Eaton misses out

 

Originally published on: 26/02/10 12:34

The 21-year-old from Surrey caused a stir at SW19 last year when he came through qualifying before beating Boris Pashanski in the first round.

The big server subsequently lost to Dmitry Tursunov in round two but it was a different story this time as the world number 317 was beaten 6-4 6-2 by France’s Stephane Robert.

There was plenty of success for Britain, however, with teenager Daniel Cox beating Ireland’s Conor Niland 6-3 1-6 8-6 while British number eight Alexander Slabinsky was a 6-4 6-4 winner against Adrian Cruciat of Romania.

Marcus Willis, 18, gained an impressive 7-6 (9/7) 7-6 (8/6) win over America’s Amer Delic and another teenager, Joshua Milton, came from behind to beat 30th seed Alexandre Sidorenko 2-6 7-6 (7/4) 6-1.

Joining Eaton in making early exits were Richard Bloomfield, beaten 6-4 6-0 by Dieter Kindlmann of Germany, and Daniel Smethurst, who lost 7-6 (7/4) 6-4 to Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland.

Meanwhile, former Wimbledon semi-finalist Xavier Malisse, now ranked 170th in the world, made the second round with a 7-6 (7/3) 7-6 (8/6) victory over Rik de Voest.

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