After an incredible run of 4 wins Toby Martin has won his first ATP ranking points in the $10k Futures event on the famous grass courts at the Northern Tennis Club in Manchester.

Following in the footsteps of the likes of Jimmy Connors, John McEnroe and Pete Sampras who all played here when it was a Tour event, Toby’s amazing run began against Christian Gonzalez Mendez in the first round of qualifying. A great comeback led to a 4-6 6-3 7-5 win which was followed with a more straightforward victory over Welshman Rogan Egerton 7-6 6-2. Toby qualified for the 32 man Main Draw with a hard fought  6-3 3-6 6-3 win over another Welsh player, Matthew James who made the last 16 at Junior Wimbledon in 2008.

Toby saved his best heroics against Swiss Joss Espasandin n the first round of the Main Draw. After losing the first set 2-6 Toby came back well winning the second 6-1 but the 3rd set was a real battle. Toby saved an incredible 6 match points before coming through 8-6 in the tie breaker. Breathtaking tennis and a brilliant way for Toby to win his first ATP point.

His second round match pitted him against Britain’s new No.1 Davis Cup player Jamie Baker from Scotland. Baker’s experience showed as he ran away with the first set 6-2 and charged into a 3-0 lead in the second. A huge effort saw Toby break Baker’s serve to level the set at 3 all. Inspired tennis gave Toby a 5-4 lead and a chance to serve for the set but Baker hit back to lead 6-5. Toby saved a match point with a huge ace at 30-40 to take it to a tie breaker at 6 games all. Showing dogged determination Toby served another ace and hit a big forehand to lead 6-5 with a set point. After dominating a long rally, Toby missed a difficult smash under intense pressure. Baker’s pedigree showed again as he won the next 2 points to close out the match 8-6 in the tie break to win 6-2 7-6.

Toby can be proud of his effort. He has the weapons to win at this level and a growing maturity which he can take into his busy summer schedule. His achievement has been rightly rewarded with a wild card for the $10k grass court event at Ilkley next week. Watch this space!