Grass Season - Gerry Webber #2

Backing up on the same day for the second round of qualifying in Halle at the Gerry Webber Sportpark complex, Greg faced the No.5 seed, 24 year-old Nikola Mektic, who had also played a first round match earlier that day, so both were slightly tired. Born the year before Greg, but only 36 days older, Mektic and Greg were friendly with each other on the Junior ITF circuit, with the Croatian ranked 218 currently, near his high ranking achieved last month, so in good form.

The outside courts

Greg held serve and then immediately had Mektic facing break points in his first service game. He broke Mektic and then consolidated the break, holding serve to love. Greg was on fire, in the zone, and broke again and held serve to take a stranglehold on the first set. Mektic steadied the ship, holding serve to get his name on the scoreboard but could not stop a rampant Greg, who won 12 of his 13 first serves in the set, from serving out the set to love, 6-1.

Sportpark Hotel where the stars stay

Mektic rallied back though at the start of the second set, serving well to go 1-0 up then getting Greg to 15-40. Greg saved those break points and then another in levelling at 1-1. But Mektic was now fighting hard and at 2-1 again had Greg facing a break-point, this time converting the opportunity to lead 3-1. It was now Greg's turn to hit back and he broke Mektic and held his serve to love to level the set at 3-3, games going with serve to 4-4.

Court 1 which can be seen from the hotel

Greg then brought up another break-point opportunity. Mektic saved but in a long game Greg twice more had break-point opportunities and Mektic rose to the challenge, eventually winning the game to go 5-4 up. Perhaps with the thought of the missed opportunity still on his mind, Greg fell behind in his next service game and faced a break-point against him, also a set point. Like Mektic, he dug deep and won the point, denying Mektic and taking the score to 6-6. Greg then attacked and had Mektic facing three more break-points. Three good first serves saw Mektic thwart Greg but Greg was relentless, getting Mektic back to deuce then creating another opportunity, this time converting and giving himself the chance to serve for the match. With both players stretching their physical capabilities at the end of their second match of the day, Mektic drew on his reserves to get Greg to 30-40 and broke Greg, desperately levelling the score at 6-6, taking the set into the tie-break.

Croatian Nikola Mektic

Greg hit back breaking Mektic on the first point but Mektic was tenacious, immediately getting the mini-break back. Greg held for 2-1, then broke Mektic again  to lead 3-1. Mektic held for 3-2, as did Greg to get to 4-2, then 5-2. Mektic did not go away, holding for 5-3. Greg got another mini-break to bring up three match points at 6-3, with Greg serving for the first two of those opportunities.

Typical Tudor style in Westfallen

But Mektic was like a dog on a bone, and Greg's first serve deserted him as he tightened up and Mektic surprisingly won both of Greg serve and got the score to 5-6, still facing the third match point but this time on his own serve.  Greg was not to be denied this time though, breaking Mektic and winning the tie-breal 7-5 and a memorable match, for him, 6-1, 7-5 to progress to the final round of qualifying.

A tired but satisfied Greg headed off for dinner. He said he had played well in both matches, his serve stats were good and his body was stiff but not sore or injured. Let's hope it holds together for his next match.