[3] Isaac Becroft (NZL) and Anton Shepp (NZL) v Lu Chen-yu (TPE) and Avi Shugar (USA)

For the second week in a row, Isaac Becroft and Anton Shepp reached the doubles final in Monastir, but this time they were the third seeds.  Their opponents, Lu Chen-yu and Avi Shugar, had knocked out the fourth seeds in the first round before defeating the Italian pair that had eliminated the top seeds, so an intriguing contest seemed to be in the offing.

Becroft served first, and was facing break points straight away when Shepp was forced to hit a forehand volley into the net.  An unreturnable serve to Shugar saved the first, and Shepp got them to deuce with a beautiful backhand volley down the left-hand side of the court.  Lu took the deciding point, but another great serve saw his backhand return fly over the baseline.

Becroft hit a fabulous backhand return down the tramlines off Shugar in the second game, but the latter followed that with a beautiful forehand volley before going on to hold.  Shepp starting by acing Shugar down the middle, with the latter being called for what appeared to be a double hit later in the game.  His discussion with the umpire seemed more about clarification than an argument but, with no microphones other than that on the camera, there was no way to tell exactly what was said.

Shepp went on to hold, and Lu aced both Becroft and Shepp in the next game before smashing away a volley to win the great rally on Becroft’s first point.  Games continued to go with serve, and the next standout shot didn’t come until Shugar hit a fabulous cross-court forehand return into the tramlines off Shepp.  The sequence of holds came to end when Lu started his second game with two unforced errors and finished with another.

That left Becroft serving for the set, and a smash from Shepp took them to 40-15.  Becroft was then forced to hit a forehand over the baseline before Lu saved the second set point with a beautiful inside-out forehand return into the tramlines.  Shugar safely returned the deciding point, but Shepp wrapped up the set with an easy cross-court forehand volley.  They had been on court for 32 minutes.

Shugar and Becroft held comfortably to start the second set, with that second game containing a beautiful forehand winner through the middle of the court from Shepp to end a great rally.  Lu hit the shot of the match when he served next, a fantastic backhand winner down the tramlines to end a fabulous rally, but it was Shepp next up who became the only player in the match to hold to love.

Becroft hit a beautiful forehand winner to start Shugar’s second game, but a backhand into the net from the American dropped him back to deuce before he got to safety by forcing Shepp into a return error on the deciding point.  Lu ended another great rally with a beautiful forehand volley before Becroft copied Shugar by giving away a deuce with an unforced error.  The consequences this time were more severe, though, as Becroft was forced to hit a backhand lob over the baseline to lose the deciding point.

From 40-0 up in the next game Lu crashed back to deuce with three unforced errors, but Shepp hit a forehand into the net to lose the deciding point and let Lu consolidate the break.  Shepp did hit a fabulous forehand volley down the right-hand side of the court to win his own game, but Shugar was still going to be serving for the set.

Becroft started with a gorgeous forehand cross-court winner to the middle of the baseline before being aced out wide, and that was followed by a fantastic 13 shot rally which was the best in the match.  It was finished by a beautiful forehand volley from Shugar, and another ace to Becroft gave the unseeded pair two set points.  Shugar blew the first by hitting an inside-out forehand volley over the baseline, but Lu won the deciding point with a backhand volley down the right-hand side of the court.  The set had taken 30 minutes.

The match tie-break started in unexceptional fashion, with all six points before the change of ends going to the serving team.  What nobody could have foreseen was that the next ten points would all go to the receivers, starting with a double fault from Lu.  Becroft lost his two serves to a forced error and a fabulous backhand return down the tramlines from Shugar, while Shepp hit backhand and forehand winners to break Shugar.

Becroft lost the great rally on Shepp’s first serve by hitting a backhand lob too far, and lost the second point as well when a great return from Shugar forced him to hit a forehand volley into the net.  An overhit forehand volley from Shugar lost Lu’s first point, but the second went to the shot of the match, a fantastic run from Shepp to hit a stunning cross-court forehand winner off a ball that was just pushed over the net.

Shepp spoilt that good impression by losing his partner’s first point with a forehand volley into the net, and that levelled the score at 8-8.  The sequence of mini-breaks was finally halted when Becroft forced Shugar to hit his next forehand return over the baseline to give the third seeds a Championship point, but Shugar levelled the scores with a big forehand  that flew off Becroft ‘s racquet to take them to the third change of ends.

Shugar missed the first serve on his next point, and a beautiful backhand return through the right-hand side of the court from Becroft gave his team a second Championship point.  A huge second serve from Shepp to Lu forced the Taiwanese player to fire his forehand return back over the baseline, and the match was finally over after an hour and 18 minutes.

The final score was 6-3, 3-6, 11-9, and both Becroft and Shepp will advance to new career-high rankings when the points are finally added.  They will have a chance to improve those positions even further when they play their third week in a row in Monastir before taking a break.