BASINGSTOKE tennis ace Josh Goodall won his second title of the season with victory in the East Devon International at Exmouth.

It was the 22-year-old's second Futures singles title in the space of three weeks, having won at Bath a fortnight earlier.

His excellent recent form has moved him up the rankings to number 324 in the world and, for the first time this year, he is now fourth in the British rankings, behind Davis Cup trio Andy Murray, Alex Bogdanovic and Jamie Baker.

The Exmouth field had three players ranked above Goodall and, to take the crown, he beat two of them in his last two games.

In the semi-finals, he came up against the second seed, Poland's Dawid Olejniczak. The Brit came back from a set down to beat him 4-6, 7-6, 6-2.

Goodall then beat the number four seed Croatian Conor Niland, in the final, 6-4, 7-6.

To reach the last four, the Brit beat Denys Molchanov 6-3, 6-3 and then his doubles partner Neil Bamford 6-2, 7-6.

In the quarter-finals, he saw off Jerzy Janowicz in the first set, as his Polish opponent retired with the score at 5-2.

The previous week, Goodall and partner Neil Bamford just missed out on their third consecutive Futures doubles title, as they were beaten by Germany's Ralph Grambow and Brit Ken Skupski in the final of the Caversham International in Jersey.

Goodall and Bamford, fresh from victories in Portugal and Bath, were only seeded fourth for this event against stiff competition.

To make the final, they beat European pairing Patrick Eichenberger and Peter Gojowczyk 10-1 in the deciding tie-break, having lost the first set 6-4 and then taking the second 8-6 on a tie-break.

In the semi-final, the Brits came up against eastern Europeans Mait Kunnap and Martin Andrej and won in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5.

That set up their third final in as many weeks, but this time Goodall and Bamford lost 7-6, 6-3.

In the singles event at the same venue, Basingstoke-born Goodall was beaten in the first round by fellow Brit Miles Kasiri, 7-6, 4-6, 6-4.

12:01pm Monday 14th April 2008

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