The final round of qualifying for the US Open had Greg faced up against the No. 9 qualifying seed 25 year-old Japanese Go Soeda, currently ranked 122, with a high rank of 90 in April 2011, so in good form. Interestingly Soeda was the only seed in Greg's half of the draw, out of 16 seeds, to make the final round of qualifying, the others having lost in the first two rounds. Greg and Soeda had played once before, on indoor carpet in Japan, with Soeda winning in three sets.
Greg served first and was immediately put to the test by Soeda who forced Greg to save a break point and face multiple deuces before Greg could hold, to lead 1-0. At 1-1 Greg again faced two break points at 15-40 but again he saved and got to 2-1. At 2-2 Greg had game point on his serve but could not convert and Soeda got him to deuce and then broke to lead 3-2. Greg got Soeda to 0-30 in the next game but Soeda responded and won four points in a row to go to 4-2. Greg held for 3-4 and Soeda did likewise to lead 5-3 before getting Greg to 15-40 afcing two set-points, Soeda converting to take the set 6-3 and serve first in the second set. |
| Go Soeda |
Soeda held to love and then again got Greg to deuce and break-point, converting to take an early lead in the 2nd set, then held serve for 3-0. Greg saved break-point again in the next service game but, after four deuces could not stop Soeda from bringing up and converting another break-point to take a decisive 4-0 lead. Soeda held to lead 5-0 and had Greg facing the possibility of being bagelled, but Greg responded and got his name on the 2nd set score-board at 5-1. Then he forced Soeda to 0-40 to have his first break-point opportunity of the match. Soeda saved those 3 points but Greg again brought up break-points and converted to get one break at 5-2. After another long deuce game Greg managed to hold serve to stay alive in the match at 5-3. This time though,with Soeda serving for the match for a second time Greg was unable to get any in-roads into the serve and Soeda duly served out the set 6-3, winning the match 6-3, 6-3 and qualifying for the US Open Main Draw.
Greg was bitterly disappointed but he had served well, at 60% for the match, but Soeda had returned better, especially on the "ad" court and Greg could not finish his service games.
And so ended his dream of qualifying for a Grand Slam event in 2011. He had done well this year, with two final showings in qualifying, but not been able to get over that final hurdle. Now to prepare for next year. First a bit of R&R, some rest back in Australia, and then the campaign will start again.
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