Colin Fleming online

Binghampton 50k Challenger [outdoor hard]:
Final doubles: C Fleming/J Murray  v   S Lipsky/D Martin [USA][3]

Final preview: 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 !"

SF doubles: C Fleming/J Murray  bt   R Smeets/A Jones [Aus]  6-1, 7-5
Report: 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.

SF preview: 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.

QF doubles: C Fleming/J Murray bt M Lee/P Luczak [GB]/[Aus] 4-6, 7-5, [10-6]
Report: 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.

QF preview: 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. 

Rd1 doubles: C Fleming/J Murray bt  P King/J Cerretani [USA] [WC] 6-3, 6-3
Report: 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."

Rd1 preview: After his loss in singles qualifying 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.

Qualifying rd2: C Fleming lost to A Francis [USA] 5-7, 3-6
Report: 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.
                                                                                                                                              
Vancouver 100K Challenger [outdoor hard]:
Quarter-final doubles: C Fleming/J Murray lost to E Butorac/T Parrott [USA][1] 6-7[4], 5-7
Report: 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 100. They now travel to New York for the Binghampton 50K Challenger which begins on Saturday with singles qualifying.

Quarter-final preview: 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.  

Rd1 doubles: C Fleming/J Murray  bt  G Kassautzki/K Pajkowski [Can]  7-6, 6-2
Report: 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."

Rd1 preview: Colin and Jamie 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.

Qualifying rd3: C Fleming [GB][4] lost to L Chramosta [Cze][5]
Report: 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.
We hope to bring you Colin's thoughts on his match today, stay tuned to this site for that and also news of whether Colin has got a lucky loser spot into the main draw. He will need 3 players to withdraw so he has a slight chance.

Rd3 preview: 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.                        

Qualifying rd2:  C Fleming [GB][4] bt G Hernandez [Can] 6-3, 6-3
Report: 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."

Rd2 preview: 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.

Qualifying rd1: C Fleming [GB][4] v  bye
                                                                                            
Nottingham 25K+H Challenger [grass]:
Rd2:  C Fleming [GB] lost to J Goodall [GB] 6-3, 3-6, 5-7
Report: 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 approximately 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

Rd2 preview: Colin 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

Rd1: C Fleming [GB] bt G Elseneer [Bel][4] 2-6, 6-3, 6-2
Report: 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. This is Colin's 2nd win over a top 200 in the last two months, he beat Czech Jan Mertl in rd1 of Wimbledon qualifying in June.

Rd1 preview: Colin 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.

Qualifying rd3: C Fleming [GB] bt N Bamford [GB] 6-4, 6-1
Report: Colin was on top form today, making light work of beating Neil Bamford, winning 6-4, 6-1 in emphatic style. Colin's serving and net play were superb today and this enabled him to put Bamford under a lot of pressure. He now faces Belgium's Gilles Elseneer in rd2.

Rd3 preview: 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.

Rd2: C Fleming [GB] bt C Eaton [GB] 6-3, 4-6, 6-4

Rds 1+2 report:  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.

Rd1: C Fleming [GB] bt S Groth [Aus] 6-1, 6-4

Rd1 preview: 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.
                                                                                                                                 
Manchester 50K Challenger [grass]:
SF doubles: Fleming/Parmar [GB] lost to C Guccione/T Oger [Aus]/[Fr] 6-7[5], 7-6[5], 3-10
Report: Colin and his temporary doubles partner Arvind Parmar lost out to Chris Cuccione and nemesis Thomas Oger in the semi finals of the doubles in Manchester on Thursday. The first two sets were shared, repeating the pattern of the preious day before the Brits lost out 10-3 in the champions tie break.

QF doubles: Fleming/Parmar [GB] bt Lee/Marray [GB] 6-3, 6-7[1], 10-7
Report: On Wednesday, Colin and Arv came through a titanic tussel with Jonny Marray and Martin Lee. On this occasion the champions tie break went in their favour, 10-7.

Rd1 doubles: Fleming/Parmar [GB] bt Del Acqua/Torresi [It] 4-6, 7-6[5], 10-7

Rd1: C Fleming [GB] lost to T Oger [Fr][q] 6-2, 2-6, 3-6
Report: Colin suffered a shock defeat to French qualifier Thomas Oger (WR 516) on Tuesday. Despite a strong start for Colin,  the match drifted away from him. Colin also decided to play doubles this week, and has teamed up with fellow Brit, Arvind Parmar. In the first round they met the Italian pair of  Del Acqua and Torresi and it took a champions tie-break to seperate them, the Brits finally coming through 4-6, 7-6(5), 10-7.In round 2, they could well face 4th seeds Marray and Lee, which would be a mouth watering match up.

