Ace Wairarapa tennis player Marcus Daniell was in giant-killing form at an ITF tourney played on grass at Ilkley in the United States, making it through to the quarter-finals and substantially improving his world ranking in the process. Daniell posted his first upset victory when he defeated Maniel Baines of theUK 6-4, 4-6 and 6-2 in the opening round of the tourney and he then eliminated another UK player, seventh seeded, Matthew Illingworth, 7-5, 7-5 in the second round. Those victories took Daniell into a quarter-final against top seed Mathieu Rodrigues of France and while match reports suggest he gave another excellent account of himself it was Rodrigues who took the spoils, 6-2, 6-4. Daniell also performed well in doubles , defeating the third seeds on the way to the quarters where he and his partner were beaten in a closely-contested match 7-5, 7-6. Now based in Europe, Daniell is one of New Zealand's "national list players" who are under the watchful eye of the national association's peak performance manager, Davis Cup captain James Greenhalgh. Daniell's latest results have seen his world ranking improve from 1030 into the 900's, something he had earlier set as his goal for 2008. Not surprisingly, he has now adjusted his sights to making the top 750 before the end of the year.
