American Summer 2016 - Winston Salem #2

Winston Salem City

After the disappointment of a close singles match, Greg still had the doubles scheduled for later that afternoon. Partnered by close friend Ruben Statham they were up against a solid USA pairing of Alex Kuznetsov and Rhyne Williams, who has just returned to the circuit after some time off for injury.

Alex Kuznetsov

In the sudden death format Greg and Rubin failed to win game point in their first service game and the American seized the opportunity to break in the deciding point. Then at 2-1 it was the Oz/Kiwi combination who stole a break of serve on the deciding point at deuce, to level at 2-2, only to again drop serve to once again trail 3-2. They rallied to again have Americans at deuce, but this time the Americans held to go 4-2. They broke Greg and Rubin again, then served out the set 6-2.

Rhyne Williams

Greg and Rubin were struggling to hold serve, losing five games in a row to go a break down at the start of the second set. The Americans then saved another deciding point to go to a 2-0 lead. Games then went with serve to 3-1. Greg and Rubin then saved two break points in succession but to avail, as they lost the deciding point, to trail a double break at 1-4, then 1-5. They forced the Americans to serve out the match by holding serve, but were unable to prevent the Americans from going on to win the match 6-2, 6-2.
A closer match than the score suggested, as Greg and Rubin did not have the luck on deciding points, only converting 1 out of 5 times. It was just not a good day at the office for Greg, whose tournament was over the same day it had started. He had performed well on the day but the results did not go his way today.