Tom Gadecki and Rubin Statham each hit beautiful cross-court winners on the way to holding their respective opening service games, but the best shot in there was Gadecki’s fabulous backhand return down the line. He then had to save break points after the first two deuces in the fifth game before breaking Statham’s serve in the next when the New Zealander finished with two forehands over the baseline.
Statham broke back to love, starting with a fabulous inside-out backhand return into the corner, and he followed that with a beautiful backhand winner down the line. He broke Gadecki again two games later, although the best shot in that one was the Australian’s beautiful cross-court backhand winner to end a good rally. Statham did lose a couple of points in the next game, but was untroubled to convert his first set point after 39 minutes when he finished the game with a cross-court forehand winner.
They both held to love to start the second set, but Gadecki hit a couple of beautiful forehand winners on the way to holding again in the third game. Statham then won a fantastic short rally with a nice forehand volley at the net, and followed that with a fabulous backhand winner down the line as he, too, held serve. Gadecki hit a beautiful cross-court backhand winner in the next game before Statham started a hold to love with a fabulous tapped forehand drop volley.
The next game was the longest in the match, and it ended badly for Gadecki when he followed a forehand over the baseline after the third deuce with his fifth double fault, ending the game after just over eight minutes. Statham held to love to leave Gadecki serving to stay in the match, but he couldn’t do anything against Statham’s fantastic backhand passing winner down to start the game. It was the shot of the match. Statham followed that with another backhand winner down the line which was nearly as good, and Gadecki then pushed a forehand volley well over the baseline to be facing three match points. A double fault is never the best way to end a match, especially when it seals a break to love, but Statham would have been quite happy to accept the gift. The final score was 6-4, 6-3, and the match took an hour and 15 minutes.