Tournament preview: Colin moves onto Manchester this week for the 50K Challenger. In round 1 he will face a qualifier, which is often a tricky proposition with the player now used to the courts and to winning matches on the courts, but hopefully the relatively poor qualifying field and the fact that Colin progressed to the semi finals on a similar surface last week will stand him in good stead.Colin will find out his opponent later today after qualifying finishes and is likely to play the match tomorrow (Tuesday). In round 2, if Colin manages to progress, he will face a fellow brit - either 3rd seed Martin Lee or James Auckland. Meanwhile at the Aptos Challenger, Colin's regular doubles partner Jamie Murray narrowly failed to qualify losing 6-4, 6-2 in the final round to Brad Weston of Australia.
                                                                                                                                   
GB F9 [Felixstowe] [15K] [grass]:
SF: C Fleming [GB][7] lost to J Goodall [GB][6] 7-5, 5-7 2-6
Report: Colin finally ran out of steam in set 3 of his semi final after a terrific run this week. The first two sets were shared by the identical scoreline of 7-5, before Colin's serving let him down in the decider. Despite the setback, Colin is set to rise in the world rankings when the points for this futures event is added on the 24th of July. One drawback of Colin's run to the semi final here is that he was unable to make it to Istanbul for challenger qualifying. This is a real disappointment as the qualifying field was incredibly week and he would have expected to make the main draw for this super lucrative challenger.

SF preview: In the semis Colin comes up against grass court specialist Josh Goodall, the 6th seed from Hampshire. Josh is still only 20 years old and is trying to repeat last season's career best year where he reached 194 in the world.The pair have met only once on the circuit with Colin prevailing 7-6[5], 6-4 on the hard courts at the start of 2005.

QF: C Fleming [GB][7] bt F Nielsen [Den][4] 6-2, 7-6[8]
Report: Colin won his fifth match of the week on Friday, beating 'Brit beater' Frederik Nielsen of Denmark 6-2, 7-6[8]. Nielsen, who spent much of last month as the nemesis for many other British players in Ireland, had no match for Colin's all round game in the first set. The second set became the tight affair predicted with Colin squeezing through 10-8 in the tie break.

QF preview: Nielsen is currently at a career high ranking of 313, and won their only previous match in straight sets in rd2 of GB F2 in January. He has recently beaten both Lee Childs and Jon Marray in the Dublin Challenger before succumbing to Richard Bloomfield 7-5 in the third. His only grass court appearance of the year was an appearance in qualifying for the Surbiton Challenger where he lost in round 1 to Lee Childs 6-4, 6-0.Nielsen, like Colin, has won 4 matches to get to this stage, so a close encounter is predicted.

Rd2: C Fleming [GB][7] bt R Irwin [GB] 6-3, 6-4
Report: Colin cruised to a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Richard Irwin on Thursday to advance to the quarter finals where he will play fellow qualifier, and 4th seed, Frederik Nielsen of Denmark.

Rd2 preview: In Round 2 on Thursday, Colin goes head to head with fellow Brit, Richard Irwin. Richard turned 21 yesterday and is most at home on the grass courts. He is currently ranked 767 in the world (career high of 730 in February). Richard has been on a poor run recently but seemed to be coming into some form on Tuesday when he won 6-2 in the third against Claudio Grassi of Italy.
They have met twice before. Richard won the first in GB F11 last year when Colin had to retire at 4-0 down in the first set of the Quarter Final but Colin gained some sort of revenge in the first futures tournament of 2006, easing to a 6-4 6-4 victory.

Rd1: C Fleming [GB][7] bt O Charroin [Fr] [LL] 7-6[4], 6-1
Report: Colin won through to Round 2 on Tuesday with a comfortable 7-6[4], 6-1 victory against lucky loser Olivier Charrion of France. Charrion had previously lost to David Rice in round 3 of qualifying and was no match for the Scot. As suggested by Jamie Murray in his latest Scotsman column, Colin is now going to concentrate on singles for a while so does not appear in the doubles draw

Colin wins through qualifying: Colin eased into the main draw at Felixstowe despite an early scare in round 2 of qualifying. Colin came up against Robert Searle who had previously squeezed through on a final set tie break against Robert Varga. Searle made full use of his familiarity of the court to take the first set 6-3 before Colin hit back to take the next two 6-3, 6-4. In the final qualifying round, Colin met the other seed in his section, Matthew Ebden, an 18 year old from Australia. Ebden, currently ranked 1238 in the world, had beaten Tom Higgins in 3 sets in the previous round. His only previous match against a brit resulted in a comprehensive straight sets defeat by Jamie Baker. After a tight first set, Colin raced away with the second to wrap up the match 7-6(3), 6-1.

Tournament preview: Colin has had a late change of heart and decided to stay on the grass courts of Felixstowe rather than travel to the Polish city of Poznan to play on the red stuff. As a result of this late decision, Colin will have to come through two qualifying rounds to reach the main draw proper, where he will likely be seeded. His first match will be against either Robert Varga of Ukraine (WR 1528) or fellow brit Robert Searle (WR 1528). Varga is 17 years old and won his only ranking point in beating Ian Flanagan in GB F7 in May. He has been a regular in qualifying for GB futures events this year, and has had wins over Alex Miotto, Matt Lowe and Ryan Jones. Searle is 21 and has a career high ranking of 1052 in July 2003. He has been virtually inactive on the tour for the past few years and is this week defending his only wr point. His last tournament was in week 1 of the year where he lost to Ian Flanagan in GB F1 qualifying.
                                                                                                                                           
Jamie Murray on Wimbledon, Dublin and Newport:
I'm hoping for double support when playing with Andy in the US
It's been strange being away from Wimbledon this week and I have missed it, especially as I was unable to watch Andy play another Centre Court match on Monday. But it has been worth it; my doubles partner Colin Fleming and I have been in Dublin concentrating on our careers and having reached the final (unfortunately we lost in the tie-break), I think it shows we made the right decision.

