Words By Tommy Curran.
Brit Jamie Baker dumped world number 50 Donald Young out of the AEGON International with a thrilling display on day three of the competition. The Scot, ranked 200 in the world, eased past Young 6-1 6-4 much to the delight of the supporters on Centre Court at Devonshire Park.
Baker, who gave Jo-Wilfried Tsonga a run for his money at Queen’s last week, bewildered Young with his killer forehand and unrelenting service game. He will now face either German number seven seed Philipp Kohlschreiber or Go Soeda from Japan in the next round.
For Young, meanwhile, this was a sobering experience. The 22-year-old American reached the fourth round of the US Open only last year, but here he was outfoxed and outclassed by a technically inferior challenger. If he is to ever join the elite of men’s tennis, a re-think in his approach to the more physically imposing players such as Baker will be needed.
The body language of the two players was revealing enough. Six-foot tall Baker stood upright, regularly interacting with the warm and responsive Eastbourne crowd. Young, however, hunched over, attempting to shield himself from the ignominy of what he seemed to accept as inevitable defeat to someone 150 places lower in the rankings.
After two days of rain-affected action, the Monday afternoon sunshine was almost as blistering as the tennis. Sun-soaked supporters were able to enjoy uninterrupted action – and there was plenty of it to savour.
Baker’s fellow Brit James Ward produced a valiant display as he went down in three sets to Croatian-Australian Marinko Matosevic. The world number 82 eventually triumphed 4-6 6-1 6-4 as the spirited Ward began to tire.
There was joy for fiery Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, too, as he eased past Spanish number eight seed Pablo Andujar 6-1 6-1 with consummate ease.
Laura Robson secured a place in the tournament proper after beating Serbian Bojana Jovanovski in the final qualifying round. The 18-year-old, who has been handed a wildcard entry for Wimbledon, won a stunning 22 of 28 points on her first serve and was never broken during the match.
Robson had originally been drawn in the third qualifying round against Elena Baltacha, but with the Scot being forced to withdraw with a neck injury, Robson made mincemeat of her replacement in just 71 minutes with some scintillating tennis.
There was some disappointing news for British fans in the female draw, however. Britain’s Anne Keothavong was beaten comfortably 6-2 6-3 by Daniela Hantuchova in the first round, and will now be hoping British number two Baltacha is fit enough to take her place alongside in her in the doubles tournament.
A good day’s work for Robson was completed when she and doubles partner Heather Watson reached the second round of the ladies doubles with a 6-2 6-3 victory over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Lucie Safarova, while there was there was also success in the men's doubles as Jamie Delgado and Ken Skupski overcame Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski 6-2 6-4.
Baker, who gave Jo-Wilfried Tsonga a run for his money at Queen’s last week, bewildered Young with his killer forehand and unrelenting service game. He will now face either German number seven seed Philipp Kohlschreiber or Go Soeda from Japan in the next round.
For Young, meanwhile, this was a sobering experience. The 22-year-old American reached the fourth round of the US Open only last year, but here he was outfoxed and outclassed by a technically inferior challenger. If he is to ever join the elite of men’s tennis, a re-think in his approach to the more physically imposing players such as Baker will be needed.
The body language of the two players was revealing enough. Six-foot tall Baker stood upright, regularly interacting with the warm and responsive Eastbourne crowd. Young, however, hunched over, attempting to shield himself from the ignominy of what he seemed to accept as inevitable defeat to someone 150 places lower in the rankings.
After two days of rain-affected action, the Monday afternoon sunshine was almost as blistering as the tennis. Sun-soaked supporters were able to enjoy uninterrupted action – and there was plenty of it to savour.
Baker’s fellow Brit James Ward produced a valiant display as he went down in three sets to Croatian-Australian Marinko Matosevic. The world number 82 eventually triumphed 4-6 6-1 6-4 as the spirited Ward began to tire.
There was joy for fiery Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, too, as he eased past Spanish number eight seed Pablo Andujar 6-1 6-1 with consummate ease.
Laura Robson secured a place in the tournament proper after beating Serbian Bojana Jovanovski in the final qualifying round. The 18-year-old, who has been handed a wildcard entry for Wimbledon, won a stunning 22 of 28 points on her first serve and was never broken during the match.
Robson had originally been drawn in the third qualifying round against Elena Baltacha, but with the Scot being forced to withdraw with a neck injury, Robson made mincemeat of her replacement in just 71 minutes with some scintillating tennis.
There was some disappointing news for British fans in the female draw, however. Britain’s Anne Keothavong was beaten comfortably 6-2 6-3 by Daniela Hantuchova in the first round, and will now be hoping British number two Baltacha is fit enough to take her place alongside in her in the doubles tournament.
A good day’s work for Robson was completed when she and doubles partner Heather Watson reached the second round of the ladies doubles with a 6-2 6-3 victory over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova and Lucie Safarova, while there was there was also success in the men's doubles as Jamie Delgado and Ken Skupski overcame Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski 6-2 6-4.
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