After a week training and hitting at Melbourne Park it was down to the serious business of the Australian Open Wild Card Play-off, where the winner of the event receives direct entry into the main draw of the 2011 Australian Open. In knockout format for the first time Greg was seeded 7 and had a bye in the 24 man draw.
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| AO Wild Card Players at Draw |
His second round opponent was rising star and recent Australian AIS recruit Sean Berman. Born in South Africa but currently listed as USA and having come from New Zealand, Berman now calls Australia home. The seventeen year-old was a finalist at the Australian Open Junior Boys Single in 2010 and last week won the 18s National single title. Ranked 864 in the ATP Berman is definitely a young player of which to be wary. They took to the court at 6pm after waiting all day for the previous match to finish after some atrocious weather and it was still cold and windy when Greg started serving. Berman was quick out of the blocks and returned well, getting Greg to 30-all and then immediately bringing up a break-point.
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| Greg with Adam Feeney at Draw |
Greg countered with an ace to save and then held for 1-0. Greg then attacked the weaker serve of Berman and broke Berman to love to take a 2-0 lead. Greg then quickly reeled off another 3 games, breaking Berman again to go to 5-0. He held three set point at 0-40 but a combination of a lack of concentration by Greg and good play by Berman saw Berman fight back to deuce and then hold for 5-1. Greg was forced to serve for the set which he did.
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| Sean Berman |
In the 2nd set Berman started making a few more balls and getting into longer rallies, getting more aggressive and started to hold serve more easily. Greg countered but went too aggressively and missed a few more shots. Games went with serve to 3-3. Greg recognised that a rhythm was developing and Berman was slowly growing in confidence so decided to be less aggressive but more accurate, attacking Berman's 1st serves and catching him with some good returns. He succeeded in getting Berman to 0-30, then 0-40, breaking Berman on the 3rd break point to get a break up at 4-3. Greg held for 5-3, then failed to pressurise Berman with two serve return errors, for Berman to hold for 5-4 and force Greg to serve for the match.
Greg duly served out the set 6-4, winning the match 6-1, 6-4 to advance to the second round, t be played tomorrow.
After a week training and hitting at Melbourne Park it was down to the serious business of the Australian Open Wild Card Play-off, where the winner of the event receives direct entry into the main draw of the 2011 Australian Open. In knockout format for the first time Greg was seeded 7 and had a bye in the 24 man draw. 
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