Kettering's Dermot able to reflect on a positive fortnight

Bailey, who is sponsored by Telford Mann, lived up to his seeding at the ITF 3 Wrexham Indoor, reaching the men’s singles semi-finals before bowing out 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to top seed and defending champion Frederic Cattaneo of France.

While Cattaneo went on to beat Israel’s Adam Berdichevsrky in the Wrexham final, Berdichevski was Bailey’s first round opponent two days later at the ITF 2 Bolton Indoor as the British No.3 marked his 26th birthday with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over the Israeli.

He produced another accomplished performance to defeat Spanish third seed and world No.13 Martin de la Puente 6-2, 6-4 and book his place in the quarter-finals, but Bailey’s title quest eventually ended in a final set tie-break loss to eighth seed Dani Caverzaschi of Spain.

Bailey, who maintains his men’s singles world ranking just outside the world’s top 25 this week, said: “It was a fortnight of some really good performances, especially in Bolton, but I also feel like there were one or two moments of ‘what if’. But I certainly can’t be disappointed.

“I matched my seeding in Wrexham, exceeded my seeding in Bolton and defended my ranking points from last year, which is really important with a view to qualification for Tokyo 2020.”

It was certainly a case of ‘what if’ for Bailey as Caverzaschi snatched their Bolton Indoor quarter-final 0-6, 6-3, 7-6(4).

However, a little over an hour later Bailey was back on court as he and Reid upset second seeds Jef Vandorpe and Ruben Spargaren 6-2, 6-2 in the men’s doubles quarter-finals.

He said: “There are definitely a few things I could have done throughout the match against Dani that could have changed the outcome, but when you start a match like that you’re always going to be in trouble. Tactically it was fine, but I just didn’t execute well.

“But what I am pleased with is that after losing that match I went back on court with Gordon and we beat the number two seeds in the doubles.

“I went back to the hotel in between and managed to put the singles result behind me. I knew I had to perform in doubles. Our opponents were semi-finalists at last year’s Doubles Masters and me and Gordon played a really good match.”

After another straight sets win over the third seeds in the semi-finals, Bailey and Reid’s title challenge eventually ended 6-3, 6-2 in the final as the unseeded Brits faced top seeds Stefan Olsson of Sweden and de la Puente. However, Bailey is taking away plenty of positive as he looks to scheduled tournaments in Malaysia next month.

He added: “All-in-all it’s been a really good two weeks.

“Yes, I’m disappointed with the singles match against Dani, but the things I didn’t do well in that quarter-final were exactly the things I needed to do well in the doubles, so I’m really happy to have come out and rectified that.

“It was my first tournament with Gordon outside of World Team Cup competition, so to come away as finalists is great."