Jan 25, 2011

AO Series 2011 - Update #9

In the second round of the doubles Greg and Sam were up against the No.4 seeded pairing of Lukasz Kubot from Poland and Oliver Marach of Austria. An accomplished doubles pair they would be a tough assignment for the Aussie pair, before a large crowd on Margaret Court arena in an evening feature match..
The match started well with big Sam serving out the 1st game with ease and the Aussie pair forcing the No.4 seeds to deuce before their opponents held for 1-1. Greg served next but his first two serves were both returned and Sam made volley errors at the net on both points. 0-30 down Greg went for more on his serves and double faulted to go 0-40 down. A good first serve saved one break point but another double fault gifted the No.4 seeds a break, to go 2-1, then 3-1, up. Sam began his service game with a double fault, eventually losing his serve to go 4-1, then 5-1 down. Another double fault by Greg, some great returns of good first serves and some poor volleying saw Greg and Sam drop serve again, losing the first set 6-1.
The second set started better for the Aussie pair with both Sam and Greg holding serve to get to 2-3 down. The No.4 seeds were on fire though, and broke the Aussie pair again, then stamping their authority on the match with some good serving and excellent doubles play, winning the third set 6-3 to bundle out the Australians from the doubles, 6-1, 6-3.
Greg was not impressed with how they had played overall but acknowledged that the specialist doubles No.4 seeds had played exceptionally well, returning Sam and his big serves well, and volleying better than the Aussie pair.
All in all it was Greg's best performance at an Australian Open and hopefully bodes well for the year to come. He now travels to Honolulu to commence the Challanger circuit tournament for 2011.

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