Trinidad & Tobago U18 ITF Grade 4, Day 6

Tuesday 26^th March 2013

Alex had a tough match in the singles today against a strong opponent but got a good win in the doubles while Mia and Sara lost a close 1^st round doubles match.

As Alex had a later start time today we met for breakfast at 8.30am and then got a taxi to the courts at 9.45am. Our original plan was then to warm up at 10am and hit from 10.30-11am but Alex’s court was moving quite slowly so we delayed everything by 30 minutes. Alex and Mia trained well together during the session and by 11.30am they were both warmed up and ready for their matches.

We then headed down to Pizza Hut for our normal lunch and returned to the club to prepare for Alex’s singles match.

Alex went on just after 2pm to face 16^th seed Arthur Stefani from Brazil and even though Arthur’s ranking is only just above Alex’s he was older and physically stronger. Arthur raced to a 5-0* lead with a combination of heavier hitting and less errors and even though Alex managed to hold serve in the next game the Brazilian took the first set 6-1.

Alex upped his level in the 2^nd and hit almost twice the number of winners as he did in the 1^st set but Arthur always looked in control and after breaking Alex for the second time at *2-4, he went on to take the set and the match 6-1, 6-2. Alex was disappointed with the result as he felt he could have performed better but he understood that because of his current physical size and strength there are going to be some matches that are just going to be too tough for him. He still learnt a lot throughout the match and developed his game so hopefully when he reflects on it tomorrow he will realise it wasn’t as bad as he first thought!

After the match Alex had some treatment on his left elbow as it had been hurting throughout the match and then at after quite a long delay he took to the court again for his 1st round doubles match with George Cartledge from America. Alex started the match really fired up and was very positive at the net both when he was returning and when George was serving. The boys broke in the 1^st and 3^rd games to lead *3-0 and despite Alex losing his serve in the next game they broke again to stay in control. They then won the next two games convincingly to take the 1^st set 6-1.

At the start of the Alex’s 2^nd set Mia went on for her doubles match with Sara Kelly from America so I was then dashing between court 1 and court 6 to keep up to date with what was happening! Mia and Sara struggled to get going at the start of the match and soon fell 4-1 behind before raising both their games to level the set at 4-4. Unfortunately Mia was broken to Love while serving at *4-5 to lose the 1^st set 6-4.

Meanwhile Alex and George continued to play some impressive doubles and after a tight start to the set they went on to take the set and the match 6-1, 6-2. After their match had finished George’s coach told me that they might struggle to play tomorrow unless they can change their flights so now we’re hoping they can otherwise they will both have to pull out.

Mia and Sara started their 2^nd set much better than they had in the 1^st and when they broke at 2-2* I thought they’d go on to control the whole set. However, a poor service game from Sara in the very next game let their opponents back in. Mia served well to hold a tight service game at *3-4 but Sara couldn’t do the same at *4-5 and they went on to lose the match 6-4, 6-4. Loses are always hard to accept but it’s even more difficult when you feel as though you could have done better and that was definitely the case with Mia and Sara today.

By the time Mia had finished it was just before 8.30pm so after she showered and changed at the club we headed straight to dinner. Once we were done it was then straight back to the hotel to try and get the players in to bed at a reasonable time!

It’s been a tough couple of days for Mia but I know she’s going to bounce back next week and hopefully, if George can rearrange his flights, him and Alex can win the next round and get some points on the board.

Schedule for tomorrow:

(1) Christian Cargill (BAH) & Arturs Lazins (LAT) vs George Cartledge (USA) & Alex Hagon (GBR) – 3^rd match after 9am (not before 11am)