Li Tu held serve comfortably when he started the first round match in Shenzhen between himself and Rubin Statham, but it wasn’t so straightforward when the New Zealander served for the first time. A fabulous forehand drop volley from Statham gave him a game point, but he was forced to hit his next backhand into the net to take them to the first of what became four deuces.
Tu hit a nice inside-out forehand winner after the second of them, but Statham finished with two unreturnable serves to end what was the longest game in the match after just over eight minutes. Tu held comfortably, but Statham got into a bit of trouble when he hit a cross-court backhand into the net.
That gave away two break points, but he saved the first with an unreturnable serve and the second with a fabulous forehand winner down the left sideline. That was followed by a beautiful angled forehand drop volley, and he won the game when Tu overhit a forehand to end a good short rally.
The Australian started the next game with two lovely forehand winners, but he followed a fabulous cross-court backhand from Statham with a double fault to take them to deuce. A lovely forehand winner down the line gave him the advantage, but he gave it back with a forehand into the tramlines to end another good rally. Another double fault gave Statham the advantage, and Tu dumped a forehand into the net to give up the first break of serve.
The next game followed an almost identical pattern, Statham starting with a fabulous forehand winner down each sideline before Tu ended a great short rally with a gorgeous cross-court forehand volley. A double fault sent this game to a deuce as well, and forced errors from each player took them to a second. Two unforced errors from Statham spelt doom for that game, and the break was given straight back.
The next few games were slightly less spectacular, Tu hitting a fabulous forehand passing shot in the next game before Statham started his next one with a beautiful inside-out forehand winner. They then each held to love, and Tu held comfortably to leave Statham serving to stay in the set.
He was coasting at 40-0, but a lucky net-cord in Tu’s favour was followed by Statham being forced into a forehand error, and a nice forehand winner down the left side of the court from Tu took them to deuce. That was where it all went wrong for Statham, as he hit a cross-court backhand wide before sending a forehand over the baseline to end the set after 53 minutes.
The second set started with the comedy act that you can see in the video attached to the previous post! Statham’s overhead lying-on-the-ground forehand to win the fourth point of the set was incredible, and Tu’s forehand into the tramlines on the next shot gave away a break point. He saved that with an ace, as he did his overhit forehand after the deuce, and two more winners from him finally let him hold serve.
If the overhead in the previous game wasn’t the shot of the match, that honour would go to Statham’s fabulous inside-out backhand drop volley to win a great rally on his way to holding to love in the next game. Tu was facing more break points when he was forced to hit a forehand over the baseline, but he forced Statham into a return error to save the first before hitting a beautiful forehand drop shot to get to deuce, and two errors from Statham allowed Tu to hold serve again.
Statham held to love next up, finishing with a beautiful forehand volley, and he started his next service game with a fabulous cross-court backhand winner into the corner. He finished that game with an ace, and Tu hit one as well, but only after he had hit a fabulous forehand winner down the near sideline.
The best rally of the match came on the first point of the next game, a fantastic 20 shot exchange that got better and better the longer it went on, and it ended with a fabulous backhand winner down the line from Tu. Statham matched that with a stunning inside-out forehand winner before finishing a great short rally with a nice forehand volley. Two shots into the tramlines spelt trouble for the New Zealander, though, and he gave away the break when he ended another great rally with a poor backhand into the net, the court beyond being completely empty.
From being a really tight affair, Tu now simply had to hold serve to win the match. The game started with another great 20 shot rally, but this time Statham sent his final forehand wide. He got that point back with a fabulous backhand return down the line, and a double fault got him the lead, but two lovely forehand winners from Tu gave him a first match point.
Statham pushed a forehand volley into the net to give up another match point, and his cross-court backhand return of the next serve flew into the tramlines to ends the match after an hour and 35 minutes. The final score was 7-5, 6-3.