RICHARD BLOOMFIELD'S brave effort to
replicate his victory of last year in Glasgow failed in
the second round of the men's singles tennis tournament
in Renfrew, where he met Wesley Moodie, of South Africa,
but not without looking as if victory against the number
one seed was a distinct possibility.
Having
reached the second round of this LTA Futures tournament
at the expense of county team mate James Auckland,
Bloomfield took the first set 7-6 (7-5), losing the
second 6-3 and again taking the third set to a
tie-break, eventually losing it 7-6
(7-2).
Bloomfield
flies flag
January 22, 2003 12:54
Norfolk's Richard Bloomfield fighting off a
heavy cold and returning to
men's tennis
following a back injury, which last November forced him
to
retire from the futures tournament series in
California, showed that he was ready
to start his
challenge for 2003 when he defeated county team-mate
James
Auckland, 7-6 (7-4) 6-4 to go through to
the second round of the LTA men's $15,000 futures event
at Renfrew, Glasgow. Bloomfield will now face the
tournament number one seed Wesley Moodie from the
Republic of South Africa in the second
round.
Bloomfield is playing the present series
of British futures tournaments
hoping to improve
his world and British rankings following a very
successful year
where he progressed from a world
ranking of 1063 in January 2002 to 611 by the end of
December but more importantly he is gaining experience
and battling against tough
opposition.
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Email sports editor David Cuffley