Tournament #8 in Portugal and Tournament #9 in Saint Julien en Genevois, France

I finished up the last of 3 Futures tournaments in Portugal this last week. I really enjoyed my time in Portugal as it is a great country and I got to take in some of the sights in Sintra on my last day. The cost of living is fairly cheap in Portugal, especially the food. The past few weeks I have stayed at a few different Airbnbs around Sintra, which was great as it is less expensive than a hotel and you also get to stay wiPortugueseugese family and experience their culture.

 

I played the first round of Qualifying last Saturday against a local Portuguese player who trains at the academy where the tournament was hosted. He was mainly just a baseliner who had a good forehand and liked to retrieve. I started the first set strong by mixing in serve and volley and coming to the net when it was there. I won the first set 6-2 with a few breaks of serve. The second set was more competitive as he tried to play more aggressive and it got to 3-3 before I got the break. I would follow that up with a hold and another break to win the match 6-2, 6-3.

In the 2^nd round I played against an Israeli player who had a high national ranking from his country. He was an aggressive baseliner who had a good forehand from the middle of the court and he liked his backhand down the line. He also passed pretty well which meant I had to approach at the right time. I got up a break right away and got a quick 3-0 start but he responded by returning well and coming up with some good shots. Those were the only 2 breaks in the 1^st set, as we both held our serves until the tiebreak. I got the lead early in the tiebreak to go up a mini-break at 3-2 and it remained closed until I had my first set point at 6-5. I couldn’t convert it and we changed ends at 6-6 before I had another opportunity to close it out at 7-6. I hit a good approach to his backhand and hit an angle volley that I thought I had done enough with but he ran it down and hit a great crosscourt flick passing shot on the dead run. Now it was his turn to have a few set points but I managed to save them and it was 9-9. I would finally win the next 2 points to take the tiebreak 11-9! It was a key tiebreak to get as I knew it would give me a lot of momentum. I won a few close games in the beginning of the 2^nd set by holding then breaking him before holding again by saving a few break points. I quickly ran away with the 2^nd set 6-0.

I made it to the final round of Qualifying for the 3^rd consecutive week (which is a good level especially in the deep Portugal tournaments) but you don’t start earnings money or points until you get into the main draw. As the draw played out, I played against the same French guy that I lost to last week in the last round of qualifying. He is a good player, the #1 seed in qualifying and ranked around 760 in the world. This match was supposed to start on Monday morning but got delayed until Monday afternoon because of rain. I broke him in his 2^nd service game to go up a break 2-1 but couldn’t consolidate the break. He would break me at 3-3 to go up a break after a long service game. I lost a close first set 6-3 where I had a lot of chances. I had a game point or break point in almost every game since going up 2-1. In the second set he started to play more freely and play some really good tennis. He would break me at 1-2 and at 1-4 in the 2^nd set before serving out the match 6-1. This wasn’t my best serving day and I have to give credit to my opponent for playing really well especially in the 2^nd set.

After losing in Portugal, I took a flight to Geneva, Switzerland for a money tournament in the town of Saint Genevois, France that started on Friday. This was a very nice tournament as they took great care of the players by providing housing and meals. It is a small town on the French side and about 20 minutes outside of Geneva. 

I played my first match against a 17 year old who was a good player with a French ranking of -2/6. I got up an early break in the 1^st set to take a 3-0 lead and continued playing a solid first set to win 6-2. In the 2^nd set my opponent played a lot better and we exchanged breaks in the early part of the set before I got another break to go up 5-3. I had 2 match points on his serve and didn’t convert them and then he played a good return game to break me back. After a few more games, a tiebreak ensued and I got in a hole in and found myself down 1-4. I battled back to get it to 4-5 but then he played a solid point to win the tiebreak 7-5. Thus I had to regroup at the beginning of the 3^rd set. I started strongly and broke my opponent in the 1^st game. There were a few close games but I played solid tennis to not let him back into the set and ran away with it 6-0. This was a good win as I played against a dangerous opponent and closed it out strongly in the 3^rd set after not converting in the 2^nd set.

In the next round I played against a former Duke graduate who had a -4/6 French ranking. Because of the rain, we had to play indoors which was a change as I had not played indoors since being in Europe. My opponent had a big serve with an attacking forehand and also liked to finish points at the net. In the 1^st set he really took it to me by playing really aggressive and fast which was effective on the fast surface. I lost the first set quickly 6-1 but started to find my range in the 2^nd set. I got broken in the 2^nd game of the 2^nd set but started to find my rhythm after that by serving better and playing more aggressive. I had chances in a few of his service games but couldn’t quite get the break back. I ended up losing a close 2^nd set 6-4 but he made it tough on me by serving very well and playing aggressive tennis.

After a quick stay in Saint Genevois France, I earned 100 Euros and will now take the train down through France and travel to Piombino, Italy. I will be practicing on clay this week with a teammate from Davis before playing a few more Futures on clay with the first one starting on Saturday. A good opportunity to get better this week!