Dan Evans, Neil Pauffley and Matthew James are competing here. Evans is seeded 9th, Pauffley is 14th. Pauffley was the runner-up to Evans in the National U16s, Evans won that match 6-3, 6-3.
N Pauffley [GB][14] bt N Grinderslev [Den] 6-3 ret
Great run for Evans and Pauffley, who along with Daniel Cox and Sean Thornley, are the best U16s in Britain.
Semis:
D Evans [GB][3] v C Konigsfeldt [Den][2]
N Pauffley [GB][14] v S Wedege [Den][1]
Tough draws now for both players. Top seed Wedege is ranked 148 in juniors and has been in fine form, destroying the 8th seed 6-0, 6-1 in the quarters. He was given a close match by Britain's Matthew James in rd3.
The 2nd seed has also not dropped a set so far. He's ranked 229 in juniors, I think Dan has a very good chance against him.
-- Edited by UltimateBoggoFan at 15:11, 2006-10-19
Yeah, quite a superb win for Evans. He won 4-6, 7-6[5], 6-4, did really well to hold his nerve as he would have been at least a couple of points away from defeat in that 2nd set, maybe even match point down.
Pauffley gave the top seed a really close battle in the 1st set, Wedege nicked it 9-7 in the tiebreak. It could have been a different story if Wedege had won that.
Dan's run in juniors this year is quite incredible, he has a chance in the final. The Dane is ranked 148 a lot higher than Dan but as we know, Dan's junior ranking doesn't reflect his ability. Wedege has also won a couple of G5s this year
Well, in the match that took him to European number one, he was 5-2 and 0-40 down in the first set and that too against a home boy. He won the match in straight sets from there, so he knows how to deal with pressure.
I think that he has a chance of winning in the finals. It'll be lovely if both the Daniels win a G4 in the same week.
Exactly identical to the score of Wedege's win over Pauffley in the semis. Again, I wonder if it would have been a different story if Dan had won that first set. It's such a psychological blow to lose a set that close.