Ajeet Rai served first when he played Pavle Marinkov on the Gold Coast this afternoon, and both went through multiple deuces before losing their first games. Rai had to come back from 15-40 before winning the fifth game, but Marinkov could save only the first two break points from 0-40 in the sixth. The remaining games went with serve, allowing Rai to close out the set after 49 minutes.
The second set started well enough for both players, winning their opening games, but the closest Rai got to another was when he had Marinkov at 0-40 in the fifth game. The Australian teenager got out of jail by winning the five points he needed to take the game, and he won the last two to love to finish the set after 35 minutes.
There was just one break of serve in the final set, but it went Rai’s way when he won all the points in the sixth game. He finished the next game with consecutive aces, and completed the match with a flourish when he served another. The final score was 6-3, 1-6, 6-3, and they had been on court for two hours and 15 minutes.