Guam Futures

Last week I finished up the last tournament of my 6-week Asia swing. The last Futures was a $15K Future in Tumon, Guam. The tournament was hosted at the Hilton Guam which has 4 hard courts. It has a great location as the courts are right next to the ocean. The conditions were medium-fast and the weather conditions were difficult as it was very hot and humid.

I was entered directly into the main draw of this tournament based on my ranking. This was nice as I didn’t have to play qualifying and I got a few days to practice and get used to the conditions. I played my first round of both singles and doubles on Monday.  

In the 1^st round of singles I faced off against Thomas Fancutt, from Australia. He was the 4 seed and he is currently ranked #630 ATP. He was an aggressive player with a big serve and big groundstrokes. His best shots were his forehand from the middle of the court and his volleys. He had a one-handed backhand with a great slice. He served first to start the match and held in the opening game. We both held our next service games to give him a 2-1 lead. I then threw in a bad service games with 2 double faults to give him the break. He held and took a 4-1 lead. I saved 2 break points in my next service game before coming back to hold. I then played a solid return game to get the break back. I held again to make it 4-all. We both held our next two service games which resulted in a first-set tiebreak. I jumped out to a 3-1 after I got the mini-break with a good return. It remained tight as we both held our service points. I won the tiebreak 7-4 with a big first serve down the T. At 1-1 in the 2^nd set, I didn’t make many 1^st serves in and got broken. My opponent raised his level by playing more aggressive and taking it to me. He would hold and break me again to take a 4-1 lead. I got broken again after throwing in a few unforced errors. He ended up taking the second set 6-1.

One set would decide it. I needed to regroup quickly for the 3^rd set. We both held our first service game and then he had 3 break points on my serve but I saved them all to lead 2-1. He held with some big serves for 2-2. I got the first break of the set to lead 4-3 by playing a good return game. Unfortunately I couldn’t sustain my momentum and gave the break right back to make it 4-4. We both had solid service games to make it 5-5. The next game on my opponent’s serve was a marathon game. I led 0-40 on his serve but he saved all 3 break points. I kept winning the Deuce point but he kept coming up with clutch shots to save the break points. It wasn’t until my 6^th break point that I finally got the break. I was leading 6-5 and would serve for the match. On the first point I missed an easy volley and then he then played two good points. I saved one break point before he broke me. A 3^rd set tiebreak would decide the match. I got the early mini break to lead 3-1. He then hit a big serve to cut my lead to 3-2. I served and volleyed and won the point to make it 4-2. I then came to the net and he hit a good shot off my overhead to win the point. Leading 4-3 I thought my opponent’s 2^nd serve was long but it wasn’t called and he won a long point. At 4-4 he hit an unreturnable serve. Serving a 4-5 I hit a good approach and he hit a topspin lob that landed right on the line. At 4-6 he came up with another great shot, this time a backhand crosscourt passing shot right on the line. I lost a very close match, 7-6(4), 1-6, 6-7(4). I had a lot of chances but didn’t play well enough in the big moments. Credit to my opponent as he came up with some great shots in the tiebreak.

I was back on the court for doubles later in the afternoon. I played doubles with Alex Hunt, who played at Saint Mary’s and graduated the same year as I. We faced off against two Aussie players, David Barclay and James Ibrahim. One of them had a big serve while his partner was more solid from the baseline and a better returner. Both teams started off with a few holds to start of the match, though we had 1 break point in 2 of their first 3 service games. At 3-3 we got the first break of the match by returning well and finishing the points with some put-away volleys. We served for the first set at 5-4 but we didn’t make enough first serves in, and they made some good returns. We responded by breaking right back. This time we served out the first set 7-5. We had another good start in the 2^nd set by getting the break to lead 2-1. We got a hold and then broke again to lead 4-1. However they played a good return game here to cut our lead to 4-2. We continued to hit quality returns and broke again. And in the next game we served out the match for a solid 7-5, 6-2 win.

We had one day off before our quarterfinal match against the #1 seeds, Ehara and Katayama. They are both from Japan and are ranked in the top 400. One of them was more of a singles player as he returned well and setup his partner from the baseline. His partner had unbelievable hands and placed his volleys perfectly. In the 1^st set they started out playing at a very high level. We got broke in our first service game after they hit a few great returns. Their serves were not huge but placed right in the corner and they did a good job of taking away the middle. We got broke in our next service game as it was difficult when we don’t make many 1^st serves. We had a look in their next service game at 0-30 but they came back to hold. We were down 0-4. Again we had 2 game points on our serve but they won both of them. We lost a tough opening set 0-6. We made some adjustments in the 2^nd set by going for bigger serves instead of just placing them. We also went after our returns more because they weren’t having trouble with solid low returns. We got a good hold to start the 2^nd set with an ace and an unreturnable serve. They held their service game to even it at 1-1. In the next game they broke us on the No-Ad point with a return winner down-the-line. They would hold for 4-1. We got a good hold for 2-4 and then broke them for the 1^st time in the match. We returned well and made a lot more quality shots. At 3-4 I was serving at 40-30 when I thought I hit an ace down the T but it was called out. They went on to break us with a big return on the No-Ad point. They served out the match in the next game. We lost 0-6, 3-6. The second set was a lot closer as we had opportunities, but credit to them as they played a great match. They made a high percentage of 1^st serves and didn’t miss many returns.

This week for making the quarterfinals of doubles and losing in the 1^st rd of singles I earned $252. I also had one day to explore Guam which was pretty cool. Now I am going back home for a few weeks to train before my next tournament that starts on July 15. I am planning to play 4 Futures in the US starting with Iowa City and then 3 in Southern Illinois. Based on my doubles points going into the computer, this week I moved up to #1214 in doubles. 

"Success consists of going from one failure to another without the loss of enthusiasm."
-Winston Churchill