On the GB men front, unfortunately it's a case of only one man standing with Alex Bogdanovic going down in the second round of qualifying, the other 3 Brit Men having lost the previous day.

The good news is, of course, that that one man is the bookies' favourite! Andy Murray, I need hardly add! May the bookies be right (they usually are! )

The Brit Girls, on the other hand, are promising to be in the Main Draw in force!

For the first time in over 15 years, 2 have achieved Direct Acceptance (Anne Keothavong, world 53, very comfortably...although it's her first DA to the AO showing how far she's come over the last 12 months! ); and Mel South, world 110, who was right on the mark! )

Elena Baltacha and Katie O'Brien both came through their second round of qualifying last night after dropping their first sets so it could be 4 Brit Girls in the MD!

Georgie Stoop went out, gut-wrenchingly, 14-12 in the third set.

It's the best AO for Brit Girls for 19 years, I understand, with 4 in the Main Draw!

Elena and Katie dispatched their last qualifying round opponents overnight to join Anne and Mel who were already in as Direct Acceptances.

Elena stormed past the world 112 who was also the top seed in the qualifying event 6-3 6-1!

Katie's biggest scalp was the world 115 and #3 qualifying event seed in the previous round!

No easy trots, then, just bona fide great stuff!!

Good luck to all 4 when the first round proper starts on Monday!

The Men's draw has given Andy a first round against Andrei Pavel of Roumania, and if he's going to lift the title a likely QF against Tsonga who put him out in the first round last year (but Andy has upped his game since then!) SF against Rafa Nadal and Final against Roger Federer. Just getting ahead there a tad!

Good luck Andy!

Any win for a Brit Girl in the first round would be an upset against the rankings but I reckon all 4 will be fancying their chances (in a QC sort of way!).

Elena's got the best chance on paper against Gronefeld of Germany ranked 71; if she makes it to the third round a meeting with Serena Williams will be her likely task there. No probs!

Anne faces Chakvetadze, the #17 seed, first up; Anne is on a real roll at the moment and a giant-killing is a distinct possibility. Ana Ivanovic would be her next seeded opponent (#5) in the 3rd round. Go Annie!

Mel, bizarrely, has Bartoli (#16 seed) who had to retire injured against her after only 2 games last week; without wishing her any ill, Bartoli must be approaching the match with anxiety. Is it going to be "Deja vu all over again"?!

Katie is in Mel's quarter of the draw and comes up against Niculsecu of Roumania (world #51) who had something of a hex on Brit Girls last year until Annie did for her in the final of the Odense $100k. Hopefully the spell has been broken! Katie's likely second round opponent would be #27 seed Maria Kirilenko.

Good luck Girls!

The euphoria of the last round of qualifying has been replaced today by the cold reality of the rankings gap in all the matches played overnight by the 3 Brit Girls; brave efforts but no victories to report.
Hopes now rest with Elena and Andy. Plus Laura Robson and Heather Watson in the juniors.

Fantastic result for Elena overnight taking down her opponent 6-1 6-4 upsetting the rankings by over 60 places!!

20th seed Mauresmo next up! Go Bally!

Meanwhile, in the Men's, Andy was only detained for a set and a bit before Pavel retired from their first round encounter.
Next up is Marcel Granollers of Spain with a world ranking of 51. The number 31 seed probably awaits in round 3.

E&OE, word has it that if Elena beats Mauresmo tonight there may very well be THREE Brit Girls in the world top 100 when the new list is published at the conclusion of this Slam; fantastic considering there was not even one on 1st May 2008! The Brits are coming!!

Go, Bally; make it so!!

Elena played in the zone for the first set to take it 6-4 with a sublime drop shot on set point and Mauresmo was on the ropes!

Unfortunately, she couldn't quite maintain that level for long enough and the #20 seed prevailed in the end. Superb experience for Bally, though, and next time she'll be ready!

And so then there was one (in the senior singles); Andy only dropped 8 games in progressing to his expected encounter with #31 seed Melzer. Go, Andy! All the way, please!

The last senior Brit Girl went down overnight when Anne Keothavong and partner lost their second round doubles encounter with the #7 seeds.

Annoyingly, the GB #1 doubles Brit Girl, Sarah Borwell, who is now concentrating on being a doubles specialist, missed out on one of the 64 doubles berths by a whisker as singles specialists who play double only occasionally (ie at the Slams!) are able to bring their singles rankings to bear on the pecking order. Sarah's rise up the doubles rankings has been so rapid in the last 12 months, though, that if she carries on at the same rate she'll be a shoo-in come Roland Garros time!

