USA in the Autumn 2012 #7

View of the Tiburon Peninsula,
north of San Fransisco 

In the second round of qualifying in Tiburon Greg was up against another US ex-college player 23 year old Drew Courtney, unranked in the ATP. Courtney was ranked in the top 20 nationally and has a decent doubles ranking at 229, but it is a  match Greg, seeded 6, would expect to win unless Courtney is an as yet untapped talent. 

Drew Courtney



Greg started well, holding serve and breaking Courtney in his first service game to lead 2-0. Greg then went walk-about and at 40-0 on his serve lost 5points in a row and dropped his serve. He hit back immediately, breaking Courtney to lead 3-1, games then going with serve to 5-2. Greg then again broke serve to win the set 6-2 and serve first in the 2nd set.

It was Courtney's turn to hit back and, helped by a lack of concentration on Greg' part, he broke Greg and held serve to lead 2-0. Greg re-focussed, held serve and then broke back, games going with serve to 5-5. Greg then held to lead 6-5 and put the pressure on Courtney to serve to stay on the match. He buckled and Greg broke to win the game, the set 7-5 and the match 6-2, 7-5.
Greg said he was never in trouble in the match but did lack concentration at times, something he will need to tighten up.