Tournament #11 Futures Sardegna, Italy
I just wrapped up the 2nd week here in Santa Margherita di Pula on the Italian island of Sardegna. I now just have 1 more tournament this upcoming week before returning to the United States after spending 3 amazing months playing in Europe. We had a few days after the last tournament ended to see a few of the local sites. We saw the Nora ruins which are old Roman ruins and we also saw the city of Pula which had a cool umbrella street.
This past Saturday I played my first round of qualifying against Marcel Sudzum, a pretty good 16 year old from the Netherlands. He had a good serve and a big forehand at times so he was a dangerous opponent. I got up a break early in the 1st set 3-2 by playing solid tennis and then held in a long 10-deuce game on my serve after saving a few break points. I broke him again before serving out the set at love to win the 1st set 6-2. The second set was closer as he got a few holds to start the 2nd set and evened it at 2-2. I broke him and then held for 4-2, before having a few break points to go up 5-2 but unfortunately didn't convert them. I then got broke serving at 4-3, 40-0 to make it 4-4. I responded to break him at love and then served out the match moments before the rain came. This was an ok match from me but the 2nd set was closer than it should have been and I needed to finish him when I had the chance.
On Sunday I played the final round of Qualifying against the 5 seed from Germany, Jakob Sude. Sude graduated from Oklahoma State a year ago and has been playing full-time on the tour and is currently ranked 850. He is a tall guy (around my height) and had a big serve and big flat groundstrokes with a 1 handed backhand. He started out serving and I had 2 break points in the first game but he came up with some big shots on those points. I then got broke in my first service game before he quickly held for 3-0. I got on the board to make it 1-3 and then had 2 more break points on his service game but again couldn't convert. I had one more break point when he was serving at 4-2 but he came up clutch and continued to get himself out of trouble. He served out the 1st set 6-3 after just 1 break of serve and I had multiple chances to break back.
In the second set, I got off to a quick start and broke him in his first service game to take a 2-0 lead and then held for 3-0. I started to return better and put more pressure on him. I would go on to break him again to take a 4-0 lead. He played a few good games to make it 4-2 but I held for 5-2 and then broke him for a 3rd time to take the second set 6-2.
In the 3rd set, I started off serving and lead 40-0 in the 1st game before he played some good points to break me in the 1st game. That was a bummer to get broken there as I had the momentum from the 2nd set and especially after leading 40-0. He started to serve well in the 3rd set and I didn't get too many looks as he was making a high percentage of first serves and hitting his spots. We both end up holding our serves until I was serving at 3-5. He hit a few good returns that game and broke me again to take the match 6-3 in the 3rd set. This was a pretty good match for me, but I needed to play a little bit better on the bigger points as he took advantage on these points.
In doubles this week I played with a French player, Benjamin Pierti, and we were supposed to play our first match on Tuesday but one of the guys got injured during singles so we got a walkover to the quarterfinals.
We played on Wednesday night under the lights at 8 PM against the #3 seeds from Italy. Our opponents started off strong and got up a break early on us to go up 4-2. They played very well from the baseline using a 1 up 1 back formation which was tough as the net man moved well and picked off a lot of balls. We lost a No-Ad game on our serve to get broken again, before they served out the set 6-2.
The second set was a lot closer, we ended up losing another No-Ad on our serve in the first game of the 2nd set to go down a break. We were very close to breaking back as we had a few break points in 3 out of their next 4 service games. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the break back as they played solid tennis. They broke us against at 3-5 to close out the match. We played a decent match, but we needed to return better and win more points behind our 2nd serve.
So another week in the books, can't believe that this upcoming tournament is the last one. This week I won 100 Euros from doubles. Time to finish strong!
"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."
-T.S. Elliot
This past Saturday I played my first round of qualifying against Marcel Sudzum, a pretty good 16 year old from the Netherlands. He had a good serve and a big forehand at times so he was a dangerous opponent. I got up a break early in the 1st set 3-2 by playing solid tennis and then held in a long 10-deuce game on my serve after saving a few break points. I broke him again before serving out the set at love to win the 1st set 6-2. The second set was closer as he got a few holds to start the 2nd set and evened it at 2-2. I broke him and then held for 4-2, before having a few break points to go up 5-2 but unfortunately didn't convert them. I then got broke serving at 4-3, 40-0 to make it 4-4. I responded to break him at love and then served out the match moments before the rain came. This was an ok match from me but the 2nd set was closer than it should have been and I needed to finish him when I had the chance.
On Sunday I played the final round of Qualifying against the 5 seed from Germany, Jakob Sude. Sude graduated from Oklahoma State a year ago and has been playing full-time on the tour and is currently ranked 850. He is a tall guy (around my height) and had a big serve and big flat groundstrokes with a 1 handed backhand. He started out serving and I had 2 break points in the first game but he came up with some big shots on those points. I then got broke in my first service game before he quickly held for 3-0. I got on the board to make it 1-3 and then had 2 more break points on his service game but again couldn't convert. I had one more break point when he was serving at 4-2 but he came up clutch and continued to get himself out of trouble. He served out the 1st set 6-3 after just 1 break of serve and I had multiple chances to break back.
In the second set, I got off to a quick start and broke him in his first service game to take a 2-0 lead and then held for 3-0. I started to return better and put more pressure on him. I would go on to break him again to take a 4-0 lead. He played a few good games to make it 4-2 but I held for 5-2 and then broke him for a 3rd time to take the second set 6-2.
In the 3rd set, I started off serving and lead 40-0 in the 1st game before he played some good points to break me in the 1st game. That was a bummer to get broken there as I had the momentum from the 2nd set and especially after leading 40-0. He started to serve well in the 3rd set and I didn't get too many looks as he was making a high percentage of first serves and hitting his spots. We both end up holding our serves until I was serving at 3-5. He hit a few good returns that game and broke me again to take the match 6-3 in the 3rd set. This was a pretty good match for me, but I needed to play a little bit better on the bigger points as he took advantage on these points.
In doubles this week I played with a French player, Benjamin Pierti, and we were supposed to play our first match on Tuesday but one of the guys got injured during singles so we got a walkover to the quarterfinals.
We played on Wednesday night under the lights at 8 PM against the #3 seeds from Italy. Our opponents started off strong and got up a break early on us to go up 4-2. They played very well from the baseline using a 1 up 1 back formation which was tough as the net man moved well and picked off a lot of balls. We lost a No-Ad game on our serve to get broken again, before they served out the set 6-2.
The second set was a lot closer, we ended up losing another No-Ad on our serve in the first game of the 2nd set to go down a break. We were very close to breaking back as we had a few break points in 3 out of their next 4 service games. Unfortunately, we couldn't get the break back as they played solid tennis. They broke us against at 3-5 to close out the match. We played a decent match, but we needed to return better and win more points behind our 2nd serve.
So another week in the books, can't believe that this upcoming tournament is the last one. This week I won 100 Euros from doubles. Time to finish strong!
"Only those who will risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go."
-T.S. Elliot
I hope your last tournament goes well brother!
ReplyDelete