American Summer 2013 - Aptos #1

Having  received a special exemption into the Aptos Challenger, getting from Vancouver to Aptos proved to be a challenge for Greg and fellow travellers, as the flight was delayed and they only got into San Francisco at midnight, forcing Greg to find a hotel and stay overnight in 'Frisco. He got to Aptos a day late, which restricted his practice time and his time to adjust to the courts, which were a lot slower than Vancouver. His first round match was against the No. 8 seed, 28 year-old Taiwanese Jimmy Wang. A former top 100 player, with a high rank of 85 attained in 2006, Jimmy was forced to take a two year break from the game due to injury, but now back on the tour for about two years, has struggled to get back up in the top 100 but has still worked his way back to a decent ranking of 139. A consistent and accurate player with good movement, Wang could test Greg's big court game. 

It was a very cold summers day with temperatures around 15 degrees, and an icy wind chill factor which made it colder, that greated the players for the first round encounter. Wang held serve and then immediately broke a slow starting Greg, then quickly held serve again to lead 3-0. Greg started the fight back, getting to 40-30 on his serve but Wang, with a break advantage, went for his shots and pegged Greg back and broke him again to lead 4-0. He then quickly held to lead 5-0, then broke Greg again, to deliver a bagel 6-0 first set loss to Greg.

Seascape Resort & Club at Aptos

Serving first in the second set, and with momentum all his way, Wang held serve end then attacked Greg's serve again. Greg was landing a good percentage of first serves but on the slow courts, with heavy balls in the cold weather, he was not getting the zip he normally gets and Wang was able to pick his serve. He broke Greg again to lead 2-0. Greg fought back getting Wang to face break-point but Wang was able to save, and win the game, to lead 3-0. Another break of serve against Greg and a hold by Wang saw Greg staring at a 0-5 scoreline for the second time. A double break up, Wang was swinging freely, and he broke Greg for the sixth time to win 6-0, 6-0. Easily Greg's worst score-line in his career. 

Jimmy Wang

It was a litany of circumstances which contributed to the loss for Greg. He said he was still fatigued from the previous three tournaments in a row and from travelling, the courts were slow (James Ward, who has a similar game to Greg dropped his serve 9 times in his match), the cold weather made the balls heavier, there was an icy swirling breeze, Greg was off and Wang was on fire.
So hopefully Greg will cope with that shocker of a loss, recover and continue on his way.