THAILAND-TAIPEI PAIRING PROVE TOO STRONG
Colin was unable to make it two challenger finals in a row, he and Arvind lost in rd1 of Bronx to Danai Udomchoke and Yen-Hsun Lu 6-2, 3-6, [10-2]. Colin falling foul of a champions tiebreak for the 2nd time in 4 days.
He now heads back to Scotland for a well-deserved break before planning his schedule around the autumn European indoor challenger and British futures circuit.
In the past year, he's been all over the globe playing tournaments, but when asked what his favourite tournament venue was, he had no doubt, "Edinburgh ! I am a little bit biased towards that venue though !! Ecuador was also very nice, we played at a yacht club, however it was a bit too hot there."
COLIN COMPETING WITH PARMAR IN BRONX
Colin
isn't competing with Jamie Murray this week in the Bronx challenger
doubles. Instead
he’s teamed up with Arvind Parmar and they received a wildcard into the
draw. Colin explained "Jamie and I missed the cut which was at 286 and
our combined ranking is 316, so Jamie signed in with Capdeville. Arvind
won this tournament a few years back with Delgado so they gave him a
wildcard if he could find a partner and he asked me."
I
asked Colin what his views were on champions tiebreaks instead of 3rd
sets in ATP tournaments and challengers, he said
"Champions tiebreaks are a lottery but they make it more exciting for
the spectators I suppose. However, I don't think the best team always
wins because of them."
Colin has had success with Arvind before in doubles, in July they reached the semis of the
Manchester challenger. They have a tricky 1st round match against
Yen-Hsun Lu [Chinese Taipei] and Danai Udomchoke [Thailand]. Lu is ranked 135
in singles and 264 in doubles. In 2004 he reached a career high of no 86 in
doubles. Last month he reached the Vancouver challenger final partnering Frank
Moser and last week he reached the Binghamton challenger semis with Britain’s
Richard Bloomfield. Udomchoke is ranked 130 in singles and 230 in doubles, he
reached a career best of 146 in doubles in 2004. Earlier in the year he reached
a challenger final in India in doubles but recently he’s been playing doubles
in ATP tournaments with little success apart from in Newport on grass in July
where he and Igor Kunitsyn reached the quarters, beating the Murray brothers
along the way. Fleming/Parmar v
Lu/Udomchoke will be on Tuesday.
After this challenger Colin is heading back to Scotland for a week's break before deciding on his next tournaments.
AMERICAN 3RD SEEDS HANG TOUGH TO TAKE CHALLENGER TITLE
Unfortunately Colin was unable to celebrate
his 22nd birthday with his first challenger doubles title, he and
Jamie were edged out 7-5, 5-7, [10-3] by the 3rd seeds Scott Lipsky
and David Martin in a hard-hitting final. This is the 2nd time this
year in which the Scottish pair have been denied a challenger title in a
champions tiebreak.
The 1st set went with serve
until the 12th game with Colin serving to stay in the set. Some fine
shots from Martin created an opening, giving the Americans 15-30. The next point
saw Colin and Jamie scrambling desperately and throwing up multiple defensive
lobs. After several fine retrievals from the Scots, Martin was able to fine a
nice angle with his overhead to bring up 2 set points at 15-40. He then smashed a cross-court return winner
to take the first set 7-5.
Lipsky and Martin then broke Jamie Murray’s
serve at the start of the 2nd set and with Martin serving for a 3-0
lead it looked as if they were going to run away with the match. However, the
Scots fought back, breaking Martin and leveling things at 2-2. They were starting to really attack the
Martin serve and at 3-3 they had another chance. Lipsky missed a volley to make
it 15-30 and he started to look a bit unsettled. However, two big serves from
Martin to Jamie Murray got the 3rd seeds out of trouble and they
held to lead 4-3. The set then went with serve until 5-5 when Martin played a
very nervy game to be broken, double-faulting on break point. Colin served out
the set and the Americans looked rattled.
