Away in Asia - Autumn 2016 #1

Picturesque Gwanju at dusk

After a couple of weeks training Greg was off to Korea. He has elected to play qualifying of ATP Challengers instead of ITF Futures as he thinks his game is suited to the fresher balls and he enjoys the higher level tournament structure and more professional player atmosphere. Due to his current ranking, at 802 this week, he has to go through qualifying to make the Main Draw. He was listed about 25 out of the Main Draw but many of the players entered elected not to travel to Gwanju in Korea and the list dropped away quickly, so much so that Greg was surprised to see himself seedd No.4 in qualifying.

Sanchai, seen here at RG

His first round opponent was 34 year-old Sanchai Ratiwatana, primarily as doubles player at this stage of his career, currently unranked in singles, with a high rank of only831, but with a doubles ranl of 107, having reached a high of 39 partnered with his twin Sonchat. Greg will be confident of a win in this match if he played to his potential.
Greg did not start well, serving below 50% and paid the price in the first game, droppinh serve to immediately put himself under pressure. He tried to battle back, but Ratiwatana held his nerve and serve to lead 3-1. Greg struggled to2-3, then managed to get Ratiwatana to 0-40, breaking back to level at 3-3. But Ratiwatana hit back breaking Greg immediately to again lead in the set, then shutting Greg out to surprisingly win the first set 6-4, and put Greg under even more pressure.
Greg started the second set a little nervously, a bit tentative, going down 0-30 but he fought back to win the first game and then proceeded to break Ratiwatana, to lead 2-0. Again Ratiwatana  hit back breaking Greg and holding serve to level at 2-2. In a "break-a-thon" Greg then dropped his serve, broke Ratiwatana, then dropped his serve again to ominously trail 3-4. Ratiwatana then denied Greg another break back and led the match by a set and a break up at 5-3. He then brought up match point on Greg's serve. Greg had led the game 40-0 but Ratiwatana got him back to deuce, then got the advantage to have a chance of winning the match. Greg miraculously produced two aces, to save the match point and win the game to get to 5-4.

With brother & doubles partner Sonchat

Ratiwatana  still had the advantage, serving for the match but Greg fought on, returning well to get Ratiwatana  to 0-40, then convert the opportunity to level the match at 5-5. He then served a love-game to lead the second set again at 6-5. Ratiwatana won his serve, taking the match to the lottery tie-break at 6-6. He then broke Greg on the first point, only to have Greg break back next point. But on that point Ratiwatana rolled his ankle and went down on the court surface. He struggled back to his feet back the damage had been done. The ankle was in pain and as he had the doubles Main Draw, his main event, to contest next week he elected to withdraw. So at 1-1 in the tie-break, Greg got a modicum of luck and was handed the win in unfortunate circumstances. He had started to play a lot better and could have gone on to win the tie-break and then the third set, but in a close match anything could of happened.
Greg said he did not play well He struggled with length, hitting a lot of shots long. He eventually changed racquets at 3-4 down in the second set and that helped, as his range improved and he got to 40-0 in consecutive games. He was relieved to have progressed to the next round but not happy about the manner in which he had progressed, hoping that Sanchai would repair quickly and be able to play in the doubles next week.