Asian Tournies #10

The semi-finals in the Fergana Challenger had Greg's match first on court, up against the No.2 seed Yuichi Sugita, currently ranked 194, with a high rank of 162 earlier this year, so in good form. Greg leads 1-0 head-to-head, Greg beating Sugita early in 2010 but Sugita has improved his ranking over 110 places since then, so a tough match could be expected.

Yuichi Sugita

Greg took charge of the 1st set and with one break of serve won the set 6-3.

Sugita hit back and matched Greg in the 2nd set, breaking Greg and serving out the set in a reverse of the scoreline 6-3, to level the scores in a very even match.

The 3rd set was a test of wills and endurance, games going to 5-5. Greg served and held, to lead 6-5. He then applied the pressure on Sugita and brought up break-point on Sugita's serve, converting the match point to win the set 7-5, and the match 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, to advance to the third Challenger final of his career.

Greg has displayed great fighting abilities and endurance this week, with all four matches going to three sets and all with very close score-lines. Let's hope he has something left in the tank for the final.

Wish him luck!