[3] Jamie Mackenzie* (GER) v [5] Dimitar Kisimov (BUL)

Although he won the J500 Italian Open doubles crown last year, reaching his first J500 singles final was a milestone for Jamie Mackenzie, as  the two best singles trophies in his cabinet are J300s.  Standing on the other side of the net was Bulgarian number two, and world number 15, Dimitar Kisimov, who had won both their previous meetings, the latest at Bradenton in Florida in December, so this was never going to be an easy match.

It was Kisimov who served first, but Mackenzie made an immediate statement of intent when he ended the first point with a fabulous backhand winner down the line.  Kisimov copied that shot three points later, although his wasn’t as good, but he ended the good rally on the next point by hitting a forehand into the net.  That gave Mackenzie a break point, and he converted it with a lovely inside-out forehand drop shot.  He aced Kisimov down the middle to win the next game, and hit stunning forehand and backhand cross-court winners to break again.

Mackenzie added another ace before making it four games in a row when he forced Kisimov into a backhand error, but the Bulgarian finally got on the board when Mackenzie’s only point in the next game came from a beautiful backhand return down the line.  It was then Mackenzie’s turn to get broken, but unfortunately the stream froze for that game and I don’t know what actually happened.

There was a fantastic 12 shot rally when Kisimov served again, Mackenzie losing that when he hit a cross-court forehand into the net, and Kisimov forced him into a return error to hold again.  Mackenzie then held to love after winning the second point with a beautiful forehand into the left corner, and he started Kisimov’s game with a lovely inside-out forehand winner.

The Bulgarian won the next four points, though, to stay in touch, with a terrific cross-court backhand winner off a drop shot being the best shot that I had seen so far  The second break meant that Mackenzie was now serving for the set, and he started and finished another hold to love with easy inside-out forehand winners.  The set had taken 33 minutes.

The first deuce didn’t come until the opening game in the second set, and there were three of them.  Kisimov gave away a break point with a double fault after the second deuce, and saved it with an easy inside-out forehand volley before hitting a backhand into the tramlines to end a good short rally.  He added to his woes by hitting his next backhand into the net, and Mackenzie again had a break in the first game of the set.  He started and finished the next game with aces to the backhand, but Kisimov was able to hold comfortably to get on the board.

He then had break points of his own when Mackenzie hit a forehand over the baseline, but the latter saved the first with a fabulous cross-court forehand winner to end a good short rally.  Kisimov hit his next cross-court backhand into the tramlines, and Mackenzie was back to deuce.  He won the great rally that came next when he forced Kisimov to hit a cross-court forehand over the baseline, but sent three of his own shots long to give back the break, the last being a forehand to end another terrific rally.  The longest game in the match had lasted just over six minutes.

The next game was Kisimov’s best, as he held to love after starting with a beautiful forehand drop shot and finishing with his first two aces in the match.  Mackenzie ended the two great rallies that finished his next game with lovely inside-out forehand winners before Kisimov made it three aces in a row when he served again.  That, though, was as far as he got, because the only point from then on that he didn’t lose to an unforced error was Mackenzie’s wonderful forehand return down the line which was the best shot that I saw in the match.

He added a fabulous forehand drop shot when he served next, but lost the best rally of those that I saw when Kisimov’s forehand on the 14^th shot clipped the net cord and simply fell over on Mackenzie’s side of the court.  The short rally which came next wasn’t as good, but Mackenzie took that with a beautiful cross-court forehand volley to be just a game away from the title.

Kisimov started with two poor forehands before Mackenzie hit a backhand return over the baseline, and another overhit forehand from the Bulgarian gave Mackenzie two Championship points.  He only needed one, sealing the victory after an hour and 15 minutes with a fabulous cross-court forehand winner.  The final score was 6-4, 6-3.

It’s Mackenzie’s eighth junior singles title, and overtakes his wins in Bamberg and Beijing last year to become the best.  Although the rankings haven’t yet been updated officially, he will move up to at least number six, and possibly as high as four, when the points are collated.  Either way, that’s a new career-high position.  He does, however, have his Italian Open doubles title to defend in two weeks, although the way the points work for juniors it shouldn’t cost him more than one ranking spot if he doesn’t win a match.