I missed the first few games in the doubles quarter-final in Carrara because I was out, so I didn’t see Ajeet Rai lose the opening service game, nor Jake Delaney get broken next up when he double faulted on a deciding point. That would have been more than somewhat galling for him and Shintaro Imai, as they had been up 40-0. Tom Fancutt started and finished his first service game with aces as he held to love, and Rai didn’t lose any points either after Imai had had a comfortable hold. I was able to start watching during Delaney’s second service game, where he gave away break points with an inside-out smash that went wide. He aced Rai down the middle to save the first one, but sent a backhand volley over the baseline to lose the game.
Fancutt lost just one point next up, when Rai hit a backhand into the net to end a great rally, and that meant Imai had to hold serve to keep his team in the set. Getting broken to love wasn’t a great alternative, but Rai started with a beautiful backhand return down the tramlines before Fancutt hit a fabulous cross-court backhand return. Delaney’s next cross-court backhand volley went wide, and Fancutt’s cross-court backhand return of the next serve clipped the net cord on the way into the tramlines. It would have landed there anyway, but it deflected just far enough away from Imai that he had no hope of reaching it. The set had taken 29 minutes.
Fancutt again held to love when he started the second set, Rai closing out the game with a fabulous backhand volley. Imai lost one point, to a double fault, but Rai made it two love holds in a row before being forced into an error on a backhand volley to end a fantastic rally in the next game. He made up for that with a fabulous return of serve to take Delaney to deuce, but Fancutt’s return of the deciding point landed short of the net.
Fancutt again held to love, and Imai did the same to keep the scores level. Rai started the next game with a double fault, but he also aced both his opponents while letting Fancutt win the other two points. The next game was, by a long way, the best that I saw in the match, but a non-call by the chair umpire could have had serious consequences. It started with a beautiful cross-court forehand return from Rai, and that was followed by another fabulous cross-court backhand return into the corner from Fancutt. Rai was then forced to hit a return over the baseline before Fancutt hit a beautiful forehand return down the left tramline to bring up some break points.
He missed the first of those when his backhand lob went over the baseline, but he was adamant that the incoming shot from Delaney had also been long, and it had certainly looked that way to me. A great rally on the next point ended when Imai hit a wonderful overhead forehand volley, which was the best shot that I saw. That took them to deuce, but Fancutt probably felt that justice was served when Delaney pushed a forehand into the net to lose the deciding point.
That left Fancutt serving for the match, but he had to save a break point after being forced into an error to lose a great rally. Imai blew the chance to break when he hit a backhand into the net, and Delaney’s return of the deciding point went over the baseline. The match had taken an hour and two minutes, the final score being 6-2, 6-3.