The match
Four hours. Nine in the morning to one in the afternoon at the Charleston Tennis Center. Lost 6–3, 5–7, 6–7.
The plan going in was a body serve on the deuce court, wide on the ad, and focusing on getting my first serve in instead of big. Four-ball points rather than ten. Close from 40–0, because three games went the other way from there against Bailey.
First set. He held to open. I held straight back at 100 percent first serves with two aces, and had him at 30–40 in the next game before he escaped it.
Then it turned. I held at 40–0 with three aces, broke him 15–40, and held again with two more for 4–2. Seven aces in three service games. The serve was doing all of the work and it was enough.
He hung around. I had ad-out on him three times at 4–3 and he held every one of them. At 5–3 I played my worst service game of the set and somehow came out the other side, then broke him after three advantages to take it 6–3. I never faced a break point in the set.
Second set. This is the one that stings. I served first, held at love with two more aces, broke him at love, and went up 2–0. At 2–1 I was down 0–30 on a double fault and an error and hit back-to-back aces to hold anyway to get to 3–1.
We went back and forth before getting to 5–4 and the serve went when my legs didn’t have any more gas. He broke me. I gave him the next game without making him play for a single point, and lost the one after that on empty legs. 5–7, from 3–1 up.
Third set. Even the whole way. I held at 40–0 to start and the serve came back. He broke me early, I broke straight back, and after that nobody blinked — 3–3, 4–4, 5–5, 6–6, into a tiebreak. Lost it 5–7. On the last point my first serve broke three of his strings and the return still came back over for a back breaking loss.
Too many unforced errors to beat someone who is happy to let me make them.
What did work: the serve, when it was there. Probably a dozen aces across the day, and a first set where I was never once break point down. The game plan for the serve was right and I could repeat it.
When it was on I was untouchable and when it left at 5–4 I had nothing else to hold with. Conditioning is still where I need to work but I did survive a 4 hour match with a chance to win so we are seeing improvements!