Adam Barratclough, from Sunderland, fought his way through three rounds of qualifying to make the main draw at the beginning of this week in the Futures circuit event at the Puma Tennis Centre in his home city.

But the Durham and Cleveland number two then ran out of steam after eight gruelling sets to lose his opening match in the field of 32. His conqueror by 7-5 6-1 was Simon Morris of North Wales, a lucky loser into round one. Herfordshire's Neil Roskilly was Adam's first victim in the qualifying event, by 6-2 6-4. Matches became tougher after that, and first the fourth seed Ross Connolly of Yorkshire was dispatched by 7-5 4-6 6-3. In a similar type of battle Belgium's Julien Onclin was then removed 6-3 3-6 6-2.

County colleague Daniel Kiernan, ranked 18 in Britain, and 743 in the world, was sadly a main draw first round casualty, with fast progressing Tom Burn of Surrey his conqueror. The seventh seed lost 6-4, 6-0. His regular doubles partner David Sherwood from Sheffiedl, seeded our, did progress however by 6-2 6-1 at the expense of an Austrian, Dmitri Kotchetkov.

Jonny Murray, also from Sheffield, gave Yorkshire a second player in the last 16, as the third seed, beating Jasper Smit of The Netherlands by 6-4 6-1. But a third white rose county player Andrew Banks went out to Kent's Oliver Freelove, seeded six.

In the qualifying, Northumberland's Nikki Peel won through one round against an Austrian in straight sets but lost to Guy Thomas (Herts) who later qualified for the main draw. The other north of the Tyne competitor Matthew Lott was knocked out by Jamie Evans (Beds). Yorkshire's Richard Crabtree failed to qualify.

In the doubles, Kiernan and Sherwood, both highly ranked as doubles players are first seeds; whilst Murray with Cheshire's Mark Hilton are second. These two meet Yorkshire's Banks and Crabtree. Barratclough has Norfolk's Nicky Crawley as his partner.

Mens Singles Qualifying Event: Third round: B Harknett (Ber) beat B Bright (Che) 7-6 6-3; M Brown (Buc) beat B Jelovac (Sur) 7-6 6-1, J May (Ke) beat J Lloyd (Sur) 6-2 7-6, Adam Barratclough (D&C) beat J Onclin (Bel) 6-3 3-6 6-2, T Greenland (Oxf) beat D MAcShane (Not) 7-5 6-0, R Irwin (Dor) beat A Graveson (Buc) 6-3 6-2, S Steele (ISR) beat J Austin (Dor) 7-5 6-3, G Thomas (Her) beat S Morris (NW) 6-4 7-6; Second Round - Brown beat R Crabtree (Yor) 6-4 6-2, Barratclough beat R Connolly (Yor) 7-5 4-6 6-3, Thomas beat N Peel (N'd) 6-1 6-2; First Round - Barratclough beat N Roskilly (Her) 6-2 6-4, J Evans (Bed) beat M Lott (N'd) 6-3 6-2, Peel beat A Kosub (Aus) 6-4 6-1.

Main Draw Round One: M Hilton (Che) beat G Thomas (Her) 3-6 6-4 7-6, R Irwin (Dor) beat G Couillard (Mon) 6-4 2-1 ret., A Barratclough (D&C) beat S Morris (NW) 7-5 6-1, B Dupuy (Fra) beat B Harknett (Ber) 6-4 6-4, J Marray (Yor) beat J Smit (Ned) 6-4 6-1, N Crawley (Nor) beat M Brown (Buc) 6-1 6-4, T Greenland (Oxf) beat A Murray (SCO) 4-6 6-4 6-4, B Balleret (MON) beat J Lloyd (Sur) 6-4 6-2, O Freelove (Ke) beat A Banks (Yor) 6-2 7-6, M Ouvarov (mid) beat J Baker (Ke) 6-3 4-6 6-4, V Punna (IND) beat S Steele (ISR) 7-5 6-4, D Sherwood (Yor) beat D Kotchetkov (AUT) 6-2, 6-1, T Burn beat D Kiernan (D&C) 6-4 6-0, N Lalji (Mid) beat D Brewer (SCO) 6-0, 4-6, 6-3, M Smith (Che) beat J May (Ke) 7-6 7-6, R Bloomfield (Nor) beat I Flanagan (Not) 6-4 6-2.