Colin and Jamie started strongly in the
deciding champions tiebreak and lead 2-0 with an early minibreak. However, then
Lipsky caught fire and he and Martin rattled off 8 straight points to put the
breaker out of reach, hitting an ace and a massive forehand winner. The Scots
were made to pay for making 4 unforced errors in that sequence of points. At
9-3, Jamie Murray netted a groundstroke and Lipsky and Martin had won the
match.
Throughout Colin and Jamie had problems
with the Lipsky serve which was consistently big and extremely accurate today,
enabling him to serve 3 love games. He was the only player not to be broken.
It has been an excellent week for Colin and
Jamie, Colin’s doubles ranking will rise to a career best of 184 and Jamie’s
ranking will increase to 132. They now head to Bronx for the 50K challenger
this week.
FLEMING AND MURRAY REACH BINGHAMPTON FINAL
Colin and Jamie reached their 3rd challenger final of the year with a 6-1, 7-5 victory over Australians Alun Jones and Robert Smeets.
Speaking after the match Colin said "It was a comfy win, they upped their game a bit in the 2nd set but we always knew we'd get them. We're looking forward to the final on Sunday, on my birthday."
The win will move Colin's doubles ranking up to a career best of approximately 172 and if they win the tournament he'll move up to approx 165.
In Sunday's final they face 3rd seeds Scott Lipsky and David Martin who beat Britain's Richard Bloomfield and Taipei's Yen-Hsen Lu 7-5, 6-4 in the semis. Like Colin and Jamie, the Americans also had a fairly routine rd1 victory over wildcards in rd1 and scraped through their quarter-final in a champions tiebreak which they took 10-7 against Czech pair Tomas Cakl and Tomas Zib. Lipsky is ranked 135 in doubles and reached a career high of 116 in June this year, at the start of June he won two challengers back to back, one with David Martin and the other with American Todd Widom. Martin is ranked 147 in doubles, last week he reached the quarters of the Vancouver challenger and at the start of July he won a futures doubles title in the USA. Looking ahead to the final Colin said "Martin is left-handed and Jamie has played him before so he will know a bit about Martin's game style. I think Lipsky has a big serve. Hopefully we'll get the better of them !"
SCOTS EDGE THROUGH TO SEMIS
Colin and Jamie squeezed into the semis of the Binghampton challenger today, beating Martin Lee and Peter Luczak 4-6, 7-5, [10-6].
The Scots held their nerve in the champions tiebreak to reach their first challenger semi-final on outdoor hard courts.
However, this will mean that Colin will miss out on attempting to qualify for the Bronx 50k challenger singles main draw, "the doubles final is on Sunday here so I'll be specialising next week assuming we get in as it's a tough tournament and we won't know the doubles draw cut until Sunday evening." This is bad news for his singles ranking as the Monday after, his points from the GB 3 satellite this time last year will fall off and his ranking will slip to outside the top 400.
However, the good news is that this week's run will mean that his doubles ranking will rise to at least 181 on Monday and if he and Jamie reach the Binghampton final, Colin's ranking will move into the 170s for the 1st time in his career.
In the doubles semis, they face the Australian combination of Rob Smeets and Alun Jones. Smeets and Jones struggled past compatriots Nathan Healey and Luke Bourgeois, 10-6 in a champions tiebreak in rd1 and in the quarters they beat Americans Brian Wilson and Jesse Witten 7-6[3], 6-2. That was an impressive victory given that Wilson and Witten beat the no 2 seeds in straight sets in rd1. 20 year old Smeets [a naturalised Australian, having been born in Holland], is currently ranked 144 in doubles, reaching a high of 125 in June. Colin and Jamie have already experienced his big-hitting leftie game this year, having lost to him and Zack Fleishman in rd1 of Wimbledon. Smeets enjoyed a great start to the year in doubles, reaching rd4 of the Aussie Open, winning a futures in Australia and the semis of the Kyoto Challenger but he hasn't quite hit those highs since. Alun Jones isn't a regular partner for Smeets, he's ranked 286 in doubles and has been as high as 149 but that was back in 2003. He also enjoyed a great start to the year in doubles, reaching the Tasmania challenger final and a futures final in Feburary before winning the Kyoto challenger with Britain's Jonny Marray. Since the start of May, he didn't play any doubles until last week, he reached the Vancouver Challenger quarters with Chris Drake on his comeback. Jamie Murray will know Jones' game very well having played a couple of challengers with him in the USA earlier this year.
