Greg's second round opponent in qualifying for the Tallahassee Challenger was another ex-collegiate player 25 year-old American Jean-Yves Aubone, currently ranked 1066. Aubone has a game better than his ranking suggests as he has two Futures titles under his belt, albeit in the past, and knocked off the No.5 seed in the previous round.
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| Green clay courts |
Both players got off to a good start, games going with serve to 2-2. Greg held serve again to go to 3-2 up, then proceeded to bring up break-point, converting opportunity to breaking Aubone's serve mid set to lead 4-2. Greg was dominating with his serve, at 80% for the set, and consolidated the break of serve for a 5-2 advantage. With Aubone serving to stay in the set, Greg struck again and broke Aubone to win the first set 6-2, without facing a break point himself.
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| Jean-Yves Aubone |
It was more of the same in the second set. Greg maintained his focus and momentum, breaking Aubone and then holding serve well to dominate in the second set. He broke the luckless Aubone three times and again did not face a break point, winning 10 games in a row, to win the set 6-0, for a rare bagel, and qualifying for the main tournament with a polished 6-2, 6-0 win.
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| Greg's hotel in Tallahassee |
A confidence boost for Greg who has not won two matches in a row for awhile, but it will be tempered by the quality of the opposition beaten, with much tougher opposition to come. He will be extremely pleased and relieved that he qualified.
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