Niall
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Binghampton 50k challenger [outdoor hard]Colin entered qualifying but unfortunately he was beaten 7-5 6-3 by Alberto Francis.
Colin and Jamie have made a better start in the doubles.
1st round
Colin Fleming(GBR)/Jamie Murray(GBR) bt Phillip King(USA)/James Cerratini(USA) 6-3,6-3
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The loss in singles qualies was disappointing as Francis is only ranked 527. However, he's been in good form lately doing well in USA futures and nearly qualifying for ATP Los Angeles. Colin's struggled so far to find his form in singles in the USA.
The doubles rd1 win was pretty routine, both Colin and Jamie are on top form at the moment as a pair. Speaking after the match Colin said "We played well and dominated the match. The courts are quick which suits our big serves and we were covering the net very well. The courts are also pretty bouncy, very similar to the surface used at the US Open."
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Colin and Jamie squeezed into the semis of the Binghampton challenger today, beating Martin Lee and Peter Luczak 4-6, 7-5, [10-6].
The Scots held their nerve in the champions tiebreak to reach their first challenger semi-final on outdoor hard courts.
However, this will mean that Colin will miss out on attempting to qualify for the Bronx 50k challenger singles main draw, "the doubles final is on Sunday here so I'll be specialising next week assuming we get in as it's a tough tournament and we won't know the doubles draw cut until Sunday evening." This is bad news for his singles ranking as the Monday after, his points from the GB 3 satellite this time last year will fall off and his ranking will slip to outside the top 400.
However, the good news is that this week's run will mean that his doubles ranking will rise to at least 181 on Monday and if he and Jamie reach the Binghampton final, Colin's ranking will move into the 170s for the 1st time in his career.
In the doubles semis, they face the Australian combination of Rob Smeets and Alun Jones. Smeets and Jones struggled past compatriots Nathan Healey and Luke Bourgeois, 10-6 in a champions tiebreak in rd1 and in the quarters they beat Americans Brian Wilson and Jesse Witten 7-6[3], 6-2. That was an impressive victory given that Wilson and Witten beat the no 2 seeds in straight sets in rd1. 20 year old Smeets [a naturalised Australian, having been born in Holland], is currently ranked 144 in doubles, reaching a high of 125 in June. Colin and Jamie have already experienced his big-hitting leftie game this year, having lost to him and Zack Fleishman in rd1 of Wimbledon. Smeets enjoyed a great start to the year in doubles, reaching rd4 of the Aussie Open, winning a futures in Australia and the semis of the Kyoto Challenger but he hasn't quite hit those highs since. Alun Jones isn't a regular partner for Smeets, he's ranked 286 in doubles and has been as high as 149 but that was back in 2003. He also enjoyed a great start to the year in doubles, reaching the Tasmania challenger final and a futures final in Feburary before winning the Kyoto challenger with Britain's Jonny Marray. Since the start of May, he didn't play any doubles until last week, he reached the Vancouver Challenger quarters with Chris Drake on his comeback. Jamie Murray will know Jones' game very well having played a couple of challengers with him in the USA earlier this year.
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Niall
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Colin and Jamie are in the final! 
Fleming&Murray bt Jones&Smeets 6-1 7-5
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That was a fantastic win, I thought it'd be pretty close but it was actually quite straightforward for Colin and Jamie. The Binghampton courts really suit them as they're fast and bouncy and that makes it so difficult to return their serves. In particular, Jamie hits his serve with loads of topspin so it kicks up really high on these courts. Add to that the leftie spin and it's really hard to read.
Speaking after the match Colin said "It was a comfy win, they upped their game a bit in the 2nd set but we always knew we'd get them. We're looking forward to the final on Sunday, on my birthday."
The win will move Colin's doubles ranking up to a career best of approximately 172 and if they win the tournament he'll move up to approx 165.
In the final they face 3rd seeds Scott Lipsky and David Martin who beat Britain's Richard Bloomfield and Taipei's Yen-Hsen Lu 7-5, 6-4 in the semis. Like Colin and Jamie, the Americans also had a fairly routine rd1 victory over wildcards in rd1 and scraped through their quarter-final in a champions tiebreak which they took 10-7 against Czech pair Tomas Cakl and Tomas Zib. Lipsky is ranked 135 in doubles and reached a career high of 116 in June this year, at the start of June he won two challengers back to back, one with David Martin and the other with American Todd Widom. Martin is ranked 147 in doubles, last week he reached the quarters of the Vancouver challenger and at the start of July he won a futures doubles title in the USA. Looking ahead to the final Colin said "Martin is left-handed and Jamie has played him before so he will know a bit about Martin's game style. I think Lipsky has a big serve. Hopefully we'll get the better of them !"
This will be the toughest game of the week for Colin and Jamie but I'll predict them to win their first challenger title, in 3 sets.
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