A great week in Cuernavaca for Finn Reynolds and James Watt culminated in them reaching the doubles final, where they faced Jody Maginley from Antigua and Alfredo Perez from the United States. The latter pair each hit a stunning return off Watt to start the opening game, and a double fault gave away break points. Watt saved the first with an unreturnable serve to Maginley before Reynolds took them to deuce with a nice backhand volley. Perez faced the deciding point, but could only send his forehand return into the net.
Watt hit a fabulous forehand return down the singles sideline to take Maginley to deuce, where Perez won the deciding point with a comfortable forehand volley. Things settled down after that, with several holds to love as they worked their way to 5-5. Reynolds then had to save a break point after Watt had hit a forehand volley into the net, which he did with an unreturnable serve to Perez, but the American made up for that lapse with a beautiful forehand return down the singles sideline to take the deciding point. He did start the next game with a double fault, but was untroubled from then on to serve out the set after 36 minutes.
Watt and Maginley had easy holds to start the second set, but consecutive double faults from Reynolds gave away another break point. Once again he forced Perez to hit a forehand return into the net, and this time the deciding point went to the New Zealanders when Watt hit a winning cross-court forehand volley. He played the same shot in Reynolds’ next service game as well, but the remaining games in the set all went comfortably with serve, Perez holding to love to take them to a tie-break.
Watt smashed away a volley to win the first point, but disaster struck for their opponents when Maginley lost both his points. He was forced to hit a forehand into the net on the first before Watt’s forehand winner took the second. The New Zealanders would have been pretty happy at that point, but Reynolds again hit consecutive double faults to be back on serve. It must have been catching, because Perez double faulted as well to give one mini-break back, and it stayed that way until Perez gave away the third set point by overhitting a backhand. The set had lasted for 40 minutes.
Reynolds and Watt had had to get through a marathon match tie-break in their semi-final, and the chances were that this one could last for a while as well. Watt got the first mini-break with a winning backhand volley off Perez to take the fourth point, and that was followed by a string of forced errors until Perez aced Watt on the last point before they changed ends for the second time.
The next two points went with serve as well, but Reynolds blew a golden opportunity to grab some match points when he lost his second serve by hitting an overhead forehand over the baseline. The rally which came next was the best in the match, but Reynolds and Watt each had a chance to win it before Perez somehow got to Watt’s sharply-angled forehand and steered a fabulous forehand winner down the line. It was the shot of the day.
That was the first of Maginley’s last pair of serves, and controversy erupted on the second when Watt and Reynolds claimed that the second serve had touched the net cord before Reynolds’ backhand return landed in the webbing. Umpire Julio Aguilar Hernandez said that he hadn’t heard anything and wouldn’t allow the let, giving Maginley and Perez a Championship point. Watt missed his first serve, and Perez drove his return of the second straight into Reynolds to end the match after an hour and 31 minutes. The final score was 7-5, 6-7 (5), 10-8.