Aussie Summer 2015-16 #18

The view from the Corporate tent

Another 40 degree day faced the finalists in the Futures tournament in Mildura. It was a long wait for the Men, as the Ladies final progressed through three long sets and the men were forced to wait an hour longer, as the mercury continued to rise. Greg's opponent was the 5th seed, 25 year old Victorian Dayne Kelly, who has had his share of time-off with injury and other problems over the years. Those days appear to be behind Kelly though and he has been in good form lately, winning a Futures title on hard court in Wollongong in November, and is currently ranked 482. A strong player, with a consistent baseline game, a good serve and a strong forehand, Kelly also had the added factor of being left-handed, bringing different angles to his serve and play.
Greg again served first and competently held to lead 1-0, then put the pressure on Kelly to bring up two break points at 15-40, only for Kelly to deny him the break by winning four points in a row to level the score. It was then Kelly's turn to have Greg facing two break points on his serve. Greg was not serving as well as in previous games and was struggling to regularly land his first serve, saving one break point but losing the next to hand the advantage to Kelly, who then held serve to love to lead 3-1. Greg fought back, holding then breaking back the next game to level the set at 3-3. But with his first serve not firing, Kelly was able to put Greg under more pressure returning a lot of second serves, bringing up and converting break point again to lead 4-3. Greg fought hard to break back but Kelly was hitting his spots with his left-hand serve, holding serve to consolidate the break, then after Greg held his serve with two aces in the game, Kelly served out the set to love, winning it 6-4.

Leftie Dayne Kelly

After a short comfort break in the searing heat, Greg did not get off to a great start, Kelly breaking Greg in the first game to be able to dictate the match. Greg again fought back getting Kelly to 0-40 and having three break point opportunities but could not make any further progress, Kelly responding and reeling off five consecutive points to deny Greg again and go to a 2-0 lead. Games then went with serve to 4-2. Kelly then again had Greg facing break points at 15-40. Greg recovered to level at deuce, but then pressing too hard Greg served a double fault and presented Kelly with another opportunity which Kelly converted to go a double break out at 5-2 up. Greg saved two match points but was unable to stop Kelly, who won the set 6-2 and the Mildura 2016 Mens Grass Court title6-4, 6-2.
Greg said he was disappointed in his level of intensity at the start of the match, and his service overall, but thought the heat and long wait was a contributor to his slow start. He thought it may have been a different result had he managed to break Kelly in the second game of both sets but said Kelly had played well and had won the right points when the question was asked, Greg throwing in double faults or errors at crucial times. He was elated about his performance over the week, especially the way he played, his ability to stay focussed for longer periods and the way he had served. It was the first time he had played multiple matches in a week and had grown in confidence throughout the week. Most importantly, he had not experienced any fitness problems and had come through the week's tennis unscathed, with a decent haul of points which will help his battle to climb back up the rankings.