Korea Futures: First Futures Doubles Final

I just finished playing 2 Futures in Korea the last two weeks. The first week was held in Sangju, which is a small town and a 3-hour bus ride from Seoul. I arrived on Friday afternoon, and I had a Bye in the 1^st round of Qualifying which gave me 2 days to practice and get adjusted to the courts and conditions. The site had 9 hard courts with 4 of them having a bubble over them which were used for the women's event. The courts were fairly gritty and the balls would fluff up fast so I would describe the conditions as medium-slow although they were high-bouncing.

On Sunday I played my 2^nd round of Qualifying against a Korean player, A-Ram Kim. He was solid with good flat groundstrokes and his best shot was his forehand inside-out. He played very flat as most of the Korean players do. Generally they are rhythm players who can play well when you give them pace and keep the ball in their strike zone. Thus it is important to use variety and not give them the same ball every-time. I started out strong by getting a break to go up 3-0 in the 1^st set. I played solid and moved the ball around and waited for the right opportunity to attack him. I broke him again at 4-1 and served out the 1st set 6-1. I didn't have to do anything special in this match as I was getting free points on my serve and returning aggressively. I continued playing solid in the second set by again jumping out to an early break and taking a commanding 6-1, 6-1 victory. 

On Monday I played in the last round of Qualifying against another Korean player, Oh-Hee Kwon. He was the #7 seed in Qualifying and is currently ranked #1300 in the world. However, he is 39 years old and has a career high ranking of #288. I have to say it was pretty impressive that he still played at such a high level for his age as he was the oldest player that I have seen with an ATP ranking. His game-style was tricky to play against and you never knew what to expect. He had good groundstrokes with a one-handed backhand but also used a crafty slice. He had good volleys as well as he mixed in the serve and volley. I broke him in the 1^st game of the match in a long Deuce game on his serve but I got broken right back. We each held in our next few service games, although I had 5 break points. However, he saved them all and held for 4-3. He played a good game to break me to serve for the 1^st set at 5-3. I responded and played a solid return game to break back. Serving at 4-5 and 30-40 I faced one set-point but saved it with an ace. I found my 1^st serve to get me out of trouble and held for 5-5. There was another long back and forth game on his serve where I broke him again to take a 6-5 lead. I served out the 1^st set at love to comeback and win a tight first set 7-5. In the second set, I jumped out to an early break to take a 2-0 lead. I was playing more aggressive and taking it to him earlier in the point. I maintained my break advantage until I was serving at 4-3. Most of the match he was just neutralizing his backhand and slicing a good amount, but he came up with 3 flat backhand down the line winners in this game. At 4-4, I responded with a good return game to break him again and serve for the match. I hit a good approach followed by a volley winner on match point to win a tough 7-5, 6-4 match in 2h 11 mins. This was a solid match and not easy as he made me work for everything. It was great to qualify for another main draw.

The next day I played my first round of the Main Draw in both singles and doubles. In singles I played the #4 seed, Hong Chung, who is currently #700 but I would say he is better than his ranking as he only plays the few tournaments held in Korea. He is also the brother of Hyeon Chung who is currently #20 ATP. He was a lefty with a good lefty serve and good groundstrokes. His weapon was his forehand from the middle of the court. I didn’t get off to the best start as it took me a few games to adjust to his spin. It was different than most lefties that I’ve played because his ball really jumped up and to the side on his serve and forehand. It didn’t help that I didn’t make many 1^st serves in my first 2 service games. Thus I found myself in a 0-4 hole. I didn’t panic and I just took it one game at a time. I played a solid return game by hitting through the return and followed it up with a good hold. I then won a long Deuce game on his serve to get it back on serve. I saved one break point in my service game before evening it at 4-4. I had another opportunity at 0-30 on his serve but he came up with some big shots. I held in another good service game to make it 5-5. He started to serve better and hit a few service winners to take a 6-5 lead. In my service game at 5-6, I led 40-15 before hitting a double fault and he played a few solid points. It was disappointing to come all the way back and lose a long 1^st set. But it gave me confidence as I was playing pretty well and found my range. We both held in our 1^st service games before I played a solid game to break him to go up 2-1. My 1^st serve started to click and I was getting more free points. I held and then played another good return game by hitting through the ball and taking it to him. I got another hold to make it 5-1. I served out the 2^nd set 6-2 with some high-quality tennis. To start the 3^rd set neither of us had many looks at break chances. I was serving at 2-3 in the 3^rd set and at 15-30 and unfortunately got a tough call as I hit a volley winner that was a few inches inside the line. He went on to break me and he loosened up and started going for his shots more. He raised his level a little bit and mine dropped slightly from the 2^nd set as I needed to play a little more aggressive. I ended up on the losing end of a tough match that was very even. It didn’t go my way as I lost 5-7, 6-2, 2-6.

