Josh Goodall in action at Wimbledon

BASINGSTOKE tennis ace Josh Goodall will try to push further up the world singles rankings this week after suffering the disappointment of a first-round exit at Wimbledon on Thursday.

The 22-year-old was given a tournament wild card along with British partner Neil Bamford in the men's doubles, but they suffered a straight-sets defeat against South African Rik de Voest and Lukasz Kubot, of Poland, 6-3, 7-6, 6-2.

The game, which was played on court four, which is close to Centre Court, got off to a good start for the Brits as Goodall won the opening service game to love, despite serving into the sun.

The Basingstoke player then produced a superb forehand winner to give the home pair a break point against de Voest in the next game at 30-40, but the South African served out to win.

Disaster then struck the Brits as Bamford double faulted on a break point to give their opponents a 2-1 lead.

Giant Pole Kubot then won his service game to love before skying a return towards the balconies over the Centre Court entrance in the next game.

A topsy-turvy end to the set saw three breaks of serve as the South African and Polish pair ran out 6-3 winners after breaking the Brits twice either side of Kubot losing his serve.

The first break of the next set came in game three against Kubot. Bamford produced a great return to split their opponents and give them a 0-40 advantage.

Their opponents hit back to take the next two points, but then de Voest hit a return too long.

The home pair's lead was short-lived, however, as Bamford was broken in the next game. After that all the service games were held, which left Bamford to serve a pressure game at 6-5 down.

The British duo survived a set point as Kubot returned out of court, and the Brits took the game thanks to an ace and a wide return.

That sent the set into a tie-break and the telling moment was the seventh point when Bamford lost his serve. That proved enough for De Voest and Kubot to win 7-5 in a 53-minute set.

The Brits were staring defeat in the face when Bamford lost both his service games to leave them trailing 5-2.

However, the home pair did not give up and a forehand winner from Goodall gave them two break points, but their opponents survived to take the match after 104 minutes.

Talking after the defeat, Goodall said: "The tie-break was the critical point of the game and, after losing that, we needed to keep them out there as long as we could in the third.

"But that did not happen as we were broken early on.

"I think I played pretty well, but I know Neil can play a lot better and he is very disappointed about the match."

Hertfordshire-based Bamford was inconsolable after the game and said: "It just didn't happen for me out there today.

"I don't know why. It is gutting as I think it was a good draw and, had we played as well as we can, we would have given them a good game."

Goodall and Bamford, who have so far won three doubles crowns this year, will be back in action together looking for more titles at Felixstowe and Manchester next month.

Before that, Goodall is in singles action in a Dublin Challenger tournament.

The British number four is currently ranked 272 in the world and is eager to break into the top 200 by the end of the year.

He is also looking forward to the final grand slam of the year - the US Open - where he is set to play in the qualifying tournament.

He will look to repeat his exploits of 2006 and bag a place in the main draw.

Goodall said: "I am pleased with the way I am playing at the moment and feel that I am capable of getting into the top 200 by the end of the year.

"That will give me a great chance of making the top 100 by this time next year."

That would ensure the Basingstoke-born player would get a place in the Wimbledon singles main draw in 2009.

He missed out in this year's event after being knocked out in the qualifiers earlier this month.

4:02pm Monday 30th June 2008

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