COLIN AND JAMIE EASE THROUGH TO QUARTERS
Colin and Jamie enjoyed a routine 6-3, 6-3 win in rd1 over American wildcards Phillip King and James Cerretani.
Speaking after the match Colin said "We played well and dominated the match. The courts are quick which suits our big serves and we were covering the net very well. The courts are also pretty bouncy, very similar to the surface used at the US Open."
In the quarters on Thursday, they now face the Australian and British combination of Peter Luzcak and Martin Lee who edged out the American 4th seeds Dragicevic and Widom 7-6[5], 7-6[4] in rd1. It's likely to be a very tight match as Luczak and Lee both possess booming 1st serves. Luczak is currently ranked 556 in doubles but he has been as high as 129 which he reached in 2002. Martin Lee is at a career high doubles ranking of 174 having enjoyed some fine results over the past month, winning the Nottingham Challenger with Jonny Marray and last week reaching the Vancouver Challenger semis with Harel Levy. The quarter-final match will be 3rd on court 1 at approximately 9.30 pm.
BINGHAMPTON BLOOMER FOR COLIN
After receiving a bye through rd1 of singles qualifying as the 5th seed, Colin crashed out in rd2 to American Alberto Francis ranked around 150 places lower at 527. Francis had struggled to beat Indian Sunil Sipaeya [ranked 517] in 3 sets in rd1.
However, Francis has been on very good form lately on US hard courts. He had two good weeks at the start of July, reaching the semis of two 10k futures and then narrowly failing to qualify for ATP Los Angeles. He beat top 250 player Scoville Jenkins there before losing to George Bastl.
Colin will now concentrate on the doubles this week, he and Jamie Murray face US wildcards Phillip King and James Cerretani in rd1 on Monday. King and Cerretani have never played together before which should give Colin and Jamie a big advantage. King is ranked 552 in doubles, he's been playing lots of challengers this year. He's reached 2 semis and 2 quarters.Cerretani is ranked 562 in doubles, he's reached a load of futures semis this year and a final in Finland in mid-June. His career-best doubles result came in March when he won a futures tournament in China.
TOP SEEDS EDGE THROUGH TO SEMIS
Colin and Jamie's participation in the 2006 Vancouver Challenger was ended with a 7-6[4], 7-5 defeat to the experienced top seeds Eric Butorac and Travis Parrott.
The match came down to a few points in the end and Butorac and Parrott were able to produce the better tennis at the key moments which was the difference between the pairs today.
Reaching the quarter-finals here will take Colin's doubles ranking back into the top 200 and move Jamie's ranking closer to the top 200. They now travel to New York for the Binghampton 50K Challenger which begins on Saturday with singles qualifying.
SUCCESSFUL RETURN FOR COLIN AND JAMIE
Colin and Jamie made a successful return to action as a pair today, beating Canadian lucky losers Graeme Kassautzki and Kamil Pajkowski 7-6, 6-2 in rd1 of the Vancouver Challenger.
Speaking after the match Colin said "We started a little slow as we haven't played together for a few weeks but once we got the tiebreak we were comfortable."