I didn’t get much of a break as I was back out on the doubles court a little over an hour later. I partnered with a French player, Clement Larriere, who is a good doubles player with good returns and volleys. In the 1^st round we played against Jin Sung Han and Geon Ju Shin, who were both from Korea. They were solid as one of them had a big 1^st serve and good volleys while the other one was better from the baseline. We got the first break of the match at 2-2 when we broke them on the No-Ad point after we hit a solid return. I was serving at 4-3 in the 1^st set and faced 3 break points at 15-40 but I came up with some good first serves to come back in that game. My partner served out the first set at love to win a solid set 6-4 opening set. In the second set we broke them at 3-3. We faced a few break points in the next game but got a good hold. We served out the match in the next game for a 6-4, 6-4 win with only one break in each set. We didn’t necessarily play great as we could have returned better but it was good to get used to playing with each other.

In the quarterfinals we were due to play the #4 seeds from Korea but unfortunately one of the players rolled his ankle badly in his singles match so he was unable to play doubles. Thus we got a walkover into the semifinals.

The next day we faced off against two Korean players, Young-Hoon Jeong and Ji Hoon Son. This was a very good team as they both returned well and had good volleys. One of them was clearly better at the net and the other was better at the baseline. It was important for us to try to play to their weakness when they were either both at the net or both at the baseline. In the first set, we broke them first to go up 2-1 before getting broken right back. We broke them again to go up 4-3 but unfortunatley couldn’t sustain the momentum. Both teams got a few good holds before we reached a tiebreak. They got the first mini-break by hitting a great return to take a 3-1 lead. Then we played 4 great points in a row to take a 5-3 lead. We needed to play a little more aggressive here as we let them back in it to make it 5-5. My partner hit a good return for us to take a 6-5 lead. I hit a big 1^st serve and then they went for a big groundstroke and missed it long so we took the first set 7-6(5). We also got out to an early break in the 2^nd as we led 3-1. But they responded again with some solid returns. I was serving at 15-40 at 4-5 before we came up with some clutch shots for 5-5. We had one break point at 5-5 but couldn’t convert. So another tiebreak would deicde the second set. We got the mini break to go up 1-0 before winning both service points to lead 3-0. We were completely dialed in here as we hit some great returns and good 1^st serves. We didn’t let up and won both points on their serve to take a 5-0 lead. We closed it out with a big 1^st serve to take a commanding 7-0 tiebreak. It was a good 7-6(5), 7-6(0) win as they were good doubles players and there were a lot of close games. I was excited to make my first Futures doubles final!

