The match
Beat Alex Pertusini 6–1, 6–0 at the Charleston Tennis Center, forty minutes on court.
This was the serve at its best. Two service games where literally every point was an ace, both to love. Two more aces closing out the first set, two more in the second, two more to finish the match. When the first serve is landing at that rate the games are over before they start — those two took four points each and nothing else.
The return games were just as clean. I broke in every single return game across both sets. That is the part I am most happy about, because break points have been the thing costing me matches all year. Six chances, six breaks, most of them finished at 40–0 or 40–15.
The one game I lost in the entire match was my own doing: two double faults at 4–1 and he broke me. That is it. That is the whole blemish. Which is exactly the pattern from every match this season — the only games I lose are the ones where my serve leaves.
Second set I did not drop a game. 6–0.
Alex was giving me a look I could play into — he sets up close on the return and blocks the ball back, so there was nothing coming at me that I had to respect. Credit where it is due, he chased everything down, but it was a night where I got to play my own game start to finish.
Best part: forty minutes. After the three-set war in the heat last time out, taking care of business quickly and walking off fresh is its own kind of win.