Ajeet Rai and Tom Fancutt have partnered many times over the years, but their last doubles titles together came in Queensland at the end of 2023. They reached the semi-final in Timaru last month, and did the same in Sharm el-Sheikh last week, where Rai unfortunately got injured in a fall and had to retire.
The same venue this week saw them facing top seeds Lukas Pokorny and Niklas Schell in the final, so a tough match looked to be on the cards. The bearded Pokorny served first, losing just one point, before starting Rai’s first game with a beautiful backhand return through the right-hand side of the court. He messed up his next return, but poor lobs by Rai on either side of that point meant the New Zealander was in immediate danger of losing his serve, which he did when Fancutt hit a forehand volley into the net.
Schell was facing break points as well when he was forced to leave a forehand volley short of the net, but unforced and forced errors from Rai carried them through to deuce. Rai safely returned the deciding point, but Pokorny smashed away the winning volley. The incredible rally which started the next game was by far the best in the match, lasting for 21 shots before Rai whipped away a cross-court forehand volley, and Fancutt went on to hold to love.
Unforced errors by Schell and Pokorny dropped them back to deuce, but Pokorny aced Rai out wide to win the deciding point. Rai then held comfortably before Fancutt started Schell’s second game with a beautiful cross-court forehand volley. A smash from Rai brought up break points and, although Pokorny saved the first with a smash of his own, Fancutt completed the break with an easy cross-court forehand volley.
A string of comfortable holds took them all the way to the end of the regular games, with the only real standouts being a beautiful inside-out forehand winner by Fancutt in Pokorny’s third game and a fabulous forehand return down the tramlines by Fancutt off Schell. The Australian was at it again on the first point of the tie-break, ending a good rally with a beautiful forehand down the tramlines, and two unreturnable serves from Rai cemented their advantage.
Schell and Fancutt each won both their serves, while Pokorny won his next point before Fancutt had to stretch wide to hit a fabulous forehand return down the tramlines. That gave him and Rai three set points, and a big serve from Fancutt caught the edge of Schell’s racquet and crashed into the fence to wrap it up after 49 minutes.
Fancutt and Schell coasted through their respective opening games in the second set, but Rai was facing a full complement of break points when he was forced into a backhand error. Pokorny mishit his next volley, bouncing the ball into the net, and Rai saved the second break point with the shot of the match, a wonderful forehand lob down the tramlines which landed on the baseline ahead of the chasing Schell. Fancutt smashed away a volley to get them to deuce, and Rai hit a beautiful forehand winner down the tramlines to take the deciding point.
Pokorny gave away a break point in the next game when he hit an inside-out forehand wide, and double faulted to lose his serve and leave Rai and Fancutt with one hand on the trophy. Fancutt finished the next game with three unreturnable serves, with Rai then hitting a beautiful inside-out forehand winner into the tramlines off Schell before Pokorny gave away a deuce when he hit a backhand volley into the net. Fancutt won the deciding point with a fabulous backhand return down the singles sideline, and that left Rai serving for the title.
An overhead volley from Fancutt gave them four Championship points, but Schell saved the first with a fabulous inside-out forehand return. That was the end of the line for the top seeds, however, as Pokorny’s cross-court forehand return of the next serve went into the net, ending the match after an hour and 16 minutes. The final score was 7-6 (3), 6-1, and it was Rai’s 18th ITF doubles title.