I don’t know if it was because the quality of players was a bit lower than in Tokyo, and thus had a bit more time to react to shots that weren’t perfectly executed, but there were far more good rallies in one doubles quarter-final in Shenzhen than in the two that we had seen in the Japan Open, and some were truly outstanding. Colin Sinclair served first when he and Justin Barki played Rubin Statham and Ben Lock, and he had to save a break point when the left-handed Barki found the net with a backhand to end the first of the really good rallies. Statham’s backhand return of the next serve went into the net, and Sinclair’s serve out wide to Lock on the deciding point only just touched the Zimbabwean’s racquet.
Sinclair’s fabulous cross-court backhand return of Lock’s serve was followed by an equally good forehand return down the tramlines from Barki and, when Statham was forced into an error on a backhand volley, the second game went to deuce as well. Statham smashed away a volley to win the deciding point, but he couldn’t repeat the dose when Barki ended up at deuce as well, his inside-out forehand return of serve going into the net. Four return errors in a row allowed Statham to hold to love, but Sinclair lost his serve when he was forced into errors to lose great rallies on his last two points. That came after Barki had hit an air shot when trying to smash a volley, and had to spin round and chase the ball back before fumbling the shot. The players then left the court because of light drizzle, but they were off for less than ten minutes before play resumed.
Lock might have wished they had stayed off for longer, because he hit two unforced errors before Barki’s easy backhand volley got the break straight back. He hit a beautiful overhead volley on the way to holding serve in the next game, but there was no more drama until he was serving again. Sinclair was forced to hit a backhand volley into the net to give away a deuce, but Lock hit his backhand return of the deciding point straight into the net. Statham then got robbed of an ace in exactly the same way as last week, with a ball landing in the outside corner of the service box being called as a fault, and he lost the point on his second serve. He did go on to win the game, however, and that took them to a tie-break.
Sinclair lost the first point to a forehand winner down the tramlines from Lock, but all four players then won both their points. Sinclair finished a great rally on Barki’s second point by hitting a backhand volley down the left side of the court, whereas his partner was forced to hit a forehand into the net to end a fantastic rally once they changed ends, the incoming ball having hit the net cord on the way through. Barki then hit a beautiful forehand drop volley to win Sinclair’s first point, and his team finally got the mini-break back when Lock overhit a forehand to lose his own first point. He won his second with a fantastic backhand winner down the tramlines that was the shot of the match and earnt his team a set point. The best rally of the day came immediately afterwards, but Sinclair was forced to hit a forehand volley over the baseline to end the set after 55 minutes.
Statham held serve comfortably to start the second set before hitting a fantastic angled backhand volley to win a short rally when Sinclair served next. Lock finished a hold to love by acing both of his opponents, and Barki looked well on the way to making it four holds in a row when Sinclair hit a fantastic cross-court backhand volley. The second seeds had other ideas, Statham winning the next point with a fabulous backhand return down the tramlines. Lock hit an easy cross-court forehand winner to take the next point, and a great rally next up ended when Barki hit a backhand lob far too hard. Statham took the deciding point, but literally had nothing to do as Barki double faulted to tamely give away the break.
Statham then held comfortably before there were visions of a double break when a backhand volley from Lock took Sinclair to 15-40. Forced return errors got Sinclair back to deuce, and Statham’s backhand return of the deciding point sailed over the baseline, the New Zealander dropping to his haunches in disgust. Barki hit a fabulous angled backhand return off Lock to start the next game, the ball barely clearing the net before landing less than halfway between the net and the service line, and he hit a beautiful winning forehand volley three points later. They ended up at deuce when Lock dumped a forehand into the net, but he saved the deciding point with a great serve that Sinclair could only push halfway back.
Lock hit a beautiful backhand return through the middle of the court when Barki served next, but the Indonesian went on to hold when Statham hit a backhand volley into the net. That left the New Zealander serving for the match, but the drama wasn’t finished yet. Sinclair won the first point with a beautiful backhand volley down the tramlines, and won the fantastic short rally on the fourth point with a beautiful inside-out overhead volley. The great rally on the next point was the longest of the match, Statham ending it after 13 shots with an overhead volley of his own to bring up match point. Sinclair’s cross-court backhand return went long, and the match was all over after an hour and 37 minutes. The final score was 7-6 (5), 6-3.