Damien Roberts may have been focusing too much on the transition from artificial grass to the real thing when he faced Owen Casey in the final week's first round of the ITF Futures event at Riverview yesterday.

Roberts, a 21-year-old from Durban who is in the world 200s, had his mind set on next week's Wimbledon qualifiers at Roehampton at a time when he should have been trying to figure out the best way to outgun Ireland's most successful player in the series. Too often he tried to play the serve-volley game and was frequently caught wrong-footed by Casey's passes.

"Yes, I tried to force it too much on a surface more conducive to a higher degree of patience," said Roberts. Another reason for Roberts's 6-2, 6-0 defeat in an hour and 18 minutes was his decision to play too many brave shots which didn't come off. "He (Casey) is a clever player, too good for me today," he said. The local derby between Stephen Nugent, who had just heard of his acceptance in the main draw in junior Wimbledon, and Stephen Taylor, on scholarship in San Diego, proved a major attraction. A two and a half hour baseline battle ended in favour of Nugent who had several match points before finally dismissing Taylor 6-7, 6-4, 6-4.

John Doran's got his game together after an erratic opening tiebreak set to overwhelm Japan's Satoshi Iwabuchi for the loss of only two further games.