STUART FRASER

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TENNIS
FLEMSKI LOOK TO FUTURE
Freelance Article
By Stuart Fraser
Monday 28^th September 2009

COLIN FLEMING may have won his first ATP title on Sunday but the Scot is hoping for even bigger things to come in the future.

Along with partner Ken Skupski, the 25-year-old won the ATP World Tour doubles title at the Open de Moselle in Metz, France.  The duo, nicknamed Flemski, defeated former Wimbledon champions Arnaud Clement & Michael Llodra in the final on Sunday.

Fleming, from Linlithgow, was delighted but is already looking ahead to further targets on the tennis tour.

He said: “To be playing on the ATP World Tour every week is a big goal for us and our title win gives us a huge boost towards doing that.

“Another goal in the not too distant future is the Australian Open in January.  If we keep playing well, we will earn enough ranking points to start 2010 with a grand slam which would give us a good chance to have a great year.”

The Scot was a member of the British Davis Cup squad which suffered a disastrous defeat by Poland recently.  He is adamant though that the experience gained from being part of the squad helped him to lift the title in Metz a week later.

Fleming said: “I always think it’s a good week to be involved in as you get a solid week of high level training.  I came out of that week feeling sharp and I think we were hitting the ball great going into Metz.”

The doubles rubber in Davis Cup often proves to be crucial and in the last four ties, Britain have lost the doubles rubber on each occasion which has contributed to eventual defeat.

After being overlooked for the tie against Poland, fielding Flemski in the doubles is an option John Lloyd will surely consider for the next tie away to Lithuania in March and Liverpudlian Skupski hopes to continue their run of good form to secure their slot in the team.

He said: “I think our results so far have helped our potential to play Davis Cup but there is still plenty of time before the next tie and a lot of things can change but we can only help ourselves by continuing to win.”

Skupski and Fleming are now ranked 76 and 79 respectively and have the 2010 Australian Open in their sights.  First class seats would be a bonus for the long flight down under but the pair are not quite rich enough yet to afford an upgrade despite a brief spell in luxury seats on a train in France last week.

Skupski said: “We got on the train and found what we thought were our economy class seats.  Initially, I was surprised how comfortable French trains were.

“The train conductor later asked us for our tickets and was very disappointed that we had sat in his luxury first class seats.  He almost ordered us to pay double the price but we were able to make use of our lack of French to good effect.”