Alpington tennis professional Richard Bloomfield.

Richard Bloomfield’s patchy start to 2012 continued last week at the Wirral Tennis & Sports Centre with a second round exit at the $15k Futures event.

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Bloomfield lost to 22-year-old Sean Thornley of Kent 6-4, 6-4 after blasting his way past eighth seed Karan Rastogi in the first round.

Thornley, ranked 134 places below the Norfolk man at 606, was more suited to the slower surface and played a consistent match, forcing Bloomfield into errors that had not been evident in his 6-3, 6-2 victory over Rastogi. A break of serve in each set was enough to steer the British number 19 into the third round and leave Bloomfield frustrated.

The Alpington man admitted struggling with the pace of the court. He said: “The courts were so slow and it was difficult for me to hit through them. Points were going on much longer than suits my game and it became an uphill battle.”

“The first set was frustrating with some things that went against me that perhaps shouldn’t have, but it just didn’t happen in the second set.”

Bloomfield will head back to the Graves Centre in Sheffield for a British Tour event this week.

In a recent Futures tournament at the same venue, the 28-year-old from Alpington bowed out in the last 16 following a straight sets defeat to Northamptonshire’s Alex Ward.

So far, 2012 is yet to produce any results of note for the former Hobart High School pupil who has exited the last three Futures events before the quarter -inal stages and a run at the British Tour level in Billesley was cut short in the semi-final by British number 4 Josh Goodall in three sets.