American Summer 2013 - Binghampton #1

After a week training with Todd Martin, with some other top players such as Brian Baker, in Newport, which is one of Greg's favourite destinations, it was off to Binghampton, in New York State, for the next Challenger tournament. A relatively poor standard draw had been boosted by a few higher profile USA wild cards and so Greg missed out on being seeded for the singles.
In a quirk of the draw gods, Greg was drawn against the player he shared accommodation with in Newport, long time mate, Aussie JP Smith. The two have known and played with and against each other since they were 12 years old. A US College four time "All American" of the year and voted SEC Male Athlete in 2011 during during his college days, JP made a quick transition to the pro-tour, reaching a high rank of 210, However he dropped 100 places in the ranking last week, as he was unable to defend the points he earned in winning the Winnetka Challenger title last year, due to still being involved in the rain delayed doubles at Wimbledon, and could not get to the tournament, and a result is now ranked 388. As in the past, it will be an even contest between the two mates.

JP Smith at the Australian Open

Serving first it was Smith who got the better start in the match, breaking Greg to go ahead, 4-1. Greg held serve, as did Smith to get to 5-2. Then Smith broke Greg again to take a set he dominated 6-2, despite Greg having a high first serve percentage.

The second set was a tight fought affair, both players taking the advantage, with two breaks of serve each, games eventually going to the tie-break at 6 games all. The tie-break was also a see-sawing affair, Greg and JP changing ends for the second time tied at 6-6. Greg then went ahead, getting the decisive mini-break to win the tie- break 8-6, to level the match at a set-all.
Greg served well in the third set but was unable to take advantage of low percentage serving by Smith. Smith however was reading Greg's serve and managed to break Greg twice and take the initiative. Greg fought back breaking Smith to close the gap. He then held serve to get to 4-5 but despite getting Smith to 30-30 he was unable to prevent Smith from serving out the set, winning the set 6-4, and giving Greg another close loss, 2-6, 7-6, 6-4.

Not a match Greg would have enjoyed, as Smith, a left-hander, is a very consistent, accurate player, who makes his opponent go for winners, and wears his opponent down. Greg will be very disappointed with that result.