Bloomfield, 28, lost to Hampshire’s Josh Goodall in the final at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton before beating Alex Ward to clinch the title in Nottingham; avenging his previous week’s loss to Goodall en route.
The final against fifth seed Ward at the City of Nottingham Tennis Centre went to three sets after Bloomfield dropped the opener in a tie-break. In windy conditions, and after an hour-long break for rain, the Norfolk man’s strategy of attacking the net at every opportunity began to pay off as he levelled at a set all.
The final set was more of the same and, after missing his first two match points, Bloomfield sealed victory over the British number thirteen, 6-7, 6-3, 6-4.
After missing out in the final at Roehampton, there was sweet revenge for Bloomfield in the Nottingham semi as he reversed the result against third seed Josh Goodall.
Goodall had taken the Roehampton final in straight sets and looked on course for his third successive Futures tournament win following a title at Wrexham; however the Norfolk number one found an extra gear and broke Goodall in each set to win 3-6, 6-4, 6-3.
After the final in Nottingham, Bloomfield spoke with the LTA’s Richard Joyner:
“The conditions yesterday and today were really tough but I served it out well so that was pleasing. Hopefully this will give me confidence for the rest of the year and the start of next year.”
Bloomfield’s last tournament win came in November 2008 when he defeated Peter Luncanu of Romania 6-2, 7-6 to win the Campden Hill Futures; before the back problems that have dogged recent years.
That injury has seen him slip outside the top 600 players in the world and he is currently ranked 20 in Britain.
A change of racket manufacturer and an extended period of fitness work on his back seem to have helped Bloomfield turn a corner, although the results from Roehampton and Nottingham came on the lowest rung of the professional ladder and Bloomfield remains realistic:
“These were $10k events so you would hope to have a decent run in them but I haven’t won one for three years so that in itself is encouraging.”
Horn sets off for Junior Fed Cup
Top Norfolk junior Pippa Horn will travel to Mexico on Friday as part of the British team for the Junior Fed Cup. The three member team qualified for the finals in the summer by coming through their European qualifying campaign.
The complete list of countries to qualify is as follows:
Argentina, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Chinese Taipei, Czech Republic, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Thailand, USA