Monday 3rd March 2014
It was a rollercoaster of a first round match today for Ben against the number 3 seed and, after over 2 and a half hours in hot and windy conditions, the result unfortunately didn’t go his way.
As Ben was scheduled for 4th match on we had breakfast just after 8.30am and then walked the short distance from the restaurant to the club at around 9am. We then supported the four British girls that were all scheduled first on until 10.30am when it was time for Ben to get warmed up for his practice session. Ben and I hit from 11 – 11.40am and went through the normal pre-match routine of warming up groundstrokes, volleys, smashes, serves and returns whilst reinforcing the tactics that would be needed for Ben’s match. Ben was striking the ball well during the session and has been looking good since the first day we arrived here so we had high expectations for his first round match.
Before we left site to get some lunch we secured a ‘not before time’ from the referee to make sure that Ben wasn’t called for his match while we were away and then, after a good buffet lunch of either chicken or steak wraps, it was time to go back to the courts to get ready for the match.
At 1pm Ben took to the court to face number 3 seed David Poljak from Czech Republic. Even though we had trained with David yesterday and knew exactly what to expect, the first few games didn’t go as planned!
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Ben (left) and David (right) warming up for their match on the 2nd court
Ben was 40-15 up in the first two games of the first set but couldn’t take his chances and eventually went *0-3 down. Ben then settled down, increased his first serve percentage and fought hard to hold, break and hold again to level the set at 3-3*. Ben then broke David at 4-4* and, whilst serving for the set at *5-4, he was*30-0 up but a few double faults cost him the chance to close out the set. The boys eventually went into a tie-break and again it was Ben that looked in control at 5-3* but David came back to win the next 4 points in a row to take it 7-5.
Ben was obviously disappointed with the result of the first set, especially as he felt he should have closed it out whilst serving at 5-4, but at the start of the second set he reset and straightaway raced to a 4-0 lead. A lapse of concentration leading to 3 unforced errors cost Ben his serve in the next game but after saving break points at *4-2 he eventually held on to lead 5-2*. David continued to make life difficult for Ben and after holding and breaking at 5-3 it was left to Ben to break his opponent again to take the set … which he did to Love!
Both boys took a break at the end of the second set either to get some cold drinks or to use the toilet and when they returned they had to deal with the introduction of new balls. There is a massive difference out here between using new balls and ones that are 10-15 minutes old but Ben played a good service game to take a 1-0* lead. David then held to level the set and then two changes had a massive impact on the outcome of the rest of the match. Firstly the wind picked up out of nowhere and secondly David completely changed his game plan and started to stay in the rally from the back of the court rather than look to finish points at the net. Both changes caused Ben to suddenly become a lot more erratic and after 17 unforced errors in 4 games he found himself 1-4* down. Ben tried to increase his level but by this stage David had rediscovered his confidence and started to take the ball on again which resulted in him finally taking the match 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-2.
Ben was obviously disappointed with the loss and felt as though he should have won the match after being up in the first set but credit has to go to David who fought very hard throughout and his first serve percentage and winner count were the real difference in the match.
Once Ben had cooled down, stretched out and eaten some food we started to prepare for his doubles match but at 4.45pm the rain that had been threatening for a couple of hours suddenly started. That saw the end of play for the day and once again it was a scrum down to get the shuttle busses back to the hotel – luckily Ben and Jazz managed to squeeze into one while I ended up getting a lift back to the hotel in the back of a pick-up truck!
By 6pm we were all very hungry so decide to get to the restaurant early for dinner but unfortunately it wasn’t the best meal tonight both in terms of size and quality! We can’t complain too much as it is free hospitality but hopefully it will improve as the week goes on!
Boy’s Doubles Draw
Schedule for tomorrow:
Ben Stride (GBR) & David Volfson (CAN) vs (4) Courtney Lock (ZIM) & David Pichler (AUT) – 4th match after 8.30am
