The faces may have been different, but a left-hander in the deuce court and a right-hander in the ad court meant that there was a fair bit of symmetry in the doubles final in Båstad when Anton Shepp and Oliver Johansson played John Hallquist Lithén and Nikola Slavic in a match where all four were products of the US college system.
It was the left-handed Hallquist Lithén who kicked things off, and he hit a fabulous cross-court forehand winner to take the score to 40-0. Slavic then hit a forehand volley into the net before Shepp followed a winning smash with a beautiful backhand return down the tramlines to get to deuce. He took the deciding point as well, and Hallquist Lithén was pretty unhappy with himself when he swung a cross-court forehand too far to lose the game.
The only point Shepp lost was to a beautiful cross-court backhand lob from Slavic, who then got broken to love in a game where Johansson hit a beautiful backhand return down the tramlines after taking the second point with a lovely forehand volley. Johansson couldn’t capitalise on the extra advantage, though, as Hallquist Lithén hit a great forehand return down the tramlines to earn a break point. The incredible rally which came next was the best in the match, and it went to Slavic when he smashed away the winning volley on the 14th shot.
Hallquist Lithén and Shepp both held to love, and the remaining games in the set all saw comfortable holds, with the only real standout shots being beautiful returns of serve by Johansson off Slavic and Hallquist Lithén off Johansson. Shepp was tasked with serving out the set, and he aced Hallquist Lithén out wide to take the score to 40-0. Slavic then hit a big forehand volley into Johansson to win a great short rally before Shepp was forced into an error to lose the second set point. There were no problems with the third, however, as Johansson pushed away a nice angled backhand volley to close out the set after 36 minutes.
The second set saw an immediate break of serve as well, but this time it was Slavic who lost out when he got broken to love, the standout shot being Shepp’s fabulous forehand winner down the tramlines to take the second point. Slavic did hit a superb forehand return down the singles sideline off Johansson, but the game ended when Hallquist Lithén overhit a forehand to lose another great rally.
Hallquist Lithén then held comfortably before his team got the break back when Shepp was forced to hit a cross-court backhand over the baseline after giving away a break point with a double fault. Slavic, Johansson and Hallquist Lithén all had routine holds, although the last of those games saw a beautiful backhand winner down the tramlines from Shepp and a lovely cross-court backhand return from Johansson.
The latter then started Shepp’s next game by ending a good short rally with a gorgeous backhand volley, and the New Zealander went on to hold to love. Johansson started the next game from Slavic with a fabulous backhand return down the tramlines, but that was overshadowed by the shot of the match, a stunning forehand drop volley from Slavic to end a 13 shot cross-court battle with Shepp.
Slavic gave away a break point when he was forced into an overhead error to end a great rally, but Hallquist Lithén smashed away a volley to get them back to deuce. Johansson stepped up on the deciding point to hit a forehand return down the tramlines that was just as good as the backhand that started the game, and the break meant that he would now be serving for the title.
He forced Hallquist Lithén to hit a backhand return into the net on the first point, and Shepp popped in to end the brief battle between Johansson and Slavic on the second with a beautiful backhand volley. Hallquist Lithén got one point back with a lovely cross-court backhand return, but an easy inside-out backhand volley from Johansson gave his team three Championship points. He only needed the first, whacking an ace right onto the T to leave Hallquist Lithén stranded. The final score was 6-4, 6-4, and the match had lasted for an hour and 21 minutes.
It was the second title in a row for the pair, after winning in Ystad the previous week, and Slavic must have been feeling gutted after being on the receiving end in both of those matches. With no points to defend between now and the New Zealand tournaments in December, the points for the latest victory will take Shepp to somewhere between 850 and 900 on the ATP rankings when they eventually get added.