Erlich suffers semi-final defeat in Wimbledon warm-up

Israeli Jonathan Erlich and his Scottish partner Colin Fleming fell just short as they lost their semi-final match at Queens on Saturday afternoon.

Up against the tournament’s number one seeds, Frenchmen Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert, the wild cards beat British duo Aljaz Bedene and Kyle Edmund, as well as the third seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau on way to the last four.

Despite winning the first set on a tie-break (7-2), they lost the second (7-3), before losing the third 10-8 on points.

Serving as a warm-up to Wimbledon, which begins next month, Erlich has fond memories of SW19 from 12 months ago, when he and Philipp Petzschner reached the last four of the competition.

They continue their preparations at this week’s Nottingham Open, where in the first round they take on the tournament’s second seeds, GB’s Dominic Inglot and Canadian Daniel Nestor.

Also in Nottingham is Dudi Sela. The 31-year-old, who is the only Israeli to have already qualified for the main round of the draw, faces a first round clash against Czech Jan Hernych. Should he win that, he’ll then take on Portugal’s João Sousa.

Qualifying for this year’s Wimbledon also begins on Monday, with three Israelis involved. Facing three qualifying matches to reach the main draw, Amir Weintraub will be in action in the men’s singles, while in the women’s draw, Julia Glushko and Deniz Khazaniuk. However, arguably Israel’s most famous tennis player, Shahar Peer, will not be at the Championships this year.

Israeli interest in the junior events lies with Yshai Oliel, who comes into the tournament just a couple of weeks after winning the doubles event at the French Open.

Noah Rubin, the 2014 boys’ junior champion has had to withdraw through injury.