KYLE Brassington may not play many competitive singles these days, but he hasn’t forgotten how to beat an opponent on a grass court.
The qualifier overpowered 18-year-old third seed Matthew Clegg 6-4, 6-2 today to reach the quarter-finals of the British Tour men’s singles at Ilkley.
After beating a county team-mate who helped Yorkshire to win promotion from Group Three of County Week last week at Nottingham, Brassington, who twice played indoors on Wednesday, said: “It was tough to get used to grass in the first couple of games after battling on hard courts, but I am serving really well.
“I lost my serve in the first set when he played a good returning game but other than that I don’t think I faced any break points.”
The grass courts were back in action by early this afternoon after Wednesday’s rain, and 32-year-old Brassington, who used his nous on the surface, said: “They were a little bit slippery so whoever got the first big hit in usually got on top of the point and I did it a few times more than him.
“I didn’t look past this match as it was a tough one but it was nice to be using my own racquets again.”
Former world No 810 Brassington had to borrow racquets from Yorkshire colleague Joanne Craven to win a match in qualifying after breaking strings in both of his ‘bats’ on successive points.
Brassington now faces the unseeded James Davis in the quarter-finals, but his victory was not the only seeding upset.
Top seed Joseph Newman-Billington from Sheffield went out to York’s Nick Turnbull 6-2, 5-7, 11-9, also in the second round.
Leeds Beckett University student Turnbull, who won a very nervy champions’ tie-break, had gone even closer to defeat in the previous round when he saved six match points in beating Lincolnshire’s Sebastian Darke 2-6, 7-5, 19-17!
Turnbull now faces qualifier Hamish Stewart, while fifth seed Daniel Martin is also up against a qualifier in Christopher Edge.
The only quarter-final between seeded players is Finn Murgett (fourth) against Bradley Buckland (seventh).
Craven, who is a performance coach at host club Ilkley Lawn Tennis & Squash Club, started her campaign in the women’s singles with a hard-fought victory.
The 30-year-old beat Ellie Aldrich (Cheshire) 7-5, 6-3 and said: “I was extremely rusty but I didn’t give up.”
Former Ilkley member Isabelle Hearnshaw also triumphed, defeating sixth seed Sofie Woon 7-6 (7-2), 6-2, while Hull’s Megan Hopton put a foot injury to one side in beating Abby Taylor 6-0, 6-1.
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