Back in the Saddle #11 - On Grass

Grass courts at Nottingham

The second round of qualifying has Greg shaping up against the No.1 seed, Australian Marinko Matosevic. A wild card entrant due to the fact that he had reached the semis in the previous event (and lost) and by that fact was not able to play in the qualifying event of the ATP tournament at Queens, it was a surprise that Aussie Marinko Matosevic did not receive a special exempt entry into the main draw. Currently at his highest ranking, newly entered in the ATP top 100 at 89, Marinko has a good record against Greg, recently beating him soundly in the final of the Caloundra Challenger on hard court in February. Marinko played three matches yesterday, the QF and SF round of the first Nottingham Challenger event and the first round of qualifying, so let's hope he is fatigued and Greg can take advantage and play his best tennis to turn the tables on Marinko.
On grass, late in the afternoon, Greg served first and made a confident start, as did Matosevic. With the server dominating, games went with serve, back and forth, to 5-4, Greg leading. Greg then upped the ante and hit two winners to get Matosevic to 15-40, then converted the set-point with another winner to pouch the first set 6-4.

Marinko Matosevic

Serving first again in the second set, Matosevic hit back, forcing Greg to break-point and then converting the opportunity to win the first game and lead 1-0. Annoyed, Greg fought back and immediately broke Matosevic to level the match at 1-1. Although the 1st serve percentages of both player's dropped from that of the first set, the server dominated in the 2nd set, games going back and forth with serve to 6-6 and the tie-break. Greg held his first point and then got a mini-break to go ahead. He consolidated that break and then broke again to lead 5-2 and have the opportunity to serve out the tie-break. He brought up match point and then won the next point to win the tie break 7-2 and the set 7-6, winning the match and progressing to the final with a solid 6-4, 7-6 win.
Still one match to win to get into the main draw but it was another good win over a top 100 ranked player. Admittedly Matosevic was tired from a full tournament week and three matches played on the previous day but Greg knuckled down and took his opportunity to record a good win. Now for the final round of qualifying.