One break of serve is all you need to win a set, providing you don’t lose your own at any stage, and that was what happened in the first set when Finn Reynolds and Jesse Flores played Alexander Bravo and David Perez Sands in the first round of doubles in Alcala de Henares last night. The break came straight away, when the unseeded pair lost their opening service game, although Reynolds and Flores had had to come back from 30-40 to win the first game of the match. There weren’t any more deuces, with Reynolds and Flores eventually serving out the set after 31 minutes.
Bravo and Perez Sanz lost their first two game points in the opening game of the second set, but they did win the decider to hold serve. They weren’t as fortunate next time round, losing the third game on a double fault after being up 30-0. Games from there all saw comfortable holds – until Reynolds and Flores were serving for the match. Rather unexpectedly, they got broken to love, but they broke again in the next game before serving out the match after an hour and 12 minutes. The final score was 6-3, 7-5.