Colin and Jamie will now face the number 1 seeds Eric Butorac and Travis Parrott of the USA in Thursday's quarter-finals. Butorac partnered Jamie last week in ATP Los Angeles as they reached the doubles final and so preparation for the match won't be too tricky as Colin noted, "We both know Butorac well and have a decent idea of how to play Parrott." Butorac and Parrott had an easy 6-1, 6-3 win in rd1 over Canadian wildcards. Butorac is a tall leftie ranked 83 in the world, his best results this year have been winning the St Brieuc challenger [indoor acrylic], the Bogota challenger [clay] and reaching the final of the clay court Forest Hills challenger. Parrott is ranked 65 in the world and competes mainly on the ATP tour but before his rd1 match with Butorac in Vancouver he had lost his last 7 doubles matches, a run stretching back to May. His best results this year have been reaching rd4 of the Aussie Open and the French Open. However, apart from those two tournaments, he's barely won any matches. Fleming/Murray v Butorac/Parrott will be 2nd on court 1 on Thursday at approximately 8.30pm BST.
COLIN CRASHES OUT TO CHRAMOSTA
Colin suffered a disappointing defeat today to Czech Ladislav Chramosta who beat him 6-3, 6-1in the final qualifying round for the Vancouver Challenger.
The result was not entirely unexpected as Colin was still recovering from the jetlag from his long flight on Friday evening and he was a little lethargic on court during his rd2 qualifying match on Saturday. Chramosta has hit top form on the North American hard courts in recent weeks, last week beating former top 100 player Cecil Mamiit in 3 sets.
Colin
and Jamie Murray are competing in the doubles main draw this week. They face Canadian lucky losers Graeme Kassautski and Kamil Pajkowski in rd1. Both are unranked in singles and doubles and have only played 1 doubles match before on the pro circuit, losing in doubles qualifying in this tournament to Kiantki Thomas and Brian Wilson. They were drawn to face
Switzerland’s Ivo Heuberger and Cecil Mamiit of the Philippines in rd1 but Heuberger/Mamiit withdrew as they've both lost in rd1 of the singles and they don't want to be hanging around this week just for doubles.
COLIN BREEZES INTO FINAL QUALIFYING ROUND
Colin brushed past Canadian junior Geoffrey Hernandez today, winning
6-3, 6-3 in convincing style to move 1 step closer to the main draw.
Speaking after the match, Colin said "I started off a little bit shaky
from the travel and the lack of sleep but I managed to get into the
match a little and was comfortable from mid-way through the 1st set
onwards. The courts are quite low bouncing which is strange for over
here with US Open balls but it should suit me."
Colin now faces Ladislav Chramosta, the world no 491 from the Czech Republic who beat Luis Manrique today in rd2 when the Ecuadorian retired at 6-0, 4-0 down. Chramosta has been in impressive form lately, reaching the quarter-finals of the Granby challenger last week before losing to Israel's Noam Okun. Looking ahead to the match Colin said "I need to be more aggressive tomorrow against Chramosta, today I sat back too much and got in a rhythm on the baseline." Fleming v Chramosta is 3rd on court 1 on Sunday.
COLIN GETS BYE IN RD1 OF VANCOUVER QUALIES
Colin has been seeded in singles qualifying for the Vancouver challenger and so receives a bye through to rd2. This is a boost for him as he won't have to play until the afternoon so he'll have more time to recover from jetlag. He had problems with his flight to Vancouver and was forced to sign-in via phone and he didn't arrive until 2am local time.
In rd2 Colin faces 17 year old Canadian Geoffrey Hernandez who is unranked and has yet to play a professional tournament match. Colin is seeded to face Czech Ladislav Chramosta in the qualifying round on Sunday.
Colin will meet up with Jamie Murray on Monday for the doubles event here, Jamie is still involved in ATP Los Angeles where he has reached the doubles final.
ON-FORM GOODALL ENDS COLIN'S RUN
Colin's run in the Nottingham Challenger ended with a tight 3 set defeat to Josh Goodall, 6-3, 3-6, 5-7. Goodall has now won 11 out of his past 12 matches, most of which have come after losing the opening set.
