Sixth Tournament in Sintra, Portugal
After finishing up a great month in France training and playing four money tournaments, I left for Lisbon, Portugal last week. I played in the 1st of 3 Futures tournaments in Sintra, a small town about 20 minutes from Lisbon.
This Futures tournament had a 64 Qualifying draw so you have to win 3 matches to qualify for the main draw. I played my first round of qualifying last Saturday and played the #12 seed from Portugal, Goncalo Falcao. I won my match 6-3, 6-0 by playing well and serving strong, as it was a good win as he is ranked around 1200 in the world.
On Sunday I played the 2nd round of Qualifying against Duncan Mugabe, who was from the country of Georgia and had an ATP ranking of 1776. I started off strong and won the first set 6-2 by getting 2 breaks. However, in the beginning of the 2nd set, my opponent started to play better and more aggressive with his forehand and his serve. I got down 0-3 (0-40) but managed to get a clutch hold and not go down 2 breaks. I got a break back and we traded holds until it got to 5-5. I then got up 0-40 on his serve but he came up with some big serves and hit some good volleys to come back. I ended up winning the tiebreak 7-3 by serving well and playing aggressively.
On Monday I played the final round of Qualifying against the #6 Clement Larriere of France. My opponent had a good serve and good attacking groundstrokes and he liked to finish points at the net. I got down a double break in the 1st set 2-5 and managed to get one break back before my opponent served out the first set 6-4. In the 2nd set, I started to return better and got up a break 4-1 but my opponent broke me back but I managed to get another break to win the 2nd set 6-4. In the 3rd set I had a loose service game to get broken and I found myself down a break at 2-1. But I started to return a lot better in the 3rd and I broke him back and got another break before serving out the match 6-3. This was a good win as he was a very good player and had an ATP ranking of 1100.
By winning 3 matches in Qualifying I had qualified for my first main draw of a Futures tournament. I played my first round against James Marsalek of Great Britain who has an ATP ranking of 800. We played on Wednesday in tricky conditions as it was very windy. My opponent had a good serve and a very good backhand. I started off the match strong by serving and returning well to take the first set 6-2. I continued to play good smart tennis by attacking his 2nd serve and finishing points at the net. I won the 2nd set 6-2, thus winning my first ATP point! I was very excited to get my first point and when the new rankings come out in a few weeks, I will be in the top 2000 in the world.
The next day on Thursday I played the 2nd round of main draw against Javier Pulgar-Garcia, a good player who is currently ranked 950 after coming back from an injury but reached a career-high of 500 last year. I started off the match well and just got one break in the 1st to win it 6-4. In the 2nd set, Javier started to play more aggressive with his forehand and started serving really well. I lost the 2nd set 6-2. In the 3rd set we both held our service games until 3-3 when I got the first break of the 3rd set. I ended up losing a really long service game at 4-3 to get broken. At 4-4, I had around 5 break points on his serve but couldn't convert. I needed to play more aggressive on these break points and return more aggressively. At 4-5 I saved one match point on my serve before holding. We both held to force a final set tiebreak. I got down 0-3 in the tiebreak as he played a few good points, but I responded by winning 3 straight points to tie it a 3-3. It remained close until he closed it out 7-5 by hitting a big forehand approach. This was obviously a disappointing loss as I had a lot of chances but couldn't convert. But it was a great week as I got my first ATP point and learned a lot.
This Futures tournament had a 64 Qualifying draw so you have to win 3 matches to qualify for the main draw. I played my first round of qualifying last Saturday and played the #12 seed from Portugal, Goncalo Falcao. I won my match 6-3, 6-0 by playing well and serving strong, as it was a good win as he is ranked around 1200 in the world.
On Sunday I played the 2nd round of Qualifying against Duncan Mugabe, who was from the country of Georgia and had an ATP ranking of 1776. I started off strong and won the first set 6-2 by getting 2 breaks. However, in the beginning of the 2nd set, my opponent started to play better and more aggressive with his forehand and his serve. I got down 0-3 (0-40) but managed to get a clutch hold and not go down 2 breaks. I got a break back and we traded holds until it got to 5-5. I then got up 0-40 on his serve but he came up with some big serves and hit some good volleys to come back. I ended up winning the tiebreak 7-3 by serving well and playing aggressively.
On Monday I played the final round of Qualifying against the #6 Clement Larriere of France. My opponent had a good serve and good attacking groundstrokes and he liked to finish points at the net. I got down a double break in the 1st set 2-5 and managed to get one break back before my opponent served out the first set 6-4. In the 2nd set, I started to return better and got up a break 4-1 but my opponent broke me back but I managed to get another break to win the 2nd set 6-4. In the 3rd set I had a loose service game to get broken and I found myself down a break at 2-1. But I started to return a lot better in the 3rd and I broke him back and got another break before serving out the match 6-3. This was a good win as he was a very good player and had an ATP ranking of 1100.
By winning 3 matches in Qualifying I had qualified for my first main draw of a Futures tournament. I played my first round against James Marsalek of Great Britain who has an ATP ranking of 800. We played on Wednesday in tricky conditions as it was very windy. My opponent had a good serve and a very good backhand. I started off the match strong by serving and returning well to take the first set 6-2. I continued to play good smart tennis by attacking his 2nd serve and finishing points at the net. I won the 2nd set 6-2, thus winning my first ATP point! I was very excited to get my first point and when the new rankings come out in a few weeks, I will be in the top 2000 in the world.
The next day on Thursday I played the 2nd round of main draw against Javier Pulgar-Garcia, a good player who is currently ranked 950 after coming back from an injury but reached a career-high of 500 last year. I started off the match well and just got one break in the 1st to win it 6-4. In the 2nd set, Javier started to play more aggressive with his forehand and started serving really well. I lost the 2nd set 6-2. In the 3rd set we both held our service games until 3-3 when I got the first break of the 3rd set. I ended up losing a really long service game at 4-3 to get broken. At 4-4, I had around 5 break points on his serve but couldn't convert. I needed to play more aggressive on these break points and return more aggressively. At 4-5 I saved one match point on my serve before holding. We both held to force a final set tiebreak. I got down 0-3 in the tiebreak as he played a few good points, but I responded by winning 3 straight points to tie it a 3-3. It remained close until he closed it out 7-5 by hitting a big forehand approach. This was obviously a disappointing loss as I had a lot of chances but couldn't convert. But it was a great week as I got my first ATP point and learned a lot.
Love the commentary, bro! Keep up the good work!
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