Tuesday 27th November 2012
Today was one of those days that could have ended in huge elation but instead the result went against us and it ended in bitter disappointment.
Mason decided last night that he would like to warm up on the match courts at 8.30am this morning even though he wasn’t due on until much later in the day as he’d spent most of the time training at the Mvita Club for the last couple of days. We therefore had breakfast at 7am and were all set to leave the hotel at 7.50am when the Heavens opened and it poured down with rain!
The rain didn’t last too long but a huge amount came down both outside the hotel and inside my room – I’ve got an internal balcony attached to my room and the rain was pouring through the roof onto it!! By 9am the rain had stopped and it went back to 30+ degrees so we headed over to the club to see if the matches had started. When they got underway Mason’s opponents were playing so we both sat by the court and made notes about both players so he would be prepared for whoever won.
After they were done I took the girls over to the Mvita Club so they could train and play practice sets with Sunita and Arezo from the Euroelite Academy.
Mia and Holly in the Tuk Tuk on the way to the Mvita Club
I left them there to play while I went back to the Mombasa Sports Club to warm up with Mason and then go through his pre-match on court session from 12.45 – 1.30pm. Mason was hitting well and very up for the challenge of playing a very fiery Portuguese player.
While I was on court with Mason, Dave had gone over to the other club to collect the girls and then we all sat down for some lunch. The girls said that they played well in the session and they both won their sets so were quite happy!
At 3pm Mason took to the court to play Felipe Cunha Silva and based on watching him play this morning we knew it was going to be a tough match against a player who’s not afraid to express himself!! Mason started very nervously and found it difficult to get into a rhythm as Felipe was taking big swings at everything and not missing too much. Mason was broken at *1-2 and it looked as though Felipe was really starting to impose himself on the match but Mason showed great fight and composure to break straight back in the next game. Unfortunately Felipe then went on a run of 6 winners and only 2 unforced errors in the next 3 games to take the set 6-2. There was not much Mason could have done about the end of the set as the Portuguese boy was just taking everything on and it all came off for him – if he kept that level up it was just be too good!!
At the start of the 2nd set Mason really dug deep and after breaking serve in the 1st game he found his voice which in turn increased his aggression and upped his level. He went on to hold and break again to lead *3-0 before Felipe found his range and won the next two games in a row. Mason continued to fight really hard for every point and even though he wasn’t dictating much of the play he was making sure his opponent had to earn every point. Mason got another break at 4-2* but was broken straight back and then at 5-3* he showed real determination to deal with some bad calls and break Felipe to take the set 6-3 (not 6-4 as the ITF result shows!).
Mason in action vs Felipe Cunha Silva from Portugal
There were a few very close calls at the end of the 2nd set and start of the 3rd so the referee brought on a main draw player to referee the rest of the match. This is quite common in countries where there aren’t many court officials but it would have been better if they had actually used one of the supervisors that spent the whole match watching from the back of the court anyway. Mason broke to lead *3-1 but was again broken straight back and then the set went with serve until *5-5. By this stage the players had been on court for around 3 hours and Mason had been battling mentally and physically very hard throughout the whole match. Unfortunately he then put in a poor service game as he really struggled to find enough 1st serves at important times and Felipe was quite prepared to step up on the 2nd serve return and really take it on. Mason again fought hard at 5-6* down but some calls went against him and in the end he didn’t quite have enough to take the match as he eventually went down 6-2, 3-6, 7-5 in 3hrs 15mins.
It was a real heartbreaker of a match but Mason will learn a lot from it and it was tremendously positive to see him fighting so hard physically and mentally even when he knew he wasn’t playing that well.
While all of this had been going on for 3+hrs Mia had gone on for doubles with Nikita Dawda from Kenya and they comfortably beat Habiba Shaker (EGY) & Shannon Wong Hon Chan (MRI) 6-1, 6-3. I didn’t see any of it as I was over with Mason but Holly kept me updated and Mia told me afterwards that she was very pleased with the match.
After having a chat with Mason about the match we went back to the hotel to have a quick shower and change before we went back out to the Castle Royal Hotel for dinner. Mason was very hungry after his marathon of a match so we both decided to go for the buffet and it was well worth it!
Schedule for tomorrow:
Karl Hulten (SWE) & Jacob Svantesson (SWE) OR Chisomo Lumeta (MAW) & Ryan Wong Pin Young (MRI) vs (5) Sacha Modica (GBR) & Mason Recci (GBR) – 5th match after 9am
Vicky Geurinckx (BEL) & Shanna Krimatschow (GER) vs Hannah Brett (GBR) & Holly Hutchinson (GBR) – 5th match after 9am
Consolation matches to be arranged as players become available