Playing at Wimbledon last week gave us the motivation to go across there and do well and although it was a bit of a turnaround, having been used to the crowds and the surroundings at Wimbledon for the past few weeks, to go to playing a tournament in front of virtually no-one again, it definitely wasn't difficult to motivate ourselves.

We loved having the opportunity to play at Wimbledon and couldn't wait to get back competing and hopefully accumulating ranking points so that we can get back again next year. That one match at Wimbledon will be our motivation throughout the year because we loved it so much. It is something most people dream of so it was great to get a taste of that at senior level for the first time.

It might have been a bit weird not being at the Championships for the second week but I still managed to catch up with the highlights and watched as much of it as I could from Dublin. And although I will be in Newport, USA, as Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal play the men's final, I will hopefully be watching on television. I think I'm like everyone else, I really looking forward to seeing how Nadal does. I know he is World No.2 and a very good player but I never expected him to make the final here. I didn't think grass would be his surface. Just getting there has been a surprise but now I want to see how he does against Federer - it will be intriguing.
See the full article here
                                                                                                                                        
Dublin 50K Challenger [grass]:
Final doubles: C Fleming/J Murray lost to J Smit/M Van Haasteren [Hol] 3-6, 6-2, [8-10]
Report: Having benefitted from the "lottery" of the champions tiebreak, Colin and Jamie fell foul of it today, falling just a couple of points short of their first challenger title. After being outplayed in set 1, the Brits hit back strongly breaking twice to take the match to the decider. The advantage swung back and forth in the breaker but it was Smit and Van Haasteren who were able to seize the moment and claimed their first title at this level after several near misses in the past couple of years.  

Semi-final doubles: C Fleming/J Murray bt J Bachelot/N Tourte [Fr] 6-2, 4-6, [10-8]
Report: Colin and Jamie edged through to the final by the narrowest of margins, overcoming Jean-Francis Bachelot and Nicholas Tourte in a 3rd set champions tiebreak. This is one of Colin and Jamie's best ever wins, Bachelot is a former world no 74 in doubles and he's currently ranked 141. Prior to this tournament he won 3 doubles titles in a row and also won a round at the French open. Nicholas Tourte is his regular partner, he's ranked 221 in the world. This will be Colin and Jamie's 2nd challenger final of the year, they reached the final at Wrexham in January. In the final they face Dutch pairing Jasper Smit and Martin Van Haasteren.     

Quarter-final doubles: C Fleming/J Murray bt F Nielsen/R Norby [Den] 7-5, 6-3
Report: A superb win for Colin and Jamie over the on-form Danish pairing who have been competing with a lot of success in Ireland on the artificial grass courts over the last few weeks. They won the doubles title in Ireland F1 and reached the semis together in Ireland F2.  Nielsen also won the singles title in Ireland F1. However after a close 1st set, they were no match for the volleying skills and anticipation of Colin and Jamie who are full of confidence after making their Wimbledon debut last week and are now starting to translate their doubles success in futures and satellites to the challengers. They face France's Jean-Francois Bachelot and Nicholas Tourte in the semis. 

Rd1 doubles: C Fleming/J Murray bt C Niland/K Sorensen [Ir]  6-2, 6-1
Report: An easy win for Colin and Jamie over the Irish wildcards. Conor Niland is the Irish no 1 in singles ranked 424 but in doubles he's right down at 1722 in the rankings, this was his first match on the pro circuit since 2001. He's only ever won 1 doubles match on the tour, that was in a futures event in Namibia back in 2001. Kevin Sorensen was the Irish no 1 in singles last summer with a ranking of 353  but a combination of injury and bad form have meant that he's dropped to 980. He's played a lot more doubles than Niland though and is ranked 685. He had quite a bit of success in doubles in challengers last autumn, but this was only his 2nd doubles match of 2006. Colin and Jamie now face Danes Frederik Nielsen and Ramus Norby in the quarters.

Qualifying rd3: C Fleming [GB] lost to L Childs [GB]  6-2, 6-7[5], 4-6
Report: Colin will be rueing missed chances as Lee Childs' dogged counter-punching cost him a place in the Dublin Challenger main draw. Colin raced through the 1st set consistently proving to be an impregnable wall at the net and causing Childs all kinds of problems. However, in set 2 Childs began maintaining a more consistent length with his groundstrokes and making it harder for Colin to get into the net. Colin had chances to win it in 2 but instead it went to a breaker in which Childs played the better tennis on the big points and levelled the match. In set 3, Childs broke early and his big serving meant that Colin was unable to get back into the match. Colin is 1st in line for a lucky loser spot but there's only an outside chance of someone withdrawing from the main draw. Colin is still in action in the doubles with Jamie Murray, they're the 3rd seeds and they open their campaign on Tuesday evening against Irish wildcards Conor Niland and Kevin Sorensen.

