Palms Away – The Final USA F4 Installment (Part II)

Sunday dawns almost as bleakly as I feel Nicola Ghedin’s prospects for victory are in his USA F4 singles final against Wayne Odesnik. It’s foggy, cloudy, and there’s a big, green blob of rain moving in on the doppler radar. But before the singles final, we have the doubles championship to attend to (hopefully). I arrive and make my way into the