Went to Villajoyosa today hoping to see something special both in terms of the final and also the facilities. As I have mentioned before, the venue is hosting 3 consecutive futures events, and also 5 age group national junior tournaments (boys and girls) all simultaneously, so I was expecting top notch facilities. That was not the case. This was very much a holiday resort with tennis courts as opposed to a tennis club and consequently lacked the atmosphere of a proper tournament venue.

The pitch (I refuse to call it a court) was nominally Astroturf (carpet) but was covered in more sand than my local Guardamar beach. Both players found it quite difficult to change direction and both found themselves on their "rear-ends" on more than one occasion. The wind was also a massive factor with both players consistently forced to forego power and revert to slice and kick serves on their first serve. The conditions acted to level the playing field as they suited much more the terrier like defensive qualities of Carballes than the attacking flair of Carreño Busta. There were flashes of brilliance at times - mostly from Carreño - but for much of the match it was more of a slog.

As I mentioned, the whole set up lacked the atmosphere that I had anticipated for a final. Whether that was because the were so many other matches being played on adjacent courts, whether it was the conditions, or whether it was just that I was present this time as an interested neutral as opposed to a partisan GB (Kyle) fan, I don't know. For the first set and a half, the result seemed all but inevitable, with Carreño stepping up his game just enough when Carballes pressed and managing to keep his nose in front. Carballes on the other hand, battled as he always does, but very much with the air of someone who didn't really believe he could win. Serving at break point *4-3, 30-40, Carreño was in control of the rally when a stone dead net chord from Carballes gave him the break. Frustration seemed to set in and in many ways, Carreño was lucky to take the set to a tiebreak which he proceeded to lose anyway with a string of unforced and uncharacteristic errors.

In the end however, he battled his way through the third set to take his seventh title, but mainly because of the conditions, this was not the commanding performance that I saw in Cartagena.

One humorous moment occurred in the final set on the Carballes serve. A big serve left Carreño stretching for a return which looped up only just clearing the net. Carballes moved up to kill the high bouncing ball from well inside the service line, but Carreño guessed right. He stuck his racket up more in self defence than anything but somehow it turned into an outright winning pass - much more by luck than judgement. Carballes, in frustation, grabbed the other ball from his pocket and slammed it over the fence, only for it to smack into palm tree which was set well back and bounce back onto the court. The umpire called him for a code violation, when Carballes turned to the umpire (and with a massive grin) told him that the ball had not left the court !!

So all in all, I was pleased to be able to watch the final and some history in the making, but it was not the most inspiring day I have had at a tournament.