Qualifying rd2: C Fleming [GB] bt B King [Ir] 6-2, 6-4
Report: Colin moved through to the final qualifying round of the Dublin 50K Challenger with victories over American Troy Hahn and Ireland's Barry King. The match against Troy Hahn was the most testing, Colin was outplayed completely in the 1st set as he struggled to adjust to the conditions, losing it 6-2. Colin raised his level in the 2nd to take it 6-4 and levelled the match but Hahn kept fighting and pushed him away in a tight 3rd set in which both players had chances to close out the match. Colin's extra class eventually told at the business end of the tiebreak and he took it 7-4. Home favourite Barry King trains regularly on the courts used for this challenger but he's unranked and has never won a match in the main draw of a pro tournament. Colin eased past him 6-2, 6-4 to set up a match against compatriot Lee Childs for the 3rd time this year. Childs was very impressive in the 1st two qualifying rounds, whitewashing an unranked Canadian and defeating Italy's Claudio Grassi [wr:948], 6-3, 7-6. Childs won on clay in the Scottish Open in May but Colin won their most recent meeting a few weeks ago in the LTA Wimbledon wildcard playoff on grass, 7-6, 7-6.

Qualifying rd1: C Fleming [GB] bt T Hahn [USA] 2-6, 6-4, 7-6[4]

Tournament preview [From SW19 to Shelbourne]: After his rd1 doubles defeat at Wimbledon, Colin and Jamie Murray headed straight to Dublin for the Shelbourne Irish Open, a 50K Challenger which is one of the few tournaments in the world held on artificial grass. Colin is planning to play singles qualifying and main draw doubles with Jamie. Artificial grass is a very low bouncing, skiddy surface so it will suit Colin's attacking game. He'll try to get into the net as much as possible to minimise baseline rallies. Colin has been seeded no 2 in the qualifying and in rd1 he faces American Troy Hahn who's ranked 737. Although Hahn is ranked over 300 places lower than Colin this will be a tough match for him as Hahn is at his best on fast surfaces such as artificial grass and so far this year he's increased his ranking by several hundred places. Earlier this year he beat Jamie Murray in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2. Having been concentrating entirely on doubles for the past week and a half, Colin will have to get back into singles mode quite quickly. Colin will face Hahn on Sunday morning and he's seeded to face Britain's Lee Childs in the final qualifying round which takes place on Monday. 
                                                                                                                                           
Jamie Murray on the Wimbledon experience:
I said before it all started that I was looking forward to playing at Wimbledon and it lived up to my expectations. In the end, the only thing missing was the winning feeling... this time. But, after losing to Zack Fleishman and Robert Smeets, Colin [Fleming] and I now have the motivation to keep improving because we want to be back here next year, winning matches.
We know we played pretty well, especially in our service games, but those guys had a lot in their serves and that made it tough but we were pleased that the progress we had been making in the past few weeks, thanks to Louis Cayer's coaching, was obvious in the match.
We are still learning, though, so although we were disappointed at losing, we weren't too down about it. We know we played some good tennis and the experience has left us wanting more. It was great incentive to get out on the practice court and to play in as many tournaments as possible so we can improve our game. After all Wimbledon is one of the biggest, if not the biggest, tournament in the world and we want to be playing here every year, without having to rely on a wildcard. That's why we might not hang around for the second week. We are trying to get entry into a tournament in Spain or Dublin, but won't know for certain until later today.
I have to think of my own career and know that the best thing is to play as many competitive matches as possible and to try to move up the rankings. That all makes sense as far as our doubles career is concerned but I know that if we are away competing elsewhere, there will be a part of me wishing I was back at Wimbledon. It's a great occasion and it will be hard missing out on it, especially if Andy is still playing.
At least my family won't have the same problem they had on Thursday when the tournament schedule made life tough for them. The way it worked out, Andy's match was going on Centre Court at the same time Colin and I were getting started on the second set of our game. It meant some had to stay with me, while others had to go and watch Andy. But the crowd we did have were very good to us.
Colin and I knew there was no way we were going to get on to a show court, so all we could hope for was a good support and we couldn't complain. They were right behind us, especially all the Scots in the crowd. It was funny to hear so many Scottish accents at Wimbledon but between Colin's family and my family and our friends, we had a quite a few people in the crowd onside. It was a little taste of what it could be like if we ever get to the stage when we are in the latter stages at Wimbledon and playing on the show courts.
If I am here I will definitely be going to watch him play and giving him my support (remember, he's still in the mixed doubles). Colin and I will also be going to see other doubles games as we don't get the chance to see the top guys because we are not ranked high enough to be playing in the same tournaments as them on a regular basis and it's not as if doubles get a lot of TV coverage. So when we have had the chance here it's been good to see how they work together and seeing what we have to aspire to. I know that the Woodies [Todd Woodbridge and Mark Woodforde] will be playing in the over-35s competition this week. They were the best doubles pairing for years and I would love to see them but only if we are still here. If I'm not, I will put my career first. Hopefully we will get the go ahead to play in Spain and I will be on a plane by the time you read this.
To read the full article go to: http://sport.scotsman.com/tennis.cfm?id=965512006
                                                                                                                                              