In the finals we played Yong-Kyu Lim and Ji Sung Nam from Korea. They both have career high doubles rankings in the top 250 and they knew how to play solid doubles. They both had good volleys and returned well. We broke them first at 1-1 to take a 2-1 lead only to be broken back in the next game. We got another break by returning solid to go up 4-3 in the 1^st set. We saved 2 break points on our serve to lead 5-3. Then we served out the first set at love to take the first set 6-4. They raised their level in the second set by breaking us to take a 3-1 lead. We had 2 break points on their serve but could not convert. But we responded down 1-4 by getting a solid hold and then playing a good return game and breaking on the No-Ad point. We held again to even the 2^nd set at 4-4. We had 0-30 on their serve and one break point on the No-Ad point but they came up with a big serve down the T. At 4-5, they played one of the best games of the match with some great returns and volley winners. So the title would be decided by a 10-point match tiebreak. At 2-2 we got the first mini-break to lead 3-2. I was serving at 3-2 and unfortunately missed a volley and hit a double fault to lose both service points. They hit a couple good serves and we quickly found ourselves in a 3-7 hole. We got the next point to make it 4-7 but once again they came up with clutch 1^st serves to win both their service points. We saved the first match point at 4-9 but we missed a groundstroke just long to lose a closely contested match. It was a great run to the doubles final but we lost a tight one 6-4, 4-6, 5-10. The margins are small and they executed a little better down the stretch at the end of the 2^nd set and in the tiebreak. Credit to our opponents as they made almost all their 1^st serves in the tiebreak and returned solid. For this tournament I earned $156 for qualifying in singles and we split $540 for making the finals of doubles.

After losing in the doubles final on Saturday afternoon, I had a quick turnaround as I was playing in Qualifying the next day in a different city in Korea. I needed to quickly adjust to the different conditions and different balls for the next week.

I played my first round against a Korean player, Seong Woon Yu, in the 2^nd Rd of Qualifying. He has a career high of #1639 and was solid from the baseline with his backhand down-the-line being his best shot. He also had good volleys. I got off to a solid start by holding in my first service game and then breaking him. I maintained my break lead by holding for 4-1 in the 1^st set. I lost a little focus here as I threw in a poor service game with a few unforced errors. He held and suddenly it was 4-4. My opponent started to play more confidently here and played a pretty good game to break me to serve for the set at 5-4. However, I responded here by breaking him at love to even it at 5-5, which I followed up with a good hold. At 6-5 he played very conservatively and tried to extend the points. I won a few tough points before taking the first set 7-5. In the second set I also got an early break and took a 3-0 lead. He started to serve better but I was holding fairly easily. I got a few holds to take a solid 7-5, 6-3 win. This wasn’t my best tennis but I found a way to get through.

In the last round of Qualifying I played the #4 seed, Ku Keon Kang. He is currently ranked #1347 and has a career high of #1078. He was a baseliner who played very flat and aggressive. He liked to hit his forehand from the middle of the court and had a great inside-in forehand. He didn’t have any major weaknesses with a solid serve and decent volleys. I got off to a poor start in this match by getting broken in my first 2 service games. I had a few break points but didn’t convert any and I found myself down 0-4. I came back by getting a solid hold and also got a break by making a few more shots. I continued the momentum by holding again and getting another break. I evened it at 4-4. Unfortunately I got broken right back as he played a good return game along with me throwing in a few double faults. I broke him again when he served for the set with some solid returns which made it 5-5. I was serving at 40-15 at 5-5 but ended up losing that game. He served out the first set in the next game by a score of 7-5. This was a poor serving set from me as I had a low first serve percentage and hit 7 double faults. I got broken in my first service game of the 2^nd set but then started to find my rhythm. I won the next four games by playing more aggressive and serving better. I took the second set 6-2. In the third set, we both held the first few games until I was serving at 3-3 and was leading 40-15 but I ended up getting broken. I broke him back in the next game to even it at 4-4. We both held for 5-5 and then I lost a long Deuce game on my serve where he came up with some good shots. He served out the match at love and I lost a brutal 3 hour match 5-7, 6-2, 5-7. I needed to be mentally tougher and I made too many errors in this match. I also served poorly which ended up costing me the match.

After finishing up 2 weeks in Korea, I am now off to Guam for 1 more Futures. I am excited to play in  Guam as it is held in a cool venue. I got in directly to the Main Draw which was nice so that I don't have to qualify.

Based off my performance in Singapore a few weeks ago, I moved up 490 spots to a new career high of #1361 this week!

"Practice even what seems impossible. The left had is useless at almost everything, for lack of practice. But it guides the reins better than the right. From practice."

-Marcus Aurelius