Greg departed the training venue at Sawgrass Country Club in Ponte Vedra on Thursday and headed, via a long layover in Chicago, to Sacramento on the west coast in California, to play in the qualifying rounds of the $100,000 Challenger event. He was joined there by good friend and sometimes flat mate David Bidmeade, who will work with Greg for the next few weeks as a hitting partner and sounding board.
Greg is seeded at No.3 in the qualifying and, with four players qualifying for the main draw, is seeded to get through, but normally would have to win three matches to do so. In this tournament however there are only 28 players in the qualifying draw so the top four seeds received a bye into the second round of qualifying.
His opponent in the second round was a hot junior USA player, 17 year-old Mckenzie McDonald, who is coached by ex-South African player Wayne Ferreira and received a wild-card into the qualifying event. Unranked in the ATP, Mcdonald is 17th in the Junior ITF World rankings, based on a limited schedule, so should be a handy player. Both players had a bad start, dropping their first serves in getting to 2-2. Greg then broke McDonald to lead 3-2. The lead was short-lived as McDonald broke back immediately for 3-3. The next game was a pivotal as Greg fought back from 40-15 down to bring up another break-point opportunity. He could not convert that opportunity but did on his fourth break-point of the game going 4-3 up, then holding serve to lead 5-3. He then broke McDonald again to win the first set 6-3.
Just when things were going well for Greg, McDonald rallied and started going all out on his shots in the 2nd set. Games went with serve to 3-3, then Greg, serving the last game with the old balls, was facing double break point at 15-40. He was unable to stop McDonald from breaking and taking a 4-3 lead. Both players held serve to get to 5-4 and Greg could not prevent McDonald from serving out the set and levelling the match at 1 set apiece.
Serving first in the third set Greg was forced to survive an early scare when he saved a break-point opportunity in the first game. McDonald had the bit between his teeth and was growing in confidence, holding serve with ease, games going to 2-2 on serve. Then McDonald got Greg to 15-40 and applied the pressure in an attempt to break. Greg scrapped his way back to deuce but then twice more faced break-points. He dug deep and saved those, eventually bringing up game point and holding serve to get to 3-2 up. Both players then held serve. With the score at 5-4 to Greg, McDonald serving at 40-15 looked set to even the score but Greg had other ideas, winning three points in a row to bring up a break-point, this time match-point. A very relieved Greg won the point, to win a closely contested and hard fought match 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 and progress to the final round of qualifying.
Greg was nervous in his first match for three weeks, after his woes in China, but his experience and consistency in his serves counted in the end. McDonald's serve dropped to 39% in the 3rd set and Greg was able to take advantage of looking at a lot of second serves, and returned well enough to cause McDonald trouble.
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| Sacramento |
Greg is seeded at No.3 in the qualifying and, with four players qualifying for the main draw, is seeded to get through, but normally would have to win three matches to do so. In this tournament however there are only 28 players in the qualifying draw so the top four seeds received a bye into the second round of qualifying.
His opponent in the second round was a hot junior USA player, 17 year-old Mckenzie McDonald, who is coached by ex-South African player Wayne Ferreira and received a wild-card into the qualifying event. Unranked in the ATP, Mcdonald is 17th in the Junior ITF World rankings, based on a limited schedule, so should be a handy player. Both players had a bad start, dropping their first serves in getting to 2-2. Greg then broke McDonald to lead 3-2. The lead was short-lived as McDonald broke back immediately for 3-3. The next game was a pivotal as Greg fought back from 40-15 down to bring up another break-point opportunity. He could not convert that opportunity but did on his fourth break-point of the game going 4-3 up, then holding serve to lead 5-3. He then broke McDonald again to win the first set 6-3.
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| Mackenzie MCDonald |
Serving first in the third set Greg was forced to survive an early scare when he saved a break-point opportunity in the first game. McDonald had the bit between his teeth and was growing in confidence, holding serve with ease, games going to 2-2 on serve. Then McDonald got Greg to 15-40 and applied the pressure in an attempt to break. Greg scrapped his way back to deuce but then twice more faced break-points. He dug deep and saved those, eventually bringing up game point and holding serve to get to 3-2 up. Both players then held serve. With the score at 5-4 to Greg, McDonald serving at 40-15 looked set to even the score but Greg had other ideas, winning three points in a row to bring up a break-point, this time match-point. A very relieved Greg won the point, to win a closely contested and hard fought match 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 and progress to the final round of qualifying.
Greg was nervous in his first match for three weeks, after his woes in China, but his experience and consistency in his serves counted in the end. McDonald's serve dropped to 39% in the 3rd set and Greg was able to take advantage of looking at a lot of second serves, and returned well enough to cause McDonald trouble.
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