The Boodles Challenge – First Day Preview and Photos

Stevegtennis brings you coverage from Britain’s most exclusive grass court tournament, The Boodles Challenge 2012.

This spectacular event takes place in the magnificent grounds of Stoke Park, just a short drive from London. When driving through the gates of this establishment, we were absolutely overwhelmed by the marvelous scenery that surrounded us. The Wimbledon specification grass courts, five star hotel and the championship golf course provide perfect entertainment and relax for all it’s guests and guarantee full satisfaction.

For the players, this is a superb chance to tune up their grass court game just before the start of Wimbledon. World no.1 Novak Djokovic and Brit Andy Murray are attending this year’s event and will be a magnet for lots of tennis fans who will be eager to see them in action.

Today’s first day offered three high quality encounters – in the first match of the day, Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland beat Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic in a very close game, with a scoreline of 1-6 7-6 10-8 (champion’s tiebreak). Second on the center court were Gilles Simon and Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine, the Frenchman also prevailing in three sets, 4-6 6-3 10-7. In the last encounter of the day, Spaniard Fernando Verdasco defeated Latvia’s Ernest Gulbis in a very similar fashion to the two previous matches, winning 6-7 7-6 10-4.

The crowd couldn’t have been more satisfied with the quality and the amount of tennis played today and the sunny weather made the experience even better, putting a big smile on everybody’s face.

Here are some pictures from today’s tournament:

Tags Alexandr Dolgopolov Andy Murray Ernest Gulbis Fernando Verdasco gilles simon Janko Tipsarevic Novak Djokovic Stanislas Wawrinka Stoke Park Tennis the boodles challenge