Not only was I lucky enough to be courtside for the singles finals at the Bayleys Open in Hamilton, but it was the first time I’ve been able to score a match live rather than having to watch a stream. Although he already had two doubles titles, it was Anton Shepp’s first ITF singles final. Hopes were high that the local boy, who lives just five minutes down the road and attended Hamilton Boys’ High School, which is literally two streets away from the courts, could go all the way to the title after beating top seed Christian Langmo the previous day.
Tai Sach served first, and was facing break points straight away after ending a good rally by pushing a backhand into the tramlines. Two return errors from Shepp allowed the Australian to get to deuce, but they swapped forehand errors to go to a second. A beautiful cross-court forehand return from Shepp gave him the advantage, and the crowd went wild when Sach hit a backhand into the net to lose the game.
Shepp held safely to consolidate the break, and they each had easy holds before Shepp hit a beautiful inside-out forehand return into the corner. In a game where Sach couldn’t land a single first serve, he was eventually forced to hit a cross-court forehand into the net to give Shepp a second break.
The New Zealander was up 40-15 in the next game before hitting four unforced errors in a row to give the extra break straight back, but the only point Sach won on his own serve was a fabulous soft backhand volley at the net. He finished with a double fault, and got given a warning for ball abuse by umpire Mariana Enguica when he smashed the ball out of the court. That left Shepp serving for the set, and he wrapped it up after 29 minutes with an ace out wide.
Two forced return errors from Shepp to start the second set were followed by a beautiful cross-court forehand return, but Sach hit a lovely inside-out forehand winner of his own before finding the net twice to give away a deuce. They each hit backhands into the net before Sach hit his only ace in the match, and he held safely when he forced Shepp to hit a forehand into the net.
It was Sach’s turn to hit a gorgeous cross-court forehand return when the next game started, but that wasn’t enough to stop Shepp holding serve. Sach added a beautiful forehand winner down the left sideline on the way to holding again, and Shepp held to love before Sach played the worst service game in the match. He did start with a beautiful backhand winner down the line, but finished with two double faults in his last three points.
Shepp held to love again to consolidate the break, and Sach did the same after winning a good rally on his first point with a lovely forehand winner through the left side of the court. He added a fabulous backhand winner down the line to end a great rally on Shepp’s opening point, and earnt himself a break point with a terrific cross-court forehand return. Shepp saved that with his second ace in the game, and eventually held after two deuces when Sach hit two forehands over the baseline.
Sach held comfortably to stay just one break behind, but Shepp was still going to be serving for the title. He hit a beautiful soft forehand volley before Sach finished another great rally by hitting a forehand into the net, but the Australian followed that with the shot of the match, a wonderful cross-court forehand winner, to earn another break point.
Shepp saved that the same way that he had in his previous game, although this ace went out wide, but he gave back the break when he lost both the good 13 shot rallies which followed with unforced errors. Sach held to love to take the lead, and they each hit beautiful forehand winners as Shepp held after a deuce to send them to a tie-break.
Shepp lost a great rally on his first point by hitting a forehand into the net, but forced Sach to overhit a forehand two points later. From there they both held serve until a huge forehand winner down the left sideline from Shepp gave him his first Championship point. He blew that chance when he lost the best rally in the match after 14 shots by hitting a backhand into the net, and he gave Sach a set point by finding the net again after another good rally.
That was saved by what was next best to another ace, Sach just getting a touch to the serve spearing down the middle, but Sach got another set point when he was able to end another great rally with an easy cross-court backhand winner. He missed that when he hit a forehand into the net, but got a third chance when Shepp powered a cross-court backhand over the baseline.
Two forced backhand errors from Sach, either side of the third change of ends, gave Shepp another match point, but he was forced into a backhand error before getting a third chance to win the title when he finished another great rally with a beautiful cross-court backhand volley. This time he was successful, Sach’s backhand return flying back over the baseline to end the match after an hour and 33 minutes. The final score was 6-2, 7-6 (10).