Josh Milton versus Daniel Evans: Milton broke to go 5-3 up after a dismal game from Evans, but as is eerily common in this tournament, the break evaporated when Milton served for the set. That break, coming after a very poor decision from the umpire, played on Milton's mind and he was broken again, complaining after most points, to allow Evans the chance to serve for the set. He managed to keep it together and won the set 7-5.
As anyone who has seen Evans on a regular basis will know, he is permanently ready to explode, just waiting for a bad line call or a bad shot. Even when his opponent is playing great tennis, he seems furious about it. Most bizarre of all though, when he has won 5 games on the bounce he is still ready to rage about his shot choices.
At 2-0 up in the second set, the umpire tried to change the game again with a correction to a decision which would have given Evans a break. He was very close to the explosion, but after a few choice words, he swallowed hard and managed to get the break anyway.
From 5-3 up in the first, Milton dropped four service games in a row and was trailing 4-0 in the second by the time he next won a game and that was far too late.
Milton's game just fell apart after he missed his chance for the set and it finished 7-5 6-1. For Evans, a good win and he will certainly see himself as a major problem for Goodall in the semis. By ranking at least the winner of that should win the tournament.

Victoria Larriere versus Tara Moore: First comment has to be on Moore's footwear. She wore one white and one bright pink trainer. It definitely made her stand out, but her tennis was doing some of the talking too. Still, when a breakthrough was made, it was for the Frenchwoman, who was improving as the set went on. She broke to go 4-3 up and that was that. The first set was relatively even and quite high quality and the favourite deserved to take it.
The second set started off with Moore failing to take a break point chance and then handing a break to Larriere. She double faulted twice and then tried a drop-shot which landed halfway up the net. She turned round to the crowd and asked why she would even try that, which was just what I was wondering. However, Moore is not an easy opponent and took full advantage when Larriere's level dropped, getting the break back immediately. Just like yesterday, Larriere played a poor second set with far too many errors and that helped Moore play her way back to form. At one point, Moore muttered under her breath "this umpire is so" and then loudly "shit". When watching Tara, always listen for entertaining outbursts, it actually helps keep her relaxed.
By the time the third set came round, Larriere was playing well again and went into a 3-0 lead. Yet, as is all too common with players who go in and out of form, she couldn't maintain that for the whole set and lost the next six games. Larriere had some issues with consistency this week, but given her recent run of results, should see this match as a small blip. Moore meanwhile will be delighted to make the quarters for the second straight year.

Kristina Mladenovic versus Severine Beltrame: Mladenovic has the potential to be a star player. A former junior number one, who won the Roland Garros title, she is seeded number two in this event despite only being eighteen years old. Mladenovic got a break in Beltrame's first service game and raced into a three game lead with some attractive tennis. Then, some woeful shots allowed Beltrame to break back. It looked very much as though the match would be decided by Mladenovic who was changing from hot to cold at an unhealthy speed. By the end of the set though, she seemed to have settled down and really deserved the 6-3 scoreline. Her aggressive tennis was dominating the veteran Beltrame.
The former Wimbledon quarter-finalist would have been disappointed with herself and went for a toilet break as soon as the set ended.
The break didn't disrupt Mladenovic though and she seemed able to break serve at will. She was run close in a couple of her own service games, but stepped it up when required and took the set 6-2

Other results:

Men

Joshua Goodall def Andriej Kapas (Kapas retired. From what I saw Goodall was destroying him anyway.)
Jan Minar def Sam Barry (This match went the distance and Barry was very good at times. He even managed to take the second set 6-1. In the end Minar came through in what looked like a decent match.)
Daniel Cox def Nicolas Rosenzweig

Women

Claire Feuerstein def Julie Coin (Saw the end of the second set and from what I hear Feuerstein was always in control. She won the second 7-6 playing some useful tennis. Coin, not quite as good as when she was beating Ana Ivanovic in the US Open in 2008.)
Yvonne Meusburger def Justine Ozga (Easy win. Interesting moment when Meusburger did what's known at the Glasgow tournament as a Simone Vagnozzi and refused to play until the tournament referee spoke with her, because of bad umpiring.)
Kristina Kucova def Anais Laurendon (Looked a very good match and lasted a long time with Kucova finally winning it. Again the head tournament official was called on court to rescue a situation. It was a bad day to be an umpire.)
Stephanie Vogt def Justyna Jegiolka
Marta Domachowska def Ana Vrljic (Another lengthy match that looked high quality. For a time the slices of Vrljic caused major problems, but Domachowska came through.)
Iona-Raluca Olaru def Lenka Jurikova (With a forehand that is longer to wind up than an average Florian Mayer stroke, it is easy to see why Olaru is most at home on clay. The match was a close one and Jurikova put up a good fight, but couldn't quite match the Romanian)

If this report hasn't made much sense, I have taken some painkillers for a badly injured ankle, so have pity on me.

PK

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