Jamie Mackenzie hadn’t been beyond the second round in any of the handful of Challenger tournaments he had played before this week in Bonn, so to make the final was a vast improvement. Facing top seed Jan Choinski, however, was going to be a whole different ballgame, and the British player was deservedly a hot favourite with the bookmakers.
Choinski finished a hold to love in the opening game with a second serve ace down the middle before finishing a great rally in Mackenzie’s first game with a wonderful forehand winner down the line that was one of the shots of the match. He created break points by winning the good rally that came next with an easy backhand winner after the incoming ball had come off the net cord, and Mackenzie lost the second of those when he hit an inside-out forehand into the tramlines.
The next three games saw comfortable holds, despite Choinski winning a fantastic short rally in Mackenzie’s game with a fabulous backhand winner through the left-hand side of the court. He added a beautiful inside-out forehand winner in his own game before hitting a lovely forehand passing shot to create more break points when Mackenzie served for the third time.
The Red Rocket saved the first of those with a beautiful forehand dropshot which he pulled onto the sideline, and got to the first of two deuces with an unreturnable serve. They traded unforced errors before Choinski hit a cross-court backhand over the baseline, and an ace out wide let Mackenzie hold. The next two games again went without any hiccups, Mackenzie finishing his one by ending a great rally with a fantastic forehand winner down the line and right into the corner.
The earlier break meant that Choinski was now serving for the set, and he added a beautiful backhand winner through the left side of the court before two unforced errors gave Mackenzie his first break point. He was forced to send his next backhand return over the baseline, with Choinski then getting his first set point when he finished another great rally with a fabulous backhand down the line. An ace out wide completed the game, and the set was over after 34 minutes.
Mackenzie started the second set in great style, finishing a hold to love with three unreturnable serves, and Choinski held to love in a much more mixed fashion. Mackenzie started his second game with a beautiful forehand dropshot, but finished with three unforced errors to hand Choinski an early break. He got the break straight back, and also to love, but had help from the net cord on both the last two points.
The first went in his favour, with the ball sitting up for him to hit an easy forehand winner into the left corner, but the second went against Choinski, forcing him to hit a cross-court backhand into the tramlines. Choinski hit a fabulous backhand return down the line into the corner in the next game, and Mackenzie hit three more unforced errors to lose that game as well.
His best shot was possibly the fantastic backhand return that he steered from the middle of the court into the right-hand corner in the next game, but Choinski finished that game with another ace. Mackenzie hit a fabulous drop shot in the next game, but the third of three unforced errors from him gave away a deuce, and he ended a good short rally on the next point by hitting a cross-court backhand lob over the baseline. Choinski completed the break with a beautiful cross-court backhand return, and that left him serving for the title.
He started the game with a beautiful backhand winner down the line before acing Mackenzie down the middle with a second serve, and an ace out wide and another down the middle gave Mackenzie absolutely no chance of staving off defeat. The final score was 6-3, 6-2, and the match had lasted for an hour and five minutes. Despite the loss, Mackenzie can be very proud of his efforts during the week, not least because his ranking has soared over 350 places to a career-high 573.