Andy Murray continued his comfortable progress thus far with another straight sets victory in the 3rd round against the #31 seed to now face Fernando Verdasco of Spain. The 14th seed is on good form as well so this promises to be Andy's toughest test so far; as you'd expect, I guess, the further you go in the tournament!

The junior AO has now started with GB interest high in the girls' singles with Laura Robson and Heather Watson both winning their first rounds in straight sets today but Hannah James losing narrowly 7-5 in the third . The sole GB representative in the boys' singles is James Chaudry who won through two rounds of qualifying to earn his berth .

Well, the bookies got it wrong ! Andy going out 6-4 in the fifth to Verdasco who, in fairness, has been on fire so far. In truth, I suspect Andy is really targeting the US Open for his maiden Slam. He'll have reduced the gap to world #3 Djokovic come what may.

In the juniors, James Chaudry made a valiant attempt to overcome a junior ranking difference of over 60 places in the first round proper but just came up short in three sets. More than for his week, though!

And then there were 2...Laura Robson, world #3 junior, and Heather Watson, world #13 junior. Go girls!

Hopes are high, after Laura Robson won junior Wimbledon last year [in case you hadn't noticed! ], that she may do the junior Grand Slam this year. Very early days of course and she picked up a stomach muscle injury at the Orange Bowl in Florida last month.

However, she is showing encouraging signs already having overcome a major potential banana skin in the first round and last night winning her second round in straight sets but actually showing enormous resolve in the second where she was 1-5 down but came back to take the tiebreak 7-0!!

Heather Watson's junior career really took off during the last month of the 2008 season including winning a G1 tournament in Yucatan and she moved serenely into the second round last night 6-2 6-1.

Without wanting to put the mockers on anything, Heather and Laura are in opposite sides of the draw and a final between them remains a real possibility. No harm in dreaming!!

Excellent news overnight!

Laura and Heather both through to the singles QFs so the dream is still alive!

Heather, however, was virtually dead on her feet when she took the 3rd set 6-4 in 106 degrees F of heat (the seniors had had their play suspended!); great courage! [I suppose they're used to the sun on Guernsey! ...her time in Florida might have helped, though!]

Just hope she can recover in time for the next match against Pervak who actually has a senior ranking in the top 200 and had an easy passage yesterday when her opponent retired early.

One dream down, another lives on!

Heather battled valiantly against the world 154 (that's SENIOR ranking!), including fighting off 3 match points, before finally succumbing 6-3 7-5 in another cauldron of heat.
Heather has today announced via the Guernsey press that she'll be playing her first 3 senior events within the next 6 weeks including the Jersey $75k. How she fares is eagerly awaited!

Laura (current world #3 but seeded 5 here) progressed in quirky fashion. She took the first set fairly comfortably but was then 1-5 down against Elena Bogdan, the 4th seed, in the second when Laura's opponent apparently turned an ankle. After some delay she tried to carry on but only a few points later the tournament doctor intervened to order her off court. Anyway, Laura was probably only teeing up a repeat of her previous round to come back to take the tie-break 7-0 !

Next up for Laura in the SF is current world #1 junior Lertcheewakarn of Thailand (who Laura beat in the junior Wimbledon final!); the other Bogdan sister (current world #2) is in the other SF.

All VERY interesting!!

Laura keeping the junior Grand Slam dream alive! She's beaten her Thai opponent 6-4 6-3 in her semi and Bogdan lost 1&3 to Pervak! World #1 hopes done no harm by those two results!

And just shows how close that Laura v Heather final was!

Good luck in the final, Laura!

Hey Vohor - I'd started a topic in News before I'd spotted yours (a few hours ahead of me I see Still I'll catch up - as you say Go Laura!!

Pervak, two and a half years older than Laura who's only just turned 15, proved too strong taking the title comfortably 6-3 6-1. So, no junior Grand Slam for Laura this year.

It's been a great effort, though, coming off that stomach muscle injury that would have mucked up her training schedule. And there's always next year!

Hard lucj Laura, but it was a brilliant run and I'm sure there will be many more finals to come, on the senior as well as junior tour. And how about a wild card at Wimbledon! Serena Williams did her stuff today, but give it a couple of years and GBs tennis girls will be giving them a run for their money