Back to the USA 2010 - Update #4

In the second round of the singles at Calabasas Greg faced the No.6 seed and fellow Aussie 25 year-old Marinko Matosevic, currently ranked at his career high ranking of 157. Greg and Marinko have played each other a number of times with Greg having won their 1st encounter but Matosevic having won all the matches since then, so a tough assignment for Greg.



It was a very close first set with games going to 5-5. Greg then applied pressure to the Matosevic serve, getting the upper hand and breaking Matosevic to go 6-5 up. Greg served for the set confidently, winning the 1st set 7-5.

It was a very irritated Matosevic who served first in the 2nd. Greg took full advantage and immediately broke Matosevic and then held serve, then broke again to go to a 3-0, double break lead. A desperate Matosevic then went for everything, teeing off on return of serve and aggressively taking the game to Greg and managed to break back, 3-1 in games. Matosevic held serve and then again broke Greg again to level at 3-3. Greg hit back and broke Matosevic again to go 4-3 and then 5-3 up. Matosevic held serve and then put the pressure on a now rapidly tiring Greg who served for the match. Greg was unable to get to match point and it was Matosevic who again broke Greg to level again at 5-5. Matosevic held for 6-5 and then broke Greg again to complete a remarkable come-back to win the set 7-5 and level the match at 1 set all.
The third set belonged to Matosevic who broke Greg early and then ran away with the set, and the match, winning the set 6-1.

Calabasas Swim & Tennis Centre

Greg said he literally ran out of puff. The inability to train properly for the last six weeks, due to his knee injuries from the New York taxi accident and then the injury sustained in the final of the CW Games, had left him short on fitness and it caught up with him mid-way through the second set, after the closely fought, energy sapping first set.Greg was very disappointed, as he had played excellent tennis to get into a match winning position and was not able to go on with the job and finish off the second set.
Marinko went on to win the tournament.