There may not have been too many standout winners when Rubin Statham played Gonzalo Villanueva in the first round of the ATP Challenger in Temuco this morning, but there were plenty of good rallies to make up for that, and a couple were outstanding. The biggest problem for both players was the wind, which was not only quite strong anyway, but produced frequent gusts that threatened to move the furniture.
Statham held serve comfortably to start the match, with Villanueva following suit, but the second game had five decent rallies in the six points, even though the longest was only eleven shots. Statham started the next game with two unforced errors and, even though he mixed in a couple of unreturnable serves, two more poor shots cost him the first break. Villanueva held to love to consolidate the lead, and then hit a fabulous forehand winner down the line to take Statham’s second point. A stunning cross-court forehand return from him was the shot of the match, and that gave him a break point. He hit a cross-court backhand into the net to give away the deuce before hitting a backhand lob just a bit too far to end a great rally. Another short rally followed, and Statham whipped away a nice cross-court forehand volley to clinch the game.
Villanueva gave away a break point in the next game when he hit a backhand into the net, and then ended a great 19 shot rally when his final forehand ended in the same place. Statham was forced into an error to lose the first point in the next game, but there was nothing forced about his next two errors. He saved the first break point with a beautiful backhand winner down the line before Villanueva muffed the second, and an unreturnable serve took them to deuce. The next serve was an ace wide out, but umpire Jorge Luis Benitez Villalba didn’t record it as such. It was metres clear of Villanueva’s racquet, so I’m guessing that he just forgot to push the right button. Villanueva saved the first game point with a fabulous backhand winner down the line, and the next advantage with a beautiful forehand winner. Statham then dumped a backhand into the net to give Villanueva a break point, and followed that with a forehand over the baseline to give away the game.
Villanueva won the next game comfortably enough, and his beautiful cross-court backhand volley to win another good rally off Statham gave him a set point. Villanueva’s return went comfortably to Statham, but he mishit his forehand straight up in the air. It was against the wind, so had no chance of carrying over the net, and the set was over after 38 minutes.
Villanueva held to love to start the second set, but four unforced errors from Statham cost him an immediate break of serve. He broke straight back when Villanueva did the same, but four more of his own cost him the next game as well, with his beautiful cross-court forehand winner counting for nothing in the end. Although Villanueva’s earlier return of serve was what I felt to be the shot of the match, the most spectacular had to be his fantastic backhand lob in the next game, when you could literally see the wind stop the shot dead and let it drop to the ground about a metre inside the baseline. Two unreturnable serves to Statham gave him a game point, and that was converted when Statham ended the incredible 24 shot rally which followed with a backhand volley into the net. It was, by far, the best rally of the day.
Statham finished the next game with a beautiful cross-court forehand volley, and he had three unreturnable serves and an ace in his next game, but Villanueva was still going to be serving for the match. He gave away a break point when he ended two good rallies with poor backhands, but Statham’s return of the next serve must have landed just millimetres into the tramlines. A beautiful cross-court forehand winner from Villanueva brought up the first match point, and Statham ended another good rally by swinging a cross-court backhand into the tramlines. The final score was 6-3, 6-3, and the match had lasted for an hour and 15 minutes.