It was a real sense of déjà vu for Finn Reynolds and James Watt when they reached the latter stages of the ATP Challenger tournament in Tiburon, on the north shore of San Francisco Bay. Not only had they defeated the same team in the semi-finals that they had beaten at the same stage in Las Vegas a week earlier, but their final opponents were the same pair to whom they lost the title in the desert – the wild card combination of Benjamin Kittay and Joshua Sheehy. It was effectively a home tournament for Watt, who had been to university at St Mary’s College, around 45 minutes away to the east, and there were many supporters from the college cheering him on.
The sun dictated that Reynolds would serve first, and he started perfectly by holding to love. Sheehy is a fellow left-hander, who also plays in the deuce court, so he served from the same end. He didn’t have the same success, double faulting to give away two break points, but Watt’s overhit forehand volley gave him a little bit of breathing room. He didn’t get any more, as a great return from Watt, which just kissed the net cord, forced him to hit a backhand into the net.
Sheehy did hit a beautiful forehand return through the middle of the court off Watt, which the Canterbury player left because he thought it was going long, but he and Kittay were forced into errors to lose the other four points. It only got worse for the American pair when Kittay got broken to love after starting with a double fault. Watt then hit a fabulous inside-out forehand return into the tramlines before Kittay lost a fantastic rally when he hit a forehand over the baseline, and Sheehy did the same to end a good short rally on the final point.
There were plenty of candidates for the shot of the match, but my final pick was Watt’s amazing reflex backhand volley at the net when Reynolds served next. That gave them game points, but both Reynolds and Watt were forced into errors to concede a deuce, and Reynolds was forced to hit a backhand volley into the net to lose the deciding point. There was quite a lengthy break at this point as the physio came out to treat Watt for a recurrence of the neck strain he had suffered in Las Vegas, and it was around six minutes before they resumed.
Sheehy then held comfortably before Kittay took Watt to deuce with a fabulous cross-court backhand return into the tramlines. He took the deciding point as well, and got it safely back in play, but a cross-court backhand volley from Reynolds was enough to keep the New Zealanders’ margin intact.
Kittay was now serving to keep his team in the set, but Watt won the opening point with another fabulous forehand volley. He did get forced into two return errors, but Reynolds added two stunning returns of serve, the first a forehand down the tramlines and the second a cross-court backhand. That gave the top seeds two set points, and Reynolds converted the first when he let the ball bounce before smashing away the winner. The set had taken 34 minutes.
Reynolds, Sheehy and Watt all held to love to start the second set. Reynolds won the fantastic eleven shot rally which started Watt’s game when he hit a beautiful forehand volley through the middle of the court, and he followed that with a gorgeous cross-court backhand volley before Watt wrapped up the game with consecutive aces down the middle, the second coming off a second serve to Kittay.
The American right-hander then faced a break point when Reynolds hit a fabulous forehand return down the right-hand side of the court, but he saved that with a forehand volley to end a great short rally. Reynolds safely returned the deciding point, but his following backhand lob went just too far. The incredible rally on the first point of Reynolds’ game was the best in the match, Kittay winning that with a forehand volley on the 14th shot.
Reynolds still held serve, and then it was Sheehy’s turn to get taken to deuce when a great return of serve from Watt forced him to hit a forehand into the net. He aced Watt down the middle to win the deciding point before the latter, who was obviously still suffering problems with his neck, ended up at deuce after six consecutive missed first serves. The last point had been won by a backhand from Sheehy that somehow landed in the tramline, and not past it, but Watt forced him into a return error on the deciding point.
Reynolds started Kittay’s game with another beautiful cross-court backhand return and, when Sheehy was forced to hit a forehand volley into the net, the New Zealanders had two break points. A forced return error from Reynolds was followed by a winning smash from Sheehy, but Reynolds was able to win the deciding point with an easy forehand volley, which left him serving for the title.
He lost the great rally on the first point when forced to hit a backhand volley into the net, but three unreturnable serves gave him and Watt that many Championship points. One was all they needed, Sheehy hitting a forehand into the net to end the match after an hour and six minutes. The final score was 6-2, 6-3, giving Reynolds his sixth Challenger title and Watt his fourth.
The win takes Reynolds to 104 in the live rankings, and Watt to 110, and they need just one more decent result for each to crack the top 100. They’re still some way away from reaching the cut-off for Grand Slams, for which they would probably need another 400 points or so, but they’re now flying across the Pacific to China for three Challengers there before events in Brisbane, Sydney and Adelaide at the end of the season. Watt has since confirmed that his neck is much better, so that’s a relief.