This day is very much like the early rounds of Wimbledon itself for me...chaotic but very exciting. The hardest thing is deciding what matches to follow, generally I try to alternate as best as I can with checking out total random matches, matches that are close or at important moments, whilst still seeing my favourite players. Fortunately a big favourite of mine- Adrian Mannarino- managed to make the draw directly at the last minute- freeing up more of my time to be dedicated to being the neutral. Not surprisingly though my day still took on a largely French player bias- most notably I wanted to watch both Herbert and Eyserric, especially as there was a high chance that they would both lose.
I started out my day flicking between matches. I checked out some of Oli Rochus, who was playing some great tennis and looks very likely to come through his section.
Next stop was to see how Herbert would handle last week's Queens QFist and fast improving Denis Kudla. He gave a good effort at it but ultimately he was just edged out by more consistent play and the bigger court awareness of Kudla.
Can't say about this one since I literally saw the last 2 points but here is Brit Bogdanovic winning
Next I checked out some of the first set of Dustin Brown defeating another Brit Burton. This was a very good classical grass performance as I expected from Brown and Burton played his part too, there was some very entertaining net play in this one.
I heard that Peliwo and Klahn had just split sets over on Court 5 and had already plans to check out some of this, so immediately headed over. I found a nice low angle to view at at the end of the court, to fully appreciate any slice and flat hitting and was not disappointed. This match had some crazy play and plenty of drama with Klahn seemingly easing to a victory and then losing his 3 match points serving for the match. Peliwo really upped his level when it counted though, leveling things up although Klahn really shouldn't have lost this after serving for it twice! I was happy though since I have a soft spot for Peliwo, hope he can carry on his good progression, goodness knows tennis currently needs more young players with interesting games.
A very happy Filip Peliwo wins 9-7 in the 3rd.
Meanwhile the drama was continuing everywhere with many players locked in tight third sets around the grounds. I dropped in to what was turning into a very tense battle between the Aussie Reid and Indian Devvarman. I only saw the last few games but it was enough to catch a meltdown as Devvarman eventually relinquished the final set 16-18.
A not very happy Somdev Devvarman...mid rant and post-rant giving the staredown.
Next I saw a few games of Brit Daniel Rice defeating Rieschick of Germany. It was more than enough to see that he would win this comfortably, he was fairly solid and nothing was really working for his opponent.
Watched some of Molchanov overcoming Yani (pictured) in 2 tight sets, whilst I awaited Eyserric on the adjacent court.
Time for Eyserric against Gabashvili, with the all French match between Serra and Millot on the adjacent court. This area quickly turned into a French coach and player gathering, I love how at Wimbledon Qualies nations players always get together and actively support each other when not playing themselves. It really brings a nice vibe and atmosphere. It was funny to hear one coach saying "Allez Jon" and then "Allez Flo" to the different courts almost simultaneously. Many players came and went including Ouanna after he won his match and also Mannarino who was waiting around for his Doubles to be played later. Unfortunately all the support didn't help Eyserric who lost in two frustrating sets, the first he had lead comfortably, it was true he didn't make the best of his opportunties. Gabashvili had a good serving day and also was hitting big off both wins, which he can of course do to good effect. As for the all French affair, it was experience that sold with Serra edging it in 3 sets.
Gabashvili defeating Eyserric 7-5 7-6 (3)
Serra d. Millot
I only saw the opening games but here is young Javier Marti who won pretty comfortably and has probably good chances to qualify for the main draw.
Anyway I was tired of standing and no one round here was parting with their chairs so I went off to see what else was going on. I had plans to watch Dancevic and Olivetti, a match I had feelings would be interesting so I wandered to see if it was starting. I stopped occasionally at some courts on my way, ending up watching a few games of Canadian Diez defeating Brazil's De Paula. I say a few games but really I only lasted one changeover because it was more like a clay match with some very long and quite boring exchanges from the baseline, both hitting solidly but nothing special. Maybe it was because of my lack of sleep before coming to Qualies today but after a few points I already was eager to leave. So when it was finally ok to stand again without disturbing the players, I headed off to see another Canadian, Dancevic, and another Frenchman, Olivetti, who had recently started.
Brazil's De Paula
Talk about extremes, I had moved from long and arduous rallies to a serve fest with barely any rallies at all although of course I had expected this from the two big servers, especially Olivetti who really seems to struggle with his movement because of his height and pretty much overly relies on his serve. This match was thus pretty dull and being on the furthest court also lacked atmosphere but I stayed until the end of the first set which Dancevic took in a tiebreak. He went on to win the 2nd set very fast, I could follow it from the next court where I went to watch Doubles. I guess as I expected he started to return better and just generally has more to his game than Olivetti, when it's working.
Dancevic on the fenced court.
So I watched some of one of my favourites Mannarino play doubles with a scratch partner, Italy's Ianni, against Germans Meffert and Oswald. This was actually a better match than the scoreline suggested, the first set was very competitive before Mannarino and Ianni eventually became a bit loose and let the Germans run away with the second to win 6-4 6-1. There was some very nice net play in this one and both teams played very fast and had good reactions, though the second set had a lot of UEs and quickly became never in doubt. Oh well, onwards to Main Draw for Mannarino in the singles.
Off to watch more Doubles...I ended my day checking out some of Brown/Junaid vs the British pair Corrie and Skupski and on the neighbouring court fellow Brits Dan Evans and Burton take on Steve Johnson and Sijestrom. Both British pairs ended up losing in 3 sets concluding, although I left after the long first set of Evans and Burton. Back for more action Wednesday.
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