Wimbledon doubles:
Rd1: C Fleming/J Murray lost to Z Fleishman/R Smeets 6-7[6], 4-6, 5-7
Report: Colin's first Wimbledon experience ended in disappointment as he and Jamie Murray lost 7-6[6], 6-4, 7-5 to Zack Fleishman and Rob Smeets in round 1 of the men's doubles late on Thursday evening. Though both Scots served well throughout the match they struggled to make any inroads on their return games and this ultimately cost them. The 1st set tiebreak was a big turning point, both pairs had their chances but it was Fleishman and Smeets who kept their nerve at 6-6 and closed it out 8-6. Both the 2nd and 3rd sets went with serve until the latter stages but some stunning returns from Fleishman and Smeets plus a couple of loose volleys from Colin and Jamie conceded the break of serve each time. Speaking after the match Jamie Murray said "It was disappointing to lose but we took care of our service games well. We didn't make enough returns and you won't break serve if you don't make the returns. But we are positive. We are definitely playing at a higher level than we were a month ago." Jamie had to endure a further frustration as the scheduling of his match meant that he missed most of his brother Andy's clash with Frenchman Julien Benneteau in rd2 on centre court. 

Rd1 preview: Colin and Jamie will open their Wimbledon campaign against the lucky loser pairing of Zack Fleishman [USA] and Rob Smeets [Australia]. Colin and Jamie will be very happy with this draw which is one of the best they could have hoped for. They had been expecting to play the
Spaniards Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco who they were originally drawn against. However, for unknown reasons this pair have withdrawn even though they're still competing in the singles. Colin and Jamie will definately stand a better chance against Fleishman and Smeets as  they're a scratch pairing and have only played together twice before. In comparison, Lopez amd Verdasco were both ranked in the doubles top 100 and are a regular pairing and reached an ATP semi-final together earlier this yera.  Fleishman is in the top 200 for singles but is only ranked 474 in doubles and Smeets is outside the top 300 in singles but is ranked 142 in doubles. Like Colin and Jamie, Fleishman and Smeets have played mainly in challengers this year, reaching a couple of semis. Colin may decide to ask compatriot Alan Mackin  for some advice on Rob Smeets as they played together in the San Luis Challenger in Mexico earlier this year. Fleishman and Smeets had to enter the qualifying for the Wimbledon doubles which was held last week at Roehampton and they lost in 4 sets in the final round to a South American pairing.  The match will probably take place on Thursday on one of the outside courts.
                                                                                                                                         
A couple of Caledonian swells:
When Jamie Murray and Colin Fleming thought about their doubles potential they figured they had what it took to be a good pairing. Having spent the last few weeks working with former Canadian Davis Cup captain Louis Cayer, they now believe they could be better than good and there is an excitement and sense of anticipation that verges on impatience as they set out to prove it.
This week at Wimbledon will serve as a valid indicator. Wildcard selections in the main men's doubles draw, the Scottish duo will meet Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco of Spain in the first round. Seasoned singles players, they too are an unknown quantity on the doubles circuit.  "We could have had it a lot worse," admitted Jamie, elder brother of Andy, who decided to focus on doubles after realising he would never reach the same heady heights if he went solo. "They are both obviously really good singles players but that doesn't always mean anything at doubles."
But the standard of the opponents is not as big a factor as it may have been a matter of weeks ago. Since joining forces with Cayer, originally on a two-week trial basis that has now morphed into regular coaching such is their mutual appreciation, the sense of self-belief has soared as previously unidentified blips in their play have been pin-pointed and addressed.
"It has definitely been very productive. When we arranged to work with Louis, my main thought was what he would do and how he could help us," says Fleming, admitting he had been rather sceptical. "But we have it on camera and there is a big difference between before and after. The things we do now when we play, just looking at it on camera we can see we are already playing more like a top team. Our movement patterns are the same as the top teams and seeing what we have managed to achieve in just a couple of weeks has really opened our eyes."
At 20, Murray is 15 months older than his more famous brother. Last summer he was spotted in the players' box offering support to his sibling as he made a mockery of the seeding by undermining one top ranked player after another. This year, he knows he and his playing partner would need to reach the latter stages of the doubles competition to garner anything like the same kind of coverage. But for him the enjoyment comes from playing and from the knowledge that he is getting better and better rather than simply stagnating in the shadow of his brother or scrambling around the lower reaches of the singles events.
Having put in the hours of hard work with Cayer and Fleming, he admits his world stopped turning for a second or two when he injured his knee in the warm-up tournament at Nottingham this week. When it gave way under him he was forced to retire from the match. But after a couple of days rest and recuperation, he negotiated an exhibition match against the Bob and Mike Bryan at Stoke Park on Friday unscathed.
"Thankfully, it was fine. I had it well-strapped and although it was a bit sore afterwards, I didn't feel anything when I was playing. But I was panicking when I hurt it. I have never had a bad injury before but, then, five or six days before the biggest tournament of my life and I get injured. I couldn't believe it. Especially after all the hard work we have been putting in to prepare for this. This is huge for us. It's not every day that we get to play in a Grand Slam."
With no worrying after-affects to the workout against the Bryans, that opportunity will still come and while the pair expect a few pre-match jitters, it is excitement rather than nerves energising them. "We have been in and around Wimbledon practising so we are still feeling more relaxed than anything else," says Murray, who lived the tension vicariously through his brother last year and took lessons on board, "but as it gets nearer I think we will just be looking forward to it."

