Matthew Shearer has had a great run in doubles in his first ITF tournament outside New Zealand, with a place in the finals already better than his semi-final loss at Papamoa last December. He and Ozan Baris had already beaten the second and third seeds in the previous rounds, and now they were up against the top-seeded Australian pair of Matt Hulme and Kody Pearson.
Baris aced Hulme on the way to winning the opening game before Hulme held to love, but it was Pearson who starred when Shearer served for the first time. He won the second point with a beautiful backhand return down the tramlines before hitting a fabulous inside-out forehand return to break the New Zealander’s serve.
He then held comfortably himself before repeating that scorching forehand return against Baris, that coming immediately after Hulme had hit a beautiful cross-court forehand return. Pearson spoilt his good work by hitting poor forehands to give back both break points which he had created, and Hulme got forced into a return error to lose the deciding point.
Hulme held to love again before Baris hit a gorgeous backhand stop volley to help Shearer hold in turn, but Pearson couldn’t continue the sequence. Two poor backhand volleys from Hulme took the score to 0-40 and, although he won the next point with a better one, Pearson pushed a forehand volley into the net to give back the break. The remaining games all went with serve, Pearson taking them to a tie-break when a service winner squirted away to the left off Baris’ racquet.
The first mini-break came from a fabulous forehand winner down the tramlines from Baris to end a great short rally on Hulme’s second point, but Shearer gave that back when he double faulted. Pearson did the same on the next point as they went to the change of ends, and two successful second serves from Baris gave his team three set points. Hulme saved the first when he forced Shearer into a return error, but the New Zealander made up for that when he converted the second with an overhead backhand volley. The set had taken 50 minutes.
Baris opened the second set with a beautiful inside-out backhand return into the tramlines off Hulme, and a double fault from the Australian conceded a break point. He saved that by forcing Shearer to hit his next return into the net, and forced Baris into a return error as well to win the deciding point. Shearer and Pearson held more comfortably before Baris started the next game with an ace and finished with two more.
Hulme hit a lovely backhand winner to start his next game, with Shearer steering a fabulous forehand return through the right-hand side of the court before Hulme went on to hold again. Shearer added a highlight of his own in the next game when he finished it with a beautiful angled backhand volley. Pearson gave away a break point when a great return from Baris forced him to hit a backhand over the baseline, but he forced Shearer into a backhand error to get to deuce. Baris got the deciding point safely back in play, but Hulme’s winning backhand volley allowed his partner to hold serve.
Baris then held comfortably again, despite a gorgeous inside-out forehand lob from Pearson, and Hulme won his game just as easily to leave Shearer serving to stay in the set. There may have been too many candidates for shot of the match to count, but that didn’t apply to the rallies. There had been plenty of great ones earlier in the match, but the fantastic 12 shot exchange in this game was far and away the best, Hulme finishing it in style with a gorgeous cross-court backhand volley.
He followed that with a fabulous backhand return through the right-hand side of the court, and a great return from Pearson forced Shearer to bounce a backhand into the net. That gave the top seeds three set points, but Shearer pulled out everything he had to save all three with unreturnable serves. Pearson held as well, and that meant it was the turn of Baris to try to extend the set.
Hulme started with another fabulous forehand return, this time down the tramlines, but a beautiful inside-out overhead volley from Shearer gave his team game points. He gave away the first by hitting a forehand volley into the net, and Baris sent a backhand over the baseline to give away the deuce, and a fourth set point. He saved that in the easiest way by acing Hulme out wide, and they were off to another tie-break.
Hulme lost the first point when he hit a backhand volley into the net, but got the mini-break back by forcing Shearer to hit a backhand into the net two points later. The New Zealander restored the advantage when he won Pearson’s first point with a fabulous inside-out forehand return, and they doubled the lead when Hulme hammered a forehand over the baseline to lose his next serve.
That gave Shearer and Baris four Championship points, but Hulme saved the first with an unreturnable serve. Shearer might have been letting his nerves get to him just a bit when he lost the second by hitting a forehand volley into the net, but Hulme hammered his forehand return of the next serve back over the baseline to give Shearer and Baris the title after an hour and 54 minutes. The final score was 7-6 (4), 7-6 (4). It was a wonderful way for Shearer to end his first senior ITF tournament outside New Zealand.