Ali comes from a break down to take the opening set 6-4.

FQR: (q12) Alexis Klegou (BEN) WR 1383 beat (q4) Alistair Gray WR 1033 4-6 6-4 6-2

Oh if only I could stay one more day. Doubles kicks off with the top seeds. David O'Hare and Freddie Nielsen. What on earth are they doing playing futures. Good luck everyone else. Freddie told me they have a title to defend.

-- Edited by Bob in Spain on Sunday 18th of June 2017 06:03:21 PM

Match Report for Ewan

This was a tough defeat for Ewan to take. In fairness, he played very well, but so did his opponent. Of all the matches I saw over the weekend, this was the most entertaining and the most nerve racking.

Ewan appeared to be struggling physically in the early stages, regularly trying to get his legs going by giving them a thump with either fist or racket. Perhaps this explained why he tried to come to the net regularly in the early stages in an attempt to shorten the points. Or perhaps it was because he soon realized that his Spanish opponent, Barroso, was extremely solid from the baseline and he felt the need to change it up a little. Either way, it didnt quite work. Barroso didnt have enormous power, but had excellent court craft and regularly passed Ewan at the net. In the end, it was close, but the Spaniard ran out the winner 6-3 with just the one break in the set.

After getting broken in the opening game of the 2nd set, Ewan seemed to change tactics and decided to go toe-to-toe from the baseline. His extra power began to pay dividends immediately. He broke back in the next game and soon broke for a second time to lead 5-2. Barroso had a tough hold and so forced Ewan to serve out the set. It didnt go exactly to plan as Barroso soon had 0-40, including a rather dodgy backhand down the line passing shot into the tramlines that was called in. In fairness to the umpire, it was far side of the court and with Ewan rushing to the net, his view of the bounce was obscured. But Ewan was not finished. With some strong serving, something he did exceptionally well throughout the match, he showed great character to fight back and take the next 5 points in a row to level the match.

The third set was a very tight affair. Ewan using his power where he could, and Barroso on serve sticking to his stock tactic of the swinging serve out wide in the deuce court a serve he hit with monotonous regularity opening up the rest of the court for a clean winner on the 3rd shot of the rally. Serving at *2-3, Ewan came up against an inspired Barroso. Ewan didnt play a bad game but Barroso just played a superbly. I remember one return in particular. On the deuce court, Ewan hit a hard flat 1st serve out wide. I thought it was an ace. Barroso thought otherwise and hit a clean cross court winner that caught the junction of the side and base lines.

But serving at *4-2, Barroso saw the finish line and Ewan saw his chance. Barroso clearly tightened up and with Ewan playing some excellent tennis, he won the next two games to love and the match reached four all. The momentum was clearly with Ewan, and with Coach Gray urging him to target the Barroso forehand, he won his ninth point in a row for 0-15. The feeling was that if he could maintain the momentum for just a couple more points, the match was there for the taking. However, on the next point, Ewan stepped in to attack the 2nd serve (clearly the right tactic), but mistimed his return to spoon a backhand over the baseline. The spell was broken and Barroso followed up with an ace, going on to hold for 5-4*.

In what proved to be the final game of the of the match, Ewan soon found himself 0-30 down. The first point was slightly unlucky as a complete miss-hit on return by Barroso just dropped over the net. Ewan was forced into the net but with the low ball, he was unable to get enough on the approach which left him vulnerable to the passing shot. Barroso duly delivered. Then followed a DF. Ewan fought back for 30-30 but Barroso then forced the first MP at 30-40. It was here that Ewan showed more of that great character with perhaps the best point of the match. This was a long rally, easily in excess of 20 strokes. At one point, Barroso had Ewan scrambling out to the forehand side, but Ewan stayed in the rally, gradually took control and sealed the point by stepping inside the baseline to a slightly shorter ball and crunching a forehand cross court winner. Barroso however played a terrific point of his own next, finally hitting a forehand down the line deep into the backhand corner that Ewan was unable to retrieve. On the next MP, Ewan forgot to towel his hand and on the first serve, the racket went almost as far as the ball. He bravely made a good second serve though and another extended rally ensued. Barroso was clearly intent on just rallying, hitting with plenty of margin down the centre of the court and asking Ewan to make all the running. In the end, Ewan slightly over cooked a forehand that missed the baseline by about a foot and the match was gone.

The result wasnt to be today, but Ewan played some excellent tennis and fought hard to the final point despite the obvious fatigue. Credit to Barroso too, as he also played a terrific match.

Sounds a great weekend, Bob.

And I bet the lads appreciated having a bit of home support, and aid.

I've only seen 10 mins of Ewan's match play, and Ali G only practicing. So it's great to hear a bit (lot!) more detail.

Tx.

It's going to be a late one tonight. Barroso, who beat Ewan yesterday, is in another marathon. It's 11.50pm and he is still playing his singles. Furthermore, he is meant to be playing doubles later.