Aussie Autumn 2016 - Mornington F4 #2

By quirk of the draw Greg and Andrew were scheduled to play the same player Greg had faced in the first round of the singles, Italian Matteo Marfia and his Italian mate 23 year-old Thommaso Lago, ranked 984 in the doubles.

Matteo Marfia

It was a tougher match than expected, but Greg and Andrew were able to make inroads into the Italians game in the first set, forcing them to save deciding point in their first two service games before breaking the Italians in consecutive service games, to go ahead and then serve out the set 6-3.

Italian Thommaso Lago

The second set was even tighter, but Greg and Andrew got the all important break to go ahead 2-1, then 3-1 ahead. They then served well to maintain their lead, saving three break points from 0-40 down, then winning the deciding point, to go 4-2 up. An important save. The Italians forced them to serve for the set at 5-4, and at 30-0 and feeling the worse for wear from his cold (and at that time a little delirious Greg said, after his singles and now the doubles match), Greg served two consecutive double faults. The Italians got a sniff and took advantage at 30-30, winning the next two points and breaking Greg's serve to level at 5-5, then hold serve lead 6-5. They were back in the match in the short format doubles game. But Greg and Andrew rallied to take the set to the tie-break.
In the tie-break they redeemed themselves, reeling off seven straight points, to snuff out the Italians attempted come-back and win the set 7-6. So five wins in a row for the team and into the second round of the doubles.