Grass Season - Manta on Hard #1

Greg's first assignment in the Manta Challenger tournament in Ecuador was the doubles, partnering with his travel mate and good friend Greg Ouellette. They were up against the No.4 seeds, Colombians 24 year-old Alejandro Gonzalez and 30 year-old Carlos Salamanca, currently ranked 280 and 361 respectively and both with much higher singles rankings. A challenge for the "Greg's" and a very winnable match.
With Jonesie serving first it was the "Gregs" who got the early break to lead 3-1, then 4-1. The Colombians hit back winning 3 games in a row and breaking back to level the score at 4-4. The "Gregs" stopped that streak and took the score to 6-5. They put the pressure on the Colombians and broke them to win the set 7-5.

Alejandro Gonzalez

The first three games of the second set all went to sudden-death deuce but this time it was the Colombian who had the luck, winning all three games, breaking the "Gregs" twice to lead 3-0. The "Gregs" broke back to get to 3-1, then held serve for 3-2. The Colombians then saved another break-point in denying the "Gregs" drawing level to go 4-2, then 5-2 up. They then broke the "Gregs" again, this time on Ouellette's serve to win the second set 6-2, and take the match into the match tie-break (first to 10).

Veteran Carlos Salamanca

The Colombians held serve and then were the first to get a mini-break, but the "Gregs" broke back immediately and then crafted a mini-break of theire own to lead 4-3. Unfortunately Jonesie double faulted and handed the break back, points going with serve to 7-8, in favour of the Colombians. The "Gregs" lost the next point on their serve to give the Colombians two match point at 7-9. Jonesie saved one point on his serve to trail 8-9 and then they again denied the Colombians, this time on the Colombians serve, to level at 9-9. The Colombians held serve to bring up their 3rd match point, but on Greg Ouellettes serve but this time the "Gregs" could not deny the Colombians, dropping the point to lose the tie-break 11-9.
Another oh-so-close result, this time against Greg.
Greg said they had played well but small things win close matches and the three sudden-death deuce games which went the Colombians way at the beginning of the second set turned the tide of the match and although the "Gregs" had fought hard, they could not take their chances and ended up on the wrong side of the score-line.
Earlier in the day Greg Ouellette won his first round singles match, while Greg is only scheduled to play tomorrow.