Colin was still very happy with his week's work, saying that he felt he played well in all his matches and he was starting to feel the benefit of working with new coach Louis Cayer.
His ranking will move to a new career high of 361 on Monday as a result of this tournament. Colin now heads to Canada for the Vancouver challenger which begins this Saturday with singles qualifying.
COLIN SLAYS "THE BEAST OF BELGIUM"
Colin secured one of the best wins of his career today, overcoming a ranking difference of nearly 200 places to defeat the Belgian 4th seed Gilles Elseneer, 2-6, 6-3, 6-2. This win will lift Colin from his current ranking of 378 to a career high of approximately 361.
He now faces compatriot Josh Goodall in rd2 tomorrow. Goodall has been in fine form in the last few weeks winning the 15K grass-court futures event in Felixstowe and then reaching the final of the Manchester Challenger, lifting his ranking over 100 places to 270
COLIN RACES PAST BAMFORD INTO MAIN DRAW
Colin was on top form today, making light work of beating Neil Bamford, winning 6-4, 6-1 in emphatic style.
He now faces 4th seeded Belgian Gilles Elseneer in rd1 on Tuesday. Elseneer is ranked 186, nearly 200 places higher than Colin and he has a career high of 97. He's at his best on grass courts where his booming first serve is most effective and has winning records over both Alex Bogdanovic and Arvind Parmar. The good news for Colin is that Elseneer is slightly out-of-form, he suffered an unexpected defeat last week in Manchester to the much lower ranked Croatian Lovro Zovko and the week before, he lost in rd1 of the Cordoba Challenger. The grass courts of Nottingham are slightly different to those at Manchester so Colin will hope to catch Elseneer off-guard.
COLIN THROUGH TO FINAL QUALIES ROUND AT NOTTINGHAM
Colin reached the final qualifying round at the Nottingham Challenger today, beating Australia's Samuel Groth 6-1, 6-4 and overcoming a stiff challenge from Britain's Chris Eaton to win in 3 sets 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. 18 year old Groth lists grass as his favourite surface but he posed few problems for Colin who cruised through showing some sparkling touches at net and baseline. Eaton had produced a battling performance in rd1 qualfying to overcome 17 year old Ed Corrie in 3 sets and some fine shotmaking from the Surrey teenager caused Colin quite a few problems but eventually his greater experience enabled him to pull through.
Colin now plays British 7th seed Neil Bamford on Monday for a place in the main draw. Bamford has been impressive in his 1st two matches here, beating Dan Cottier 6-2, 7-5 and taking the first set against regular doubles partner Jim May 6-3 before May sustained an injury at the start of set 2 and was forced to retire. This will be the 3rd match in 2006 between these two players, Colin won 6-1, 6-3 in Feburary in rd1 of week 4 of the GB 1 satellite which he went on to win. Bamford got his revenge in the first grass-court event of the year, winning 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 in rd1 of Surbiton Challenger qualifying at the beginning of June. With both players possessing plenty of attacking flair from the baseline, the match will probably be decided by how well both players serve as is so often the case on grass. Fleming v Bamford is 2nd on court 4 at around midday.
COLIN TO PLAY NOTTINGHAM
QUALIFIERS
Colin moves onto Nottingham
this week and the last of the grass court events. As Colin's plans changed late
on, he didn't sign up in advance and wasn't granted a wild card. He therefore
has to qualify again.
In Round 1 of qualifying, he will face Samuel Groth of Australia. Groth, 18, lives in Melbourne and is coached by Jason Stoltenberg and the Australian Institute of Sport. He is currently hovering around his career high ranking of 1095. He has played future qualifying most weeks this year while learning the ropes on tour. He beat Alex Miotto last week in GB F10 and lost a tight match to James Auckland in GB F7.
We should see a win for Colin here but it will be a good, hard match.
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