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Wimbledon qualifyingRd1: C Fleming v J Mertl [Cze]
Preview: Colin opens his qualifying campaign against Czech clay-court specialist Jan Mertl. On paper Mertl is the heavy favourite as he's currently ranked 183, over 200 places higher than Colin. However, Mertl has never played on grass before and so he could find the fast, low bouncing grass courts at Roehampton tricky to cope with. The Czech has also lost 6 of his last 7 matches since the beginning of May so he'll be coming into this match quite low on confidence. The winner is likely to face Italian 14th seed Flavio Cipolla in rd2.
Fleming v Mertl is 1st on court 16 on Monday, starting at 11.00am.
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Fleming bt Mertl 4-6, 7-6[6], 6-3 
Report: Colin moved one step closer to realising his dream of playing in the singles main draw at Wimbledon with a 4-6, 7-6[8-6], 6-3 win over the world no 183, Jan Mertl from the Czech Republic. Colin got off to a poor start, quickly going down a double break in the first set. Mertl served for it at 5-2 and although Colin got one of the breaks back, Mertl made no mistake when he got his second chance at 5-4. Colin started to get his 1st serve working in the 2nd set and both players held easily until 5-5. Colin then hit 4 double faults in that service game to gift Mertl a break point. He kept his nerve and saved it with an ace and two more big serves made it 6-5. In the tiebreak, Colin got off to a flyer getting an early minibreak to lead 3-1 and he soon secured 3 set points at 6-3 up. Mertl won two long rallies on his serve to save the first two and then Colin double-faulted on the 3rd to bring the score back to 6-6. He appeared to be tightening up but was able to win a long rally on his serve to earn a 4th set point at 7-6 and he took the set courtesy of a Mertl unforced error. Speaking afterwards, Colin said "I was a bit worried when it went to 6-6 but thankfully I was able to close it out." The big turning point in the match occurred early in the 3rd set, with Mertl leading 2-1 and Colin had to save 4 break points, producing 3 excellent serves and a fine volley winner on the stretch. Colin said "If I'd lost that game I'd have been in big trouble." Mertl's frustration at being unable to capitalise on those chances told in the very next game when Colin broke to 30. This proved decisive as Colin then held easily until 5-3 when he broke Mertl again to 30 to take the match. Reflecting on the win Colin said "I always felt that I could beat him. I was a bit more comfortable on the grass than him and I felt I played really well to take advantage of that. I have been working hard on my serve and although I got off to a poor start, once I got my serve working I felt very comfortable." Colin was happy with the grass courts at Roehampton saying "They're fast but they have a very true bounce, they play a bit like hard courts. They're definately much better quality than at Raynes Park." Colin feels that his serve has improved through working with the Canadian Louis Cayer for the past few weeks and that he's getting a much higher percentage in. However he says that the coaching change is only temporary and still going to be working with Euan McGinn on a permanent basis.
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Rd2: C Fleming v F Cipolla [It] [14]
Preview: Colin plays Italian 14th seed Flavio Cipolla today for a place in the final qualifying round. The 22 year old from Rome is the world no 146 and recently won a challenger event on clay in Turin. He was in ominously good form in rd1 beating Dutchman Melyvn Op der Heijde 6-2, 6-1. Colin and Cipolla have played once before, in May 2005 when Cipolla won 6-2, 6-0. Commenting on this Colin said "He gave me a bit of a cuffing on the clay last year but on grass it's a totally different game. I'll try to get into the net a lot and pressurize him. Cipolla is quite a small guy but he moves very well and hits his shots with a lot of feel. He hasn't got a particularly big game which is good for me especially on grass."
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Fleming lost to Cipolla 2-6, 4-6
Report: Colin's hopes of competing at Wimbledon in singles as well as doubles were ended for this year as Italy's Flavio Cipolla beat him 6-2, 6-4 in rd2 of the qualifying. It was a closer match than their first meeting [which Cipolla won 6-2, 6-0 on clay] but apart from a few games in set 2, Colin was unable to find his best form and proved too inconsistent. Colin had a break point in only the 3rd game of the 1st set but missed his opportunity and Cipolla punished him in the very next game, breaking for 3-1 with several fine passing shot winner. The diminutive Italian held easily for the rest of the set and at 5-2 he broke Colin to 15 for the 2nd time. The match looked to be done and dusted when Cipolla broke right at the start of set 2 aswell and swept to a 3-0 lead. However, Colin then started to produce some of his best tennis, taking the next 3 games with some sublime volleying and several trademark backhand winners down the line. The turning point of the match came at 3-3, Colin had all the momentum having just won the last 3 games and he held 2 break points at 15-40. However, he missed both chances with errors and Cipolla took the next 4 points to hold. Colin was able to survive 3 break points on his next service game to hold for 4-4 but Cipolla put the pressure straight back on him with a love hold for 5-4 and then broke to 15 to take the match. Colin will now spend the next week working on doubles ahead of his rd1 match at Wimbledon with Jamie Murray which will be scheduled for either Wednesday or Thursday.
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