USA in the Autumn 2016 - Tiburon #2

The second round of qualifying for the Tiburon Challenger saw Greg facing another tough match, this time against his house mate and good friend, 26 year-old Dennis Nevolo from the USA. Having knocked off the No. 4 seed in the first round, Greg would have been hoping for less of a challenge in the second round but Nevolo, ranked 485 this week, will be approaching the match as a good opportunity with the seed removed. He will fight just as hard as Greg to progress to the final round of qualifying and be hoping that Greg's long three set match, after a three week or longer lay-off, will slow him down just enough.

Serving first Greg did not get off to a good start, saving two break points before dropping his first service game, handing the advantage to Nevolo. Greg now had to play catch up. Nevolo was returning well and Greg again had to save break point to get to 1-2, then 1-3. He rallied and held serve for 2-3, then proceeded to reel in Nevolo, forcing him to break point and converting to level at 3-3. Then in a long game Greg saved another two break points to go a 4-3. Nevolo quickly held to love, to level at 4-4, and put the pressure straight back on Greg's serve. Again Nevolo got Greg to deuce, then break-point. Greg twice saved break points but could not save the third and Nevolo had the break, to lead 5-4 and serve for the set.

But Greg was not out yet, breaking Nevolo to again level the set, at 5-5, only for Nevolo to break again to serve for the match a second time at 6-5. Neither of them could hold serve! And Greg fought back and broke Nevolo once again to take the set to the tiebreak at 6-6.

Dennis Nevolo

Nevolo had been holding serve easier than Greg, serving only 23 points to Greg's 55 points up to the then, and this showed in the tie-break, Nevolo taking an early lead, breaking Greg and holding serve to go 3-0 up. He repeated the dose, breaking Greg twice more to go 5-0 up and then serving out the tie-break 7-0, dominating to win the first set 7-6.

The first set proved to be crucial. With that under his belt, and having forced Greg to serve double the amount than he had, Nevolo was able to attack a Greg's serve and broke him immediately to go out to a 3-0 lead, then forced Greg to 0-40. Greg saved two points but lost then next, Nevolo going a double break up, and taking a stranglehold on the match. Greg finally held serve but could not stop Nevolo from serving out the set 6-1 and winning the match 7-6(0), 6-1.

Greg had served well, with a high first serve percentage, but Nevolo had returned equally as well, and had restricted Greg to winning only 8 points on his second serve in the match, which made the difference. It will be a long week training and hitting for Greg, before the tournament next week.

USA in the Autumn 2016 - Tiburon #1

Greg had a busy three week break at home in Australia, recuperating from niggling shoulder and other injuries, applying for a USA visa which will give him more options for playing and travelling in the USA, \testing different racquet and string combinations and also training hard at Kooyong and Melbourne Park. Then Greg was again off to the USA for a series of Challenger tournaments. His first stop was Tiburon, just north of San Francisco city, for the $100,000 Wells Fargo tournament. Due to his current ranking, around 598, Greg was in qualifying and in the first round faced up against young 21 year old Italian Lorenzo Sonego, currently ranked 281, who will be a stern test for Greg.

Serving first, it was Greg who dominated the play, winning 100% of his first serves and 67% of his second serves, to not face a break point in the first set. He was returning well too, forcing Sonego to face three break points. Sonego managed to save one of those points but Greg converted the other two opportunities, breaking Sonego twice and serving out the first set 6-2.
Sonego fought back and got a better look at Greg's serve in the second set, winning more points and matching Greg. They both broke once in a tightly fought sets, with games going to the tie-break at 6-6. In the tie-break Sonego got an early mini-break to go to the first change of ends at 4-2 up. Greg served to get to 3-4, then broke Sonegro to get back on serve at 4-5. Remaining aggressive, Greg served an ace to level at 5-5 but then produced a double fault to present Sonego with set point at 5-6, rather than perhaps having match point. Sonego then snaffled the tie-break 7-5 and the second set 7-6, to tie the match up at a set-all.

Young Italian Lorenzo Sonego

Seeing the chance to win the match in straight sets disappear, Greg was undeterred, serving a good first game in the third set, then attacking Sonego's serve, forcing him to break point and converting, to lead 2-0. Sonego responded and immediately broke back, much to Greg's annoyance. Greg upped the pressure on Sonego's serve, returning well and again breaking the Italian to lead 3-1, then holding serve fro a 4-1 lead. But Sonego's resolve was not broken and he held serve himself, then proceeded to break Greg's serve again to get to 3-4. He then held again to level the third set at 4-4. In a critical game which went to deuce, Greg managed to hold serve to lead 5-4. He then put as much pressure on Sonego as possible, and at 40-30 Sonego buckled to Greg's returning pressure, and served two double faults in a row to hand match point to Greg. Greg was up to the task and thankfully broke the young Italian to win the third set 6-4, and a hard fought match 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-4.
Still two matches to win to qualify but a good first match for Greg. He was happy with his performance and his ability to go the three sets and win, and also happy with his new racquets and string combination.