George Stoupe had to save two break points in the fourth game of his match in Norman against Mark Mandlik this morning, and another in the sixth, but it was the New Zealander who got the first actual break when Mandlik was unable to win any points on his serve in the ninth game. That’s pretty much the perfect time to break your opponent’s serve, and Stoupe took full advantage by holding serve to close out the first set after 43 minutes.
It was a very different story in the second set, Mandlik winning the first five games. Stoupe did have three game points in the last of those, but was unable to hold until the next time he served, by which time Mandlik only needed to win one more game to send them to a deciding set. Stoupe saved the first set point, but not the second, and Mandlik was back in the hunt after a further 32 minutes.
Double faults to start and finish the first game cost Stoupe an immediate break in the third set, and he didn’t get it back until three games later after Mandlik had been up 40-30. Mandlik got a break point in the next game, courtesy of another double fault, but Stoupe won the three points he needed to hold again.
The break Stoupe needed finally came in the eighth game, but he needed four attempts after initially being up 15-40. He had to work even harder to serve out the match, Mandlik taking him to 0-40 in the final game before Stoupe won five points in a row to complete the victory after two hours and five minutes. The final score was 6-4, 1-6, 6-3. Their serving couldn’t have been any more even if they tried – they each served 88 points, and won 52 of them.