Monday 2nd July 2012
It was a tough day at the Northern Club today; we had a set and a half on the outdoor clay, then a long rain delay and then we went indoors to finish the match. There were lots of momentum shifts both on and off the court but Dave managed to keep his nerve and perform very well to take a difficult 3 set win.
Yesterday we moved to the official hotel which meant we are now only 10 minutes away for the tournament site. That also meant that we could get up a little later and have a more relaxed start to the day so this morning we had breakfast at 7.30am and then we left for the club at 8.15am. After a good warm up in the gym I hit with Dave to prepare him up for his match from 9-9.30am and then the first round of matches went on immediately after we were finished. Dave hit well and was feeling good so it was then just a case of getting something light to eat before he went on for his match.
We knew that it was going to be tough against 10th seed Harry Meehan as he’s got a big lefty serve and will take any opportunity to move forwards and put you under a lot of pressure. It helped a little to be on the wet outdoor clay but that didn’t stop him hitting at least 1 or 2 aces a game.
The first 12 games all went with serve with the returner not really making any inroads which meant the set would have to be decided by a tie-break. Both Dave and Harry were serving well and also backing up their serves with confident groundstrokes so going into the breaker it could have gone either way. Dave got the first mini-break at 3-3*and then held his 2 service points to give him a 6-3* lead and three set points. However he only needed one and after a strong 1st serve return Harry missed a volley long to hand the set to Dave.
The second set followed the same pattern as the first set but the balls were getting a little heavier so the returner had a bit more of a chance to swing at the serves. After Harry held to lead 3-2 the match was stopped due to heavy rain which gave me a chance to talk through the match with Dave but it also meant that after a long delay the referee decided that the match would be moved indoors onto the hard courts.
. . . and it keeps pouring down!
The move indoors probably favoured Harry more than Dave but it didn’t make a huge difference as the match was being dominated by serve anyway. Once they restarted Dave held well to level the score at 3-3* but Harry now looked even more confident on his serve and from the back of the court and went on to hold, break and then hold again to take the second set 6-3.
The third set was a real battle and included 5 breaks; the first one came when Dave gave up his serve with some poor decision making at *1-1 but he managed to break back at 2-3* after finally starting to read Harry’s serve and move up to take it earlier before it reached the side curtain!! Dave was broken straight back but, after saving a match point and Harry missing one of the easiest smashed I’ve ever seen at 4-5* 40-40* Dave finally got the set level at *5-5. He then held and managed to take his first match point to take the match 7-6(3), 3-6, 7-5. It was a really mentally tough performance from Dave and after losing a few close 3 setters recently it was great that he came through this one against strong, big hitting opponent.
The match almost had to be stopped prematurely as some other members had booked the court at 5.30pm but it was all completed not long afterwards and after a cool down and a good stretch out we left the club by 6.15pm.
We joined up with Lewis Burton and Ed Corrie for dinner in Zizzi’s this evening and then it was back to the hotel to go through the match in detail before preparing for tomorrows last round of qualifying match.
Schedule for tomorrow:
Imran Aswat (GBR) (UNR) vs (WC) Dave Hodgetts (GBR) (UNR) – 2nd match after 9.30am
