serving well recently, it'll come down to who plays the big points best.

Goodall v Stoppini: Stoppini is the last player ranked outside the top 100 to beat Boggo, in Orleans in early September. They've played once before, Stoppini won 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 in rd2 of Manchester in 2005. However, the Italian has been out injured since the Grenoble challenger at the end of September where he lost in rd1.

Boggo v Lacko: 19 year old Slovenian Lacko is a clay-court specialist. Lacko reached a high of no 3 in the juniors in 2005, making the semis of the French Open juniors that year. Since then, he's been concentrating on his senior ranking, currently at 232 with a career best of 204 reached earlier in October. So far in 2006, he's reached 3 futures finals and a challenger final in Binghampton plus the quarters of the Bronx challenger. He hasn't had the best of indoor seasons so far, losing in rd1 of Grenoble, Mons qualifying, Rennes [to Richard Bloomfield in 3 sets] and in rd2 of Kolding last week to 2nd seed Kristian Pless though Lacko pushed him to 3 sets.
Lacko has a decent serve but he doesn't particularly have big weapons from the baseline. He troubles opponents with his intensity and shot placement rather than raw power.

Flanagan didnt manage to qualify -
(1)Joseph Sirianni (AUS) d. Ian Flanagan (GBR) 7-5 6-0

The qualifier to play Martin Lee in round 1 is - (Q)Alberto Brizzi(ITA)(408)  
Martin should be pleased with that!