To read the full article go to http://sport.scotsman.com/tennis.cfm?id=927852006
                                                                                                                                        
Boodles Challenge:
Exhibition match 2: C Fleming/J Murray bt J Auckland/J Delgado [GB] 6-3, 7-6
Report: Colin and Jamie secured temporary bragging rights in the battle of Britain's top two doubles pairings today at the Boodles Challenge in Stoke Park. They beat James Auckland and Jamie Delgado 6-3, 7-6[5], an excellent way to complete their preparations for Wimbledon

Exhibition match 1: C Fleming/J Murray lost to M Bryan/B Bryan [USA] 3-6, 4-6
Report: Colin and Jamie put up a credible performance against the world's no 1 doubles pairing but the Bryan brothers proved ultimately too good and won 6-3, 6-4. However, Colin and Jamie can be greatly encouraged by their performance and the scoreline may have been even closer if Jamie had not been hampered by the knee injury which he sustained during a doubles match earlier this week at ATP Nottingham. He had slipped and twisted his knee and as a result his knee was heavily strapped and he wasn't moving with his usual fluency. Jamie wasn't able to go for his serve at full power and this resulted in his baseline game being put under a lot more pressure than usual and he made too many errors particularly off the backhand which the Bryans targeted. Colin played extremely well, serving with consistent pace and accuracy and attacking off both wings. On grass, the Bryans can be simply unstoppable on serve and this was the case today as Colin and Jamie were unable to make much impact against a barrage of service winners, aces and powerful 1st volleys.  Colin and Jamie now have another exhibiton match at Boodles before Wimbledon.

Preview: At this time of the year, all of the world's best players are fine-tuning their grass-court games and fitting in as much preparation as possible for arguable the biggest event on the tennis calendar - Wimbledon. Colin and Jamie Murray are finalising their preparations for the Wimbledon doubles by taking on the Bryan brothers, the biggest test in the doubles game. The match will be on Friday afternoon on the grass courts at Stoke Park as part of the Boodles tennis challenge. The Bryans are the world no 1 pairing and in the past 3 years they've accumulated 3 grand slam titles and have been runners-up 6 times plus numerous masters series and ATP  titles. It will be fantastic experience for Colin and Jamie and hopefully they can take a large amount of confidence from this match through to Wimbledon.
                                                                                                                                                 
Wimbledon qualifying:
Rd2: C Fleming [GB] lost to F Cipolla [It] 2-6, 4-6
Report: Colin's hopes of competing at Wimbledon in singles as well as doubles were ended for this year as Italy's Flavio Cipolla beat him 6-2, 6-4 in rd2 of the qualifying. It was a closer match than their first meeting [which Cipolla won 6-2, 6-0 on clay] but apart from a few games in set 2, Colin was unable to find his best form and proved too inconsistent. Colin had a break point in only the 3rd game of the 1st set but missed his opportunity and Cipolla punished him in the very next game, breaking for 3-1 with several fine passing shot winner. The diminutive Italian held easily for the rest of the set and at 5-2 he broke Colin to 15 for the 2nd time. The match looked to be done and dusted when Cipolla broke right at the start of set 2 aswell and swept to a 3-0 lead. However, Colin then started to produce some of his best tennis, taking the next 3 games with some sublime volleying and several trademark backhand winners down the line. The turning point of the match came at 3-3, Colin had all the momentum having just won the last 3 games and he held 2 break points at 15-40. However, he missed both chances with errors and Cipolla took the next 4 points to hold. Colin was able to survive 3 break points on his next service game to hold for 4-4 but Cipolla put the pressure straight back on him with a love hold for 5-4 and then broke to 15 to take the match. Colin will now spend the next week working on doubles ahead of his rd1 match at Wimbledon with Jamie Murray which will be scheduled for either Wednesday or Thursday.       

Rd2 preview: Colin plays Italian 14th seed Flavio Cipolla today for a place in the final qualifying round. The 22 year old from Rome is the world no 146 and recently won a challenger event on clay in Turin. He was in ominously good form in rd1 beating Dutchman Melyvn Op der Heijde 6-2, 6-1. Colin and Cipolla have played once before, in May 2005 when Cipolla won 6-2, 6-0. Commenting on this Colin said "He gave me a bit of a cuffing on the clay last year but on grass it's a totally different game. I'll try to get into the net a lot and pressurize him. Cipolla is quite a small guy but he moves very well and hits his shots with a lot of feel. He hasn't got a particularly big game which is good for me especially on grass."

