USA in the Autumn 2012 #3

The Centre Court at Sacremento

The final round of qualifying in the Sacramento Challenger had Greg facing the No.7 seed, 21 year-old American Devon Britton, currently ranked 463, with a high rank of 441. A contest Greg should be confident of winning but lately he has been lacking that confidence.

In a closely contested first set both players offered up just one break point each, Britton managing to deny Greg but Greg unable to prevent Britton from breaking him and taking the lead, games going to 5-4 with Britton serving for the set. Greg was unable to break back and Britton  won the set 6-4.

Devon Britton

In the second set it was Greg who served the better and forced Britton to save three break-points, whilst saving one himself. Greg eventually broke on the fourth opportunity, going on to win the set 6-3 and keep himself in the match.
Serving second in the 3rd set Greg's cause was not helped by a drop in is first serve percentage but he did win 100% of those serves and performed well enough on his second offering to get to 3-3. He was returning well and forced Britton  to save four break points before breaking him on the fourth opportunity of the set, to lead 4-3. Greg held serve for 5-4 and then pressurised a despondent Britton who half tanked the game to give Greg the second break of the set and the 3rd set 6-3. Greg won the match 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 to qualify for the main draw.
A satisfying result for Greg who will be hoping for a kind draw in a very strong Challenger field.