Away in Asia - Autumn 2016 #3

Picturesque Gwanju

Greg has been hoping for a day off before playing his first round of the main draw after two long qualifying matches, but unfortunately for him the scheduling saw him straight back into the fray the next day. He also did not have the best of luck, the worst actually, in the draw for the qualifying spots. With four qualifying places available, Greg drew the No1. seed, 25 year old Lithuanian Ricardas Berankis, currently ranked 80 in the singles, with a high rank of 67. Berankis was no doubt "vulturing" points in this Asian Challenger tournament when he could have been playing in more lucrative and prestigious tournaments like Monte Carlo. Just Greg's luck. He will have to play his best tennis and serve at his best to match Berankis.
Greg started well, serving well but was quickly under pressure from Berankis, facing break points early in the set but saving those points to get the score to 2-2. However Berankis was starting to pick Greg's service and kept the pressure on, brining up break points again. Greg saved the first but Berankis converted the second break point opportunity to go ahead 3-2. Greg fought back but Berankis was hitting his spots on serve and held to lead 4-2. Greg served well to stay close, then Berankis again closed out the game to go 5-3 up, and put pressure on Greg to hold serve to stay in the game. Berankis was in the zone now though and broke Greg again to win the first set 6-3, and get the right to serve first in the second set.

Berankis at Wimbledon

Berankis continued his good form in the second set, returning extremely well, limiting Greg to winning just two points in his first two serve and breaking him twice in quick succession to sprint out to a 4-0 lead. Greg dug deep and attacked Berankis' serve, getting him to face two break points, converting the second point to break Berankis and get on the score-board in the second set. This just refocused Berankis who then broke Greg to love, even though three of those serves were first serves, to extend his lead to 5-1. With little ado he then served out the set to win the match 6-3, 6-1.
Greg said he had tried all he could but had not served as well as he had hoped to, making a good percentage of first serves but not hitting his spots, so that once Berankis had adjusted to Greg's style, he had been able to make a high percentage of quality returns and put Greg under pressure constantly. Greg said he had never had so many winners whizz past him, and on the day had been beaten by a superior player. On the positive side he had qualified for the tournament, earning 5 points and coming through three successive matches with a clean bill of health.
Out of the tournament, Greg will recover for a day then get back in to some training and prepare for next week's tournament in China.