Rd1: C Fleming [GB] bt J Mertl [Cze] 4-6, 7-6[6], 6-4
Report: Colin moved one step closer to realising his dream of playing in the singles main draw at Wimbledon with a 4-6, 7-6[8-6], 6-3 win over the world no 183, Jan Mertl from the Czech Republic. Colin got off to a poor start, quickly going down a double break in the first set. Mertl served for it at 5-2 and although Colin got one of the breaks back, Mertl made no mistake when he got his second chance at 5-4. Colin started to get his 1st serve working in the 2nd set and both players held easily until 5-5. Colin then hit 4 double faults in that service game to gift Mertl a break point. He kept his nerve and saved it with an ace and two more big serves made it 6-5. In the tiebreak, Colin got off to a flyer getting an early minibreak to lead 3-1 and he soon secured 3 set points at 6-3 up. Mertl won two long rallies on his serve to save the first two and then Colin double-faulted on the 3rd to bring the score back to 6-6. He appeared to be tightening up but was able to win a long rally on his serve to earn a 4th set point at 7-6 and he took the set courtesy of a Mertl unforced error. Speaking afterwards, Colin said "I was a bit worried when it went to 6-6 but thankfully I was able to close it out." The big turning point in the match occurred early in the 3rd set, with Mertl leading 2-1 and Colin had to save 4 break points, producing 3 excellent serves and a fine volley winner on the stretch. Colin said "If I'd lost that game I'd have been in big trouble."  Mertl's frustration at being unable to capitalise on those chances told in the very next game when Colin broke to 30. This proved decisive as Colin then held easily until 5-3 when he broke Mertl again to 30 to take the match. Reflecting on the win Colin said "I always felt that I could beat him. I was a bit more comfortable on the grass than him and I felt I played really well to take advantage of that. I have been working hard on my serve and although I got off to a poor start, once I got my serve working I felt  very comfortable." Colin was happy with the grass courts at Roehampton saying "They're fast but they have a very true bounce, they play a bit like hard courts. They're definately much better quality than at Raynes Park."   Colin feels that his serve has improved through working with the Canadian Louis Cayer for the past few weeks and that he's getting a much higher percentage in. However he says that the coaching change is only temporary and still going to be working with Euan McGinn on a permanent basis.
Update: There were brief concerns last night that the injury sustained by Jamie Murray during his doubles match at ATP Nottingham would force him to withdraw from the Wimbledon doubles with Colin next week. However, Jamie has had a scan on the injury and it's shown to be not serious, it's just sore at the moment.

Rd1 preview: Colin opens his qualifying campaign against Czech clay-court specialist Jan Mertl. On paper Mertl is the heavy favourite as he's currently ranked 183, over 200 places higher than Colin. However, Mertl has never played on grass before and so he could find the fast, low bouncing grass courts at Roehampton tricky to cope with. The Czech has also lost 6 of his last 7 matches since the beginning of May so he'll be coming into this match quite low on confidence. The winner is likely to face Italian 14th seed Flavio Cipolla in rd2.  Fleming v Mertl is 1st on court 16 on Monday, starting at 11.00am.
                                                                                                                                              
ATP Nottingham:
Rd1 qualifying: C Fleming [GB] lost to J Vacek [Cze] 4-6, 1-6
Report: The grass court game of the experienced Czech Jan Vacek proved too much for Colin today as he slipped to a 6-4, 6-1 defeat in rd1 of the qualifying for ATP Nottingham. This year the qualifying draw was quite weak so Colin can consider himself unlucky to have been drawn against one of the top 8 seeds in rd1. Vacek is ranked over 150 places higher than Colin at 221 and his main weapon is a booming 1st serve which caused Colin problems throughout the match. The 1st set was quite close until 5-4 when Vacek was able to capitalise on several 2nd serves and broke to take  the set. In set 2, Colin was too erratic from the  baseline and Vacek broke twice to take the set and the match. Vacek went on to reach the main draw for the 3rd time.
                                                                                                                                                      
Colin and Jamie receive Wimbledon wildcard !
Colin and Jamie Murray have been awarded a wildcard into the doubles main draw for Wimbledon which begins on Wednesday June 28th. Speaking to "The Scotsman" after hearing the news, Colin said:  "Playing Wimbledon is not just the realisation of this season's tennis goal, rather it is the fulfilment of a lifelong dream. The first time any tennis player picks up a racket the idea of reaching Wimbledon springs to mind. Now I am almost there and the feeling is extra rewarding because, as a junior, I missed out on the under-18 singles event. After a fortnight's intensive training at Stirling I travelled down to London two and a half weeks ago and to reach my tennis base at Southfields means passing the gates of Wimbledon every day. That has been my inspiration quite apart from having faith in a new coach, Louis Cayer."  Cayer was contacted by Jamie's mum, Judy Murray  who asked him if he would help coach the Scottish pair. He has excellent credentials having coached the Canadians Daniel Nestor and Sebastien Lareau to the Olympic title in 2000. Colin feels that things are progressing well with the new arrangement, saying "To some extent it has been a crash course Jamie and I have undertaken with Louis but things are working out well. A measure of our progress is the fact that in losing (4-6, 5-7) to the accomplished American pairing of Mardy Fish and Jeff Morrison at Surbiton's tournament last week we left the court disappointed given it was so tight. If we can be down at the fact that tie got away then hopefully it won't be long before Louis' guidance is seen to pay dividends. Judy Murray realised we had reached the stage of being able to benefit from specialised advice which is where Louis' achievements speak for themselves. Key advice has included taking steps to ensure we get more first serves in court and hopefully things can develop well. The fact that Louis is engaged to an English girl and looks to remain in Britain should work to mutual advantage and so far as taking his approach into Wimbledon is concerned there will be everything to gain at this stage and nothing to lose."
To read the full Scotsman article go to: http://sport.scotsman.com/tennis.cfm?id=879912006
                                                                                                                                            
Wimbledon wildcard playoff [Raynes Park [grass]:
QF: C Fleming lost to A Parmar [GB][1] 6-7[2], 3-6
Report: Colin was edged out in a tight quarter-final match against top seed Arvind Parmar, 7-6, 6-3. Speaking after the match Colin said "I played well up until 6-6 in the 1st set but then I played a very poor tiebreak and lost it 7-2. I didn't play particularly very well in the 2nd set. Overall I missed too many chances today. Arvind served very clever, mixing it up which made it difficult to read. We played on the grass courts at Raynes Park which aren't particularly good quality and I didn't get into the net enough to counteract that. I'm now heading to Nottingham to play the qualifying event which starts on Saturday, the cut's usually quite low so I expect I'll get in. Next week I'm either going to play Wimbledon qualifying or the doubles for Nottingham with Jamie Murray, I'll make my final decision on Saturday."

