Isaac Becroft and Anton Shepp already have multiple ITF doubles titles, but this current series of tournaments in Monastir is the first time they’ve played together since one tournament at the same venue last July. Rather unusually at this level, both teams in the doubles final were unseeded, but Shepp had at least beaten Thando Longwe-Smit in singles earlier in the week to give the New Zealanders plenty of confidence going into the title fight.
In a match where forced errors ended the majority of points, Becroft started by hitting a beautiful inside-out backhand return into the tramlines off Conor Gannon. It was the only point lost by the Irishman, Longwe-Smit adding a beautiful forehand drop volley before ending the game with an easy forehand volley through the middle of the court. Becroft finished his first service game by forcing two return errors, and Longwe-Smit held comfortably as well.
Shepp started by acing Gannon down the centre, but he was taken to deuce when Becroft was forced to hit a cross-court forehand volley past the corner of the court. Gannon got the deciding point back in play, but Longwe-Smit lost the game when forced to hit a forehand into the net. Gannon started and finished a hold to love with aces out wide before Becroft’s second game began with a fantastic 16 shot rally. That ended when Longwe-Smit hit a backhand volley into the net, and Becroft added a beautiful cross-court backhand winner before forcing Longwe-Smit into two errors to complete a hold to love.
Shepp hit a fabulous forehand return through the left-hand side of the court off Longwe-Smit, but that wasn’t enough to prevent him continuing the sequence of holds. Shepp again aced Gannon down the middle on the way to another easy hold, with the latter not dropping another point after Becroft took his first with a beautiful backhand return that landed pretty well on the baseline. Becroft and Longwe-Smit held comfortably again before Shepp aced Gannon for a third time on the way to taking them to what had always seemed an inevitable tie-break.
Gannon started with an unreturnable serve to Becroft, who lost his first serve to what was probably the shot of the match, a fabulous inside-out forehand return into the tramlines by Longwe-Smit. The best rally of the match, although not the longest, came on the South African’s first point, the incredible exchange lasting for 15 shots before Gannon smashed away a volley.
The New Zealanders sank deeper into the mire when Shepp lost his first point, Longwe-Smit blasting another fabulous return which forced Shepp to hit a backhand into the net. An unreturnable serve after they changed ends got Shepp and Becroft one point closer, but a fabulous overhead volley by Longwe-Smit gave his team four set points. They missed that first chance when Longwe-Smit was forced by a great return from Becroft to hit a backhand volley into the net, but he got his revenge with a cross-court backhand return off Becroft which flew off Shepp’s racquet. The set had taken 49 minutes.
The second set started with gorgeous forehand returns from Gannon and Longwe-Smit off Shepp, and a forehand into the net by the latter gave away a break point. He got to deuce with an unreturnable serve to Longwe-Smit, but the latter ended the deciding point with a routine inside-out forehand winner. The break was cancelled out straight away when Gannon was forced to hit a backhand into the net, and we then saw a string of holds that looked remarkably similar to that in the first set.
There was a fantastic 13 shot rally in Becroft’s first game, the New Zealander losing that when he hit a forehand into the net, but more unreturnable serves at the business end of the game allowed him to hold. Gannon got taken to deuce by a beautiful backhand return down the tramlines from Shepp, but won the deciding point when he smashed away a volley.
Shepp held to love next up, the game starting with another great 13 shot rally, this one ending when Becroft smashed away an inside-out volley. The point by data showed that the game included two aces in the last three points, but I really found that hard to believe. I was quite certain that Longwe-Smit had actually been able to get enough racquet on the first to parry it back towards the net, while the next serve to Gannon was wide out, with the Irishman clearly getting nowhere near the ball.
That serve wasn’t recorded as an ace, but the next one was, although I was quite sure that Longwe-Smit had again got racquet on ball, even if it was only enough of a touch to qualify the point as a service winner. He then held comfortably before Becroft held to love in a game where all points were won on second serves, including the ace down the middle to Longwe-Smit to finish it off.
Shepp started the next game with three aces, and this time there was no doubt about any of them. Both of those to Gannon were out wide, while Longwe-Smit’s was again down the middle, and he held to love when Longwe-Smit’s final cross-court backhand return was forced wide.
Gannon and Longwe-Smit were forced into errors to start the game where the latter needed to hold serve to keep his team in the set, and the score went to 0-40 when Becroft’s cross-court backhand clipped the net cord and landed safely. Unreturnable serves saved the first two set points, but Gannon lost the third when he hit a backhand volley into the net to lose a good rally. The set had lasted for 36 minutes.
There was just one mini-break in the first stanza of the match tie-break, that coming when Gannon hit a forehand volley into the net to lose his second point. Becroft doubled the advantage when he hit a fabulous cross-court forehand return off Longwe-Smit to win the first point after they changed ends, but that was cancelled out two points later when Shepp ended a good rally by hitting an inside-out forehand volley over the baseline.
The longest rally in the match came on the second of Gannon’s next pair of points, lasting 18 shots before Becroft sent an inside-out forehand wide. There wouldn’t be another lost serve before the end, that one remaining mini-break being enough to keep the New Zealanders in front for the remainder of the match. A smash from Shepp brought up two Championship points, and another unreturnable serve to Gannon wrapped up the victory after an hour and 40 minutes. The final score was 6-7 (3), 6-4, 10-7.
It’s Becroft’s fourth doubles title at this level, and Shepp’s third, and there could well be more in store over the next few weeks. Neither has any doubles points to defend for several months, and this win should take Shepp to a new career-high ranking of around 640 when the points are added. Becroft’s ranking has dropped away with a lack of tournaments played, but another result like this will see him at a new highest ranking as well.