DOUBLES specialist Colin Fleming admits he is relishing the chance to test himself against the very best at the AEGON Championships this week after narrowly missing out on victory in Nottingham.

The 25-year-old and partner Ken Skupski have received wild cards for the prestigious pre-Wimbledon tournament at Queen’s Club and if they get past first round opponents Andrei Pavel and Horia Tecau, will face a second round showdown with seven-time Grand Slam champions Bob and Mike Bryan of the USA.

The Brits knocked out Jamie Murray and his partner Giles Muller in the semifinals of the AEGON Trophy in Nottingham last week, before succumbing 6-4, 6-4 at the final hurdle to American third seeds Eric Butorac and Scott Lipsky yesterday.

But having been forced to play that final indoors due to rain, Fleming is convinced he and Skupski will pick up where they left off when they get back to the grass.

“Overall I’m delighted with my form in Nottingham,”

said Fleming. “It was a reasonably close final but we struggled with the faster conditions indoors – they got a couple of breaks and we couldn’t quite match them.

“But we’ll move on to Queen’s from here and we’re going to be playing in the first round on Tuesday.

“I’m really looking forward to it – it will be the first time we’ve played together at such a high level and we can’t wait to test ourselves against the best.”

British No.2 Alex Bogdanovic will not be joining Fleming at Queen’s after he lost in qualifying.

The 25-year-old pushed Canada’s number one seed Frank Dancevic to three sets before eventually crashing to 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 defeat.

Fellow British hopefuls Chris Eaton, Dan Evans and Dan Cox were also dumped out in the first qualifying round at Queen’s – all losing in straight sets.

The British women fared little better in qualifying for the AEGON Classic in Birmingham with Middlesbrough’s Sarah Borwell, Natasha Khan, Tara Moore, Jocelyn Rae, Jade Curtis and Amanda Elliott all suffering first round defeats.

But Naomi Broady provided some much-needed cheer for the British fans with an impressive 7-6, 6-3 win over China’s 15th seed Meng Yuan.

■ Leading life assurance and pensions company AEGON is lead partner of British Tennis and is backing the sport at all levels, from grass roots to world class tennis events. For tickets and further information visit www.lta.org.uk