Anton Shepp had played in just one ITF doubles final before today, finishing runner-up in Wellington last year, but that field was rather stronger than the opposition he and Oliver Johansson have faced this week. Their opponents in the beautiful setting at Ystad were Nikola Slavic and Luca Staeheli who, like Shepp and Johansson, play tennis for their respective universities in the United States. Slavic served first, but he and Staeheli lost good rallies on the last two points to give away an immediate break of serve.
Slavic did hit a beautiful forehand return down the line off the left-handed Johansson, but four nice volleys from Shepp put the game beyond reach for their opponents. Staeheli did ace Johansson, but had to watch as Shepp powered a beautiful backhand return down the tramlines to win the next point. Staeheli gave away a break point when he hit a cross-court forehand wide to end the best rally in the match after 13 shots, but Shepp hit a backhand wide to take the score to deuce. There was a good rally between himself and Staeheli on the deciding point, but the Swiss player conceded another break when he hit a forehand into the net.
Shepp held comfortably to consolidate the second break before hitting the shot of the match, a fabulous backhand return down the tramlines off Slavic from well outside the court. He hit another that was nearly as good to take them to deuce, and completed another break when he ended a good rally with Slavic by hitting a big forehand down the left tramline that flew off Staeheli’s racquet. That left Johansson serving for the set, and he wrapped it up efficiently after 25 minutes when he forced three return errors in the last four points.
Staeheli was perhaps unlucky to lose the opening game of the second set the way he did, because Johansson’s last shot in the great rally on the final point flicked the net cord and went straight into Slavic. Shepp then dropped himself back to deuce when he hit a forehand into the net, but he forced Staeheli into a return error on the deciding point.
A mixed game from Slavic next up saw him having to save a break point to get to deuce, only to see Shepp hit a fabulous inside-out forehand return into the tramlines to complete yet another break of serve. Johansson finished his first game of the set with a beautiful cross-court backhand volley, but the run of games for Shepp and Johansson came to an end at ten when Staeheli held serve for the loss of only one point.
Slavic hit a lovely forehand return down the tramlines off Shepp in the next game, but it wasn’t enough to stop the New Zealander from holding serve. Slavic did the same, acing Shepp out wide in the process, but that hold still left Johansson serving for the title. He alternated unreturnable serves with poor forehands, but the third return error from Slavic gave away two Championship points. Shepp only needed one, smashing away the winning volley to end the match after an hour and two minutes. The final score was 6-0, 6-2.