Autumn in the States 2017 #7

The second round of qualifying for the  Challenger tournament in Fairfield saw Greg up against 27 year-old Brit Alexander Ward, currently ranked 408, but with a high rank of 242 attained in June 2016. Like Greg, Alex is trying to get back to his previous level of tennis and is in good form, knocking off the No. 4 seed in the opening round of qualifying. This will be their first match against each other on the Pro-circuit.
Both players struggled with serve in the first set, and in a topsy-turvy set both players were able to break each other. It was Ward who had the better of the exchanges, forcing Greg to face 7 break points in the first set, Greg managing to save three of those points, but it was not all one-way traffic. Greg managed to break Ward twice in the set, but Ward ended up winning the set 6-3. 

Brit Alex Ward

Greg served better in the second set, and the players exchanged break of serves. But Ward then broke Greg a second time to go on to win the set 6-4, and the match 6-3, 6-4.
Not a good follow up match for Greg, who could not replicate the way he finished off his previous match.
Footnote: it was Alex Ward who last week found Greg's wallet down the side of a lounge chair, after Greg had mislaid his wallet which was missing for almost a week. Luckily due to the CBA and modern technology Greg did not have to cancel his cards, just checked that no-one had use of them, them locked and limited access to the cards. Lucky Greg that he gave Alex a lift and Alex just happened to wander into the lounge room at the house whilst waiting for Greg.