This was a match worthy of a final for both quality and drama. I am not sure exactly where to begin but perhaps I should start by saying that if Hernando's ranking of 694 is genuine, then I'm a teapot. He played far far better than that ranking would suggest and let's not forget his win yesterday. Jose Checa was ranked 230 just 12 months ago and is seriously under-ranked now and yet Hernando bullied him off court yesterday in straight sets with a string of winners.

The weather was much warmer today which was good news from the perspective of Marcus' back which didn't seem to trouble him at all. The first set was a serve fest for up until 5-5. Both players served their socks off. When they did get into rallies, Hernando was solid of the backhand and at times devastating off the forehand wing. Marcus, was ... well .... Marcus, mixing the pace up well, working the angles and throwing in some devastating dropshot winners. Very little to choose between them in effectiveness even if the styles were poles apart.

In their last service games in that set though, both faced adversity. Hernandes was 0-30, while Marcus was 15-40 facing two SPs. Both players dug themselves out with a string of big serves. Into a tiebreak. I have to admit, my mind is a blur on this and both players had multiple SPs. I remember Marcus saving one with a running forehand down the line pass. But in the end it was a booming Hernando forehand winner that sealed the breaker 16-14.

At the start of the 2nd set, Hernando allowed his level to drop just a fraction and Marcus pounced. On the Hernando serve, Marcus drew him in with a couple of low slices, and as Hernando tried to counter with a chip and charge, Marcus caressed a couple of forehand winners down the line against the onrushing opponent. Marcus didn't drill them but whipped them down the line, bending the ball back inside the line. It was enough to get Marcus the early break and despite a couple of scares, he served out the rest of the set at 6-3 to level the match at one set all. But the drama was only just beginning.

Hernando opened the final set by serving 4 aces in 1 game to lead 1-0*. More holds followed as we moved to 2-2. In the next game Marcus forced a BP at ad-out. Defending like a terrier, he was forced to throw up the lob. A big smash to the forehand side was retrieved with another lob, the next smash to the backhand side had Marcus scampering and at full stretch, but somehow he retrieved it again dropping it right in the backhand corner. Hernando chased it down but after another couple of strokes, he put a forehand in the net. There was a loud VAMOS from Marcus, drowned out only by an even louder one from a rather excitable "expattennisfan" (who shall remain nameless) sitting on the sideline.

At this point however, Marcus played his one bad game of the match. Having broken to go *3-2 up, he threw in a DF and missed a couple of volleys and we were back at 3-3. More holds followed until eventually Marcus found himself serving at *5-6. His serve slightly deserted him at first but he fought back from 0-30 to 30-30 but then had to face MP at 30-40. Finally a first serve bomb from Marcus, but the return from Hernando was even harder and down the backhand side. I thought it was over. For just a split second I thought Marcus had given up as the ball was flashing past him. But somehow, he flicked a backhand "squash" style from what must have been a foot behind him and got the ball back. Hernando thought he had already won the point and the match, so when the ball came back, he was so shocked he dumped his forehand into the net from mid-court. Marcus then served out and squeaky culo time was on the menu.

Marcus made an excellent start to the TB, and turned around 4-2 up. He served and volleyed on the next point and hit his best volley (and there were plenty of good ones) of the match with the ball skidding off the line at the junction of side and base lines on the backhand side. The line judge, 2m away put her palms to the floor, but the umpire, from the far side of the court, over-ruled the decision and called it out. Have to say at this point that overall the umpire had a really good match today, but this was a shocker and even Hernando knew it. Credit to Marcus though as he kept his focus and moved 6-4 ahead. Hernando was not finished though and fought back to have MP again at 7-6. Finally however, with Marcus leading 9-8, he spotted another chip and charge, but this time out-foxed his opponent by going cross court with a forehand passing shot to take the match.

Marcus slumped firstly to his knees and then ended up face down on the court. He was out for the count. Six months ago, he would have lost this match for fitness reasons, but his movement today was great, specifically rushing forwards to pick up the drop shots.

Overall, this was a final that NEITHER player deserved to lose. I am just glad it came out the right way and that I had the pleasure of being there to watch Marcus pick up the trophy. And boy did he deserve it.

Of course I was grateful he won for another reason. I wasn't looking forward to the trip to the airport and trying to make conversation had he lost. But in the end, we were both on a high all the way there and as you can probably tell from my match report, I STILL AM.

Get in there WillBomb. Top job today buddy. Proud of ya.