Rd2: C Fleming bt L Childs [GB] 7-5, 7-6
Report: Colin moved into the quarter-finals of the LTA Wimbledon wildcard playoff, beating Lee Childs 7-6, 7-5. Afterwards  Colin said  "That was was my best match for a while. We played indoors at Sutton LTC because it was raining at Raynes Parl. I was able to attack the net a lot and that put pressure on him."

Rd1: v bye

Wimbledon wildcard playoff preview:
Colin has entered for the 24 player Wimbledon wildcard playoff which starts on Tuesday 13th June on the grass courts at Raynes Park. This is an event which is restricted to British players only and the competition is extremely intense as there is normally between 1-3 main draw wildcards at stake which would provide  both a financial and a confidence boost plus the rare opportunity for British players to test themselves against the world's elite. The favourites will be Arvind Parmar, Martin Lee and Jamie Delgado who have all won main draw matches at Wimbledon in the past and also Alan Mackin who has hit form of late. Colin will be seeded in the top 8 and so he'll receive a bye through rd1. He'll be hoping that having received a wildcard for the doubles main draw will inspire him to reach the singles main draw aswell. Speaking to the Scotsman ahead of the playoff, Colin said "It will be a lifetime ambition realised when I step out at Wimbledon. Regarding the singles event the authorities don't decide until later just how many wild cards are available in the current tournament but it will be one at least. I have to give it my best shot and see what happens."
To read the Scotsman's full preview go to: http://sport.scotsman.com/tennis.cfm?id=875702006
                                                                                                                                                    
Surbiton 25K+H Challenger [grass]:
Doubles rd1: C Fleming/J Murray lost to M Fish/J Morrison [USA] 4-6, 5-7
Report: Despite losing in straight sets this was an encouraging performance from Colin and Jamie and it was definately a match which could have gone either way. Speaking afterwards exclusively to this site, Colin said "It was a close match but we missed several chances, especially in the 1st set when we were 3-1 up with a break. We played  a couple of bad games and they took advantage and took it 6-4. In the 2nd set we played really well but at 5-5 we missed a couple of chances on their serve which turned out to be decisive as in the next game they played some really great shots to break and take the match.  It was good experience playing against such a quality pairing like that as Fish has been close to the top 10 in singles and Morrison has been top 100. 

Doubles preview: Colin and Jamie make their much anticipated return to doubles action as a pairing on their favourite surface. Last year they reached a semi and final in grass-court futures. However, if they are to repeat the 2005 success of the British twins Richard and William Barker in reaching the Surbiton final,    they will have to produce some of the best performances of their career. As Surbiton is traditionally the opening of the grass court season, some of the best exponents of serve-volley tennis gather here for the singles and doubles tournaments. Their round 1 opponents, Mardy Fish and Jeff Morrison, may not have played together before but they're world class doubles players, both having been ranked well inside the world's top 100. Fish has been as high as no 17 in the world in singles and is a former runner-up at the ATP event in Nottingham on grass. If Fleming/Murray reach the quarter-finals then top seeds Jordan Kerr and Jim Thomas are likely to lie in wait.

Qualifying singles rd1: C Fleming [GB] lost to N Bamford [GB] 2-6, 6-3, 4-6
Report: Colin was below par in this match and was edged out by on-form compatriot, Hertfordshire's Neil Bamford. Throughout the match Colin wasn't able to find his normal fluency and timing and made too many unforced errors from the back of the court. He raised his game after the 1st set to take it to a decider but ultimately Bamford proved too consistent.  Speaking after the match Colin said "I was pretty inconsistent today, making too many errors. Jamie and I had a good week of practise on the grass courts at Roehampton last week but it was mainly doubles stuff. I need to get more singles practise on grass. Adjusting to the grass courts has been quite easy, I like the surface as it suits my game."

Rd1 preview: Colin faces Neil Bamford for the 2nd time this year, in rd1 qualifying for the Surbiton 25K+H Challenger. Colin won 6-1, 6-3 in February in rd1 of the masters week of the GB 4 satellite and went on to win that tournament. However, it's likely to be a much closer match this time round as after an indifferent start to the season Bamford found his form on the fast outdoor hard courts of Greece in May, reaching 2 singles semi-finals and winning two doubles titles with Jim May. The winner is likely to face 2nd seeded Frenchman Gregory Carraz in rd2 qualies. This is a tough draw as the big-serving Carraz is a classic grass-court specialist looking to attack the net at every opportunity. Colin is also partnering Jamie Murray in the doubles which starts later this week.