Autumn in the States 2017 #9

UNLV Tennis Centre

Greg extended his stay in Las Vegas when he and compatriot Matt Barton made it into the main draw for the doubles. Their draw however was not so lucky, as they drew the No. 2 seeds, Greg's good mate Jarryd Chaplin and partner Latvian Mikelis Libietis. Both 25 years old Chaplin and Libietis were both on the same US College tennis team and now on the Pro-circuit are ranked 178 and 189 respectively in the doubles. Greg and Matt know Jarryd from junior squad days, so it will be an interesting match.
On the slick fast Las Vegas hard courts serves dominated and neither side offered up a single break point opportunity, even in the sudden death format. Matt and Greg were serving at a high first serve percentage and held serve easily but could not make any inroads into their opponents services, games going with serve to the tie-break at 6-6.

Aussie Jarryd Chaplin

Matt and Greg broke first point but were pegged back immediately, to get to 2-1 on serve. They then pouched both of their opponents serves to take a handy double break 4-1 lead. But their opponents hit back immediately to change ends only 1 break down at 4-2. Greg held serve to extend their lead to 5-2. Another break would give them set point but their opponents held both of their serves to put the pressure on Matt to serve out the tie-break at 5-4. But it was not to be, as Chaplin and Libietis won both of his serves to get to set point at 6-5, and then won their serve to steal the tie-break 7-5, and the first set 7-6.

Latvian Mikelis Libietis

Greg and Matt started the set well, as did their opponents, games again going to 2-2. Then suddenly some good returns saw Greg facing three break points, and was broken to hand the advantage to their opponents. In their next service game it was Matt who was broken, to trail 2-5. The end of the match came in a hurry, as their opponents, with the momentum behind them, served out the set 6-2, to win the match 7-6(5), 6-2.
A disappointing result for Greg and Matt, but their relative lack of playing doubles together told in the end and their more experienced opponents were able capitalise when the pressure was on.