Due to yesterday’s rain, the second Men’s Singles Semi-final, between Richard Keep and Stephen Cooke, will be played on grass court 2 at 18:30 this evening (Friday evening).
As it had rained too much during the day, the grass was unplayable. The Mixed Doubles Final and one of the two Men’s Singles Semi-finals were played on the hard courts.
Lesley provided a delicious Thai meal and dessert for the Gourmet Diners, who could join separate lines to the two self-service stations to get to the goodies quicker.
The Men’s Singles Semi-final on hard court four between Greg Lim and Marcio Sugui was a very close fought encounter. The court had both dry and wet patches but, apart from one occasion late on, did not seem to impede the movement of the players.
The standard of tennis was very high and there were few unforced errors. The spectators all marvelled at the typical depth of serves and groundstrokes, with fine margins. Both players had strong serves, and accurate placement, and were trying to move the other around court to get an opening for a winner, but without making an unforced error. If they achieved this aim, both players usually hit good crosscourt or down the line winners.
Marcio had an additional play, which was to drive Greg wide and deep, then play a drop shot to the other side of the court. At first Greg didn’t pick up the signs of drop shot preparation from Marcio, but later on wised up to it, though his percentage of success on such points was still low as Marcio would often be able to follow up with a lob over Greg’s head. But Greg won a few of these points later on. Greg didn’t have any obvious difficult with Marcio’s leftie spins.
In the first set Marcio started slowly, and Greg broke early for a 3-0 lead, but Marcio plugged away to bring the score to 4 games all, then took the set 6-4.
In the second set Marcio had a bit more of the upper hand, and his drop shots were more numerous. Greg was broken and was unable to level the game score again. Marcio won the match with a short ball, reached by Greg, then a good lob which caused Greg to slip for the first time, unable to run for it. Marcio won 6-4 6-4.
Mixed Doubles Final
The Mixed Doubles Final started on hard court 5, between Joe Rigal & Becca Vaughan, the 2nd seeds and Stephen Logan & Alex Reyner, top seeds and 2024 champions. This was a repeat of the 2024 final (won by Stephen & Alex 6-2 7-5).
Stephen and Alex were winning 5-2 when the match moved over to hard court 4 for the convenience of the numerous spectators/Gourmet Diners, after the conclusion of the Men’s Singles Semi-final.
Stephen and Alex had little difficulty in finishing off the last game of the first set on the new court, to take it 6-2.
For the rest of the match Joe and Becca were struggling to cope with the harder hitting of the title holders.
Stephen made few mistakes, although he was not as sharp on the reflex volleys as in his Men’s Doubles Semi-finals previously. But he hit precise ground strokes mid way between Joe and Becca when the opportunity came. Alex smacked smashes away which came her way at the net, hard and accurately. Both Stephen and Alex have heavy serves with an excellent classical technique.
Joe and Becca did have their moments, but they had to work very hard for them, and there weren’t enough of them, with very few free points coming their way. Joe passed Alex down the line a few times. Becca hit some telling volleys. But the seemingly inevitable result was a 6-2 6-2 victory to Stephen and Alex.
Finalists and spectators …
Everyone mucks in …
