10:14pm Wednesday 23rd June 2010
By Graham Merry
BASINGSTOKE tennis ace Josh Goodall along with partner Jamie Delgado stormed into the second round of the Men’s doubles at Wimbledon on Wednesday thanks to a four set victory.
The pair recorded only the second British win at Wimbledon this year, as they beat Spain’s Nicholas Almagro and Santiago Ventura on court six.
They also did it the hard way coming from a set down as their Spanish opponents ranked 261 places above them, fell apart losing 5-7, 7-6, 6-1, 6-3.
In the first set, the Brits missed out on two break points on the Ventura serve, only for Delgado to lose his serve in the vital 12th game and the set was gone.
The home players did not buckle and broke the serve of Almagro the number 18 seed in the singles in the very next game.
However, the only time the red hot serving of Goodall failed to fire the Spaniards hit back to level the set at 5-5.
Once again the Brits could have caved in, but instead held their nerve and took the tie-break 7-4.
From there Goodall and Delgado then breezed through the third building up a 5-0 lead before winning it 6-1.
The fourth set saw the Brits race to a 2-0 lead only to be pegged back to 2-2 which soon became 3-3, but the pair held their nerve and won the next three games including to breaks of serve to book their second round place.
Their opponents in the next round will be Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi or Maximo Gonzalez and Sebastian Prieto who play tomorrow.
Goodall and Delgado are expected to be action next on Friday or Saturday further updates will appear on this website as we have them.
Also see Monday’s Gazette for full reports, reaction and pictures.
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