Rubin Statham served first when he and Renzo Olivo played third seeds Orlando Luz and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela in their first round doubles match at the Uruguay Open in Montevideo yesterday morning, the highlight being the first great rally of the day. It lasted for 14 shots before an ambitious backhand lob from Reyes-Varela landed just over the baseline. He went on to hold serve, as did Luz, the only point lost in the latter game going to a beautiful forehand winner down the singles sideline from Olivo.
Olivo and Reyes-Varela also lost only a single point when they served for the first time, but Statham’s second game was notable for two more individual highlights – a beautiful forehand winner down the left tramline from the New Zealander, and a fabulous angled backhand volley from Olivo – as the sequence of holds continued. That run came to an end in the next game, when a double fault from Luz took him to deuce before he lost the deciding point when he hit a forehand over the baseline. He made up for those errors with two winners into the tramlines in Olivo’s next game. The first was a nice inside-out forehand, but the second was a fabulous backhand down the line to break the Argentinean’s serve.
Reyes-Varela had to save two break points in the next game, with Statham slamming a forehand return into the net on the first before hitting a backhand into the same place to get to deuce. Olivo got the deciding point back in play, but Statham was forced into a backhand error to let the Mexican player hold serve. It was Statham’s turn to save a break point in the next game after he overhit a forehand, his partner helping him out with a nice inside-out smash. Luz took the deciding point, but his backhand return went into the net before he held serve again to level the scores once more.
The eleventh game in a set is always a crunch one, with the servers guaranteeing themselves a tie-break at worst if they hold serve, but also knowing that disaster is just four points away if they lose. The latter was the case when Olivo served, giving away a break point when he double faulted before having to watch a smash from Reyes-Varela sail past him and Statham to secure the break. Reyes-Varela was now serving for the set, but Olivo gained a break point with an overhead volley into Reyes-Varela’s foot. He hit his next return long, giving the third seeds a set point, and Statham was forced into an error on a backhand volley to end the set after 48 minutes.
The sequence of held service games in the second set went for one game longer than in the first, but there were more highlights along the way when they served in the same order as in the first set. Statham smashed away a winning volley to end a great rally on Olivo’s opening point before Reyes-Varela followed that with a beautiful backhand volley, the latter then holding to love when it was his first turn at the line. Statham then held comfortably before Luz copied his partner by holding to love, the latter game starting with the best rally of the match. It went for 16 shots before Statham was forced to hit a backhand volley into the net.
Olivo started his next game with a beautiful forehand winner down the tramlines, with Luz bettering that on the second point when he hit a fabulous inside-out forehand winner. Next came the first ace of the match, but Luz then hit an inside-out forehand which the line judge called out. Umpire Kilian Schnabel overruled the call, which was brave considering it was on the opposite side of the court, and Olivo promptly asked him to check the mark. Schnabel still said it was out, and a double fault from Olivo gave away a deuce. Calamity struck on the deciding point when Statham hit a backhand volley straight into the ground to give away the break.
They looked likely to get it straight back when a forehand volley from Olivo to end a good rally meant that Reyes-Varela was now the one to face break points. Unforced errors from Statham and Olivo saved those, and a second serve ace to Olivo won the deciding point, meaning that Statham now had to hold serve to keep the match alive. A backhand into the net from the New Zealander gave away three set points, and a great rally next up ended with an overhead volley from Luz into Olivo. The final score was 7-5, 6-3, and the match lasted for an hour and 26 minutes. The biggest concern for Statham and Olivo had to be that they managed to convert just one break point from nine opportunities.