Aussie Summer 2015-16 #8

It was the second week of the Australian Open and Greg was playing at Melbourne Park, not in the Open though but in the finals of the Asia-Pacific Tennis League. Greg's team, the Kooyong Classics, had qualified for the final back in November. 
Their first match was against a Japanese Team, The Mitsubishi Warriors. Greg's opponent Y.Tagawa was a short, stocky player, who belied his height with a strong first serve, confident ground strokes and a strong volley game, advancing to the net whenever possible. Fortunately Greg was able to match him and take advantage of a weakish second serve.

Japanese Tagawa

Serving first, Greg was untroubled in the first set, breaking Tagawa in the 2nd game, to win the short-format game first set 4-1. Both players held serve in the second set, going to the tie-break at 3-3. Greg was able to get a break of serve, winning the tie-break 5-1, and the match 4-1, 4-3. 
The Kooyong Classics team advanced to the semi-finals with a 6-0 match score-line against the plucky Japanese side.

The Kooyong Classics team

The next day, the Classics had to work a lot harder, up against a strong New Zealand Kauris team. Greg's opponent James Meredith, started slowly and Greg jumped out to an immediate lead, consolidating a break with some good serving and winning the first set 6-2. The second set was a tighter affair, going to the tie-break at 3-3, but Greg held his nerve to win it 5-3, and the match 4-2, 4-3, helping the Classics to a 3-1 lead, with three set wins by Omar Jasika and Ruben Statham but a 3 set loss to Whittington. In the doubles, the Classics needed to win two sets to clinch the tie and advance to the finals.

Kiwi James Meredith

Greg paired with Omar Jasika, but they were no match for the hard-hitting left handed veteran Wesley Whitehouse, who beat Andrew Whittington in the singles, and Finn Tearney, who displayed fantastic volleying skills, who won the match 4-2, 4-1, exposing the inexperience of Jasika in the doubles format. The loss was not a problem for the Classics as Whittington paired with Marc Polmans and won their doubles match to take the Classics to the final.


Greg serving

The final was played later the same day, the Classics up against defending champions, the Brisbane Chargers, ably led by Ben Mitchell with a string line-up comprising Rob Smeets, Gavin van Pepperzeel and Maverick Banes. The Classics elected to play the singles with Omar, Ruben, Whittington and Marc Polmans, with Greg and Dave Bidmeade to lead the doubles pairings


Chargers captain Rob Smeets

Unfortunately for the Classics the Brisbane team had too many guns, Jasika going down to Mitchell, the part-timer but very experienced Smeets accounting for Ruben and Whitts went down fighting in three sets to Van Pepperzeel. Polmans kept the Classics in the hunt with a solid result against Banes, but it left the Brisbane team needing to win just three games to win the title. This they did fairly quickly, and ended up winning both doubles matches as well, to deny the Classics and win the title in consecutive years. An interesting competition enjoyed by all teams.
Greg was pleased with his performance and was happy to come through the matches with no injuries or ailments.