Australia in the Summer 2017 - Burnie #2

Sunday in Burnie saw Greg waiting for the other matches to finish before taking to court in the late afternoon for the final qualifying round. Seeded No.4 Greg was up against another young Australian, 21 year old Jacob Grills, currently ranked 1033, but with a high rank of 529. Greg will have to serve well to be in this match.
And he did start well, holding serve to love, breaking Grills to love, then holding to love again, winning the first 14 points to go out to a 3-0 lead. Grills then managed to steady the ship, getting a few points on the board and winning the game to get on the board at 1-3. Then at 4-2, Greg stumbled, Grills forcing him to deuce, then breaking Greg on the third break point to get back on serve. Both players then held serve before Greg forced Grills to face set point at 4-5. Grills denied Greg, saving break point to level at 5-5, then going to the tie-break at 6-6.
In the tie-break it was Greg who got the first mini-break to change ends at 4-2. He the held serve and broke Grills again to have 4 set points at 6-2. But Grills had more to say, saving those points, denying Greg again to change ends at 6-6. Greg dug deep bringing up another set point st 7-6. Grills saved on his serve to level. Then Greg broke Grills to have another set point on his serve this time at 8-7, only for Grills to break back again to level to 8-8. Greg served to bring up his seventh set point at 9-8, this time breaking Grills serve again to win the tie-break 10-8, and the first set 7-6. Whew

Aussie Jacob Grills

After that hectic first set the serve stats of both players dropped to around 55% but games still went with serve until 3-2, Grills advantage. Then he forced Greg to defend three separate reak-points. Greg rose to the challenge, saving two, but was unable to prevent Grills from breaking, going 2-4 down in the process. Greg looked to be tiring as Grills raced to a 5-2 lead. Greg forced him to serve for the set by getting the score to 5-3. And he was not done in the set, breaking Grills to get back on serve at 5-4 and giving himself an opportunity to win the match in straight sets. He held serve with renewed vigour and then forced Grills to defend break-point at 5-5. Grills responded again though, denying Greg and winning the game to transfer the pressure onto Greg, forcing him to serve to stay in the set at 5-6. Greg recovered from 0-30 to get to game point but Grills levelled the score and brought up break-point, seizing the set point opportunity to win the set 7-5 and level the match at one set a piece.
So into the third set with Grills having the advantage of serving first, with new balls. But Greg had other ideas about that, attacking from the start of the set and breaking Grills, then holding serve to go 2-0 up. Greg then surprised Grills with some excellent serving, both players serving at over 70%, to only drop three points on his serve in the set, maintaining his break advantage over Grills to quickly get the score to 5-3. With Grills serving to stay in the set and the match, Greg applied pressure and forced Grills to 15-40, bringing up three set points. Greg gratefully converted at the first opportunity, winning the third set 6-3 and an eventful 2hour 35 minute match 76(8), 5-7, 6-3.
On reflection Greg could have won the first set a lot quicker after dominating the early part of the match and having six set points before thankfully winning the seventh, without giving up a set point against himself at the same time. He struggled to maintain any consistency and focus in the beginning of the second set, but was able to lift himself to challenge for the set in the latter stages, then was totally focussed and in the zone in the third, displaying good mental fortitude, resilience and a degree of match fitness after quite a long lay-off with injury.
And he qualified for the Main Draw for the singles.