Three British players reach Tipton quarters

The AEGON British Pro-Series in Tipton has reached the quarter-finals stage with three British players vying for a place in the last four.

The No.2 seed Dan Evans will play the No.7 seed Dan Smethurst in the last eight after edging out fellow Briton Joshua Milton 7-6(3) 6-4 on Wednesday.

Evans fought off a determined display from Milton, after seeing his lower ranked opponent serve for the opening set at 5-4.

However the British No.4 recovered to take the set on the tie-break before closing out a straight sets victory.

Smethurst also saw off British opposition as he won 7-5 3-6 6-1 against Neil Pauffley to set up the clash with Evans, second on Court 6 on Thursday (not before 11.30am).

Elsewhere in the singles draw, Alexander Slabinsky went down 4-6 4-6 to a player ranked 375 places higher in the rankings, Slovakian Kamil Capkovic and Matthew Illingworth lost in three sets 3-6 7-6(9) 3-6 to the World No.342 Andrej Martin (SVK).

Sean Thornley was unable to replicate the recent fine form that has seen him win back to back AEGON British Tour events, going down here 4-6 6-4 3-6 to Frenchman Gleb Sakharov.

Burnham Arlidge is the third British player in the singles quarter-final draw after defeating his doubles partner Chris Priddle 76(3) 57 63 and will now play the Spanish player Roberto Bautisto-Agut.  After the singles clash, Arlidge and Priddle then teamed up on the same side of the net against the Slovakian doubles pair and No.3 seeds, Kamil Capkovic and Andrej Martin.

However the seeds were victorious on this occasion, winning 7-5 6-4 as they now take on the No.1 seeds Josh Goodall and Alexander Slabinsky in the semi-finals. This after Goodall and Slabinsky dispatched Dan Cox and Milton 6-1, 6-0 in their quarter-final match.

The other doubles semi-final also sees British interest in the form of Maniel Bains and Marcus Willis. After their 6-2 6-4 defeat of Kyle Brassington and Andrew Fitzpatrick, they take on the No.2 seeds Ludovic Walter and Oliver Charroin from France.

The semi-final action will take place on Thursday afternoon, not before 2pm