Champ hangs on to his title

ON A ROLL: Marcus Daniell, successfully defended Ilkley singles title.PHOTO/FILE

Ask ace Wairarapa professional tennis player Marcus Daniell his favourite venue and Ilkley in England would surely be top of the list.

Daniell won his maiden Futures singles title there last year and successfully defended it over the weekend.

"Grass is my favourite surface and there is the river nearby and the moor, where I have walked in the evenings.

"Scenically, it is the most beautiful," the Kiwi Davis Cup player said of the Ilkley venue after his latest victory.

Fifth seed Daniell met unseeded Briton Lewis Burton in the final and, after a relatively comfortable 6-2 first set win, he was made to work harder in the second set, which he also won 7-5.

Reflecting on his victory, Daniell said he would have liked to be more consistent with his first serves but the wind had made it difficult.

At the same time, however, he started more confidently than Burton who looked to be affected by nerves and had trouble coping with Daniell's powerful volleying.

Daniell broke Burton's serve in the first game and went 3-0 up when his opponent double faulted three times.

Burton did hold to make it 4-1 after receiving a warning for ball abuse but Daniell wrapped up the first set soon after, having dropped only six points on serve.

The second set saw Burton play with greater confidence and at 5-4 up he had Daniell 0-15 down on serve.

Then Daniell seemed to either hit the ball into the ground or make a double hit on a fierce Burton return of serve but the rally was allowed to continue and a puzzled Burton lost it, making the score 15-15 rather than the 30-0 which would have put him into a stronger position to claim the set.

"It all happened so quickly but I would like to see a video of it," Burton said afterwards while Daniell felt he had scooped the ball up in one motion.

In any case, Burton lost that game and the next two to give Daniell the title after being on court for 1hr 19mins.

Burton did at least have the consolation of winning the doubles title, combining with Ed Corrie for a 6-2, 6-4 final win over another British pair Brydan Klein and Joshua Ward-Hibbert.