Ajeet Rai’s match against Shintaro Imai in Brisbane last night didn’t start until ten to ten, and it was also moved from its original streamed court so that I wasn’t able to watch it. Rai served first, but the opening three games went to the receiver, and Rai lost his third service game as well. He finally got on the board on his own account in the seventh game, but even that came after two double faults. Imai did lose his first point in the next game, but otherwise had no problem serving out the set after 36 minutes.
They both served well in the second set, the only deuce coming in the ninth game when Imai saved Rai’s first game point. Something went wrong for the Japanese player in the next game, however, with Rai breaking comfortably to take the set after 49 minutes.
Imai broke in the third game of the final set, only to see Rai break straight back. The remaining games all went with serve, although Rai did save three game points in the tenth game before Imai held after three deuces. The tie-break was messy, with more lost points than held ones, and that started when they each lost their opening point.
Rai lost his third point as well, so was a mini-break down when they changed ends for the first time, but that was wiped out when Imai double faulted on the next point. Rai couldn’t take advantage of the let-off, losing both his serves to be facing three match points. He saved two of them when Imai lost both his serves as well, the second on another double fault, and won both his own serves to get a first match point of his own. Imai then won both his points to get a fourth chance to take the match, and this time he was successful, breaking Rai’s serve to end the match after two hours and 47 minutes. The final score was 6-2, 4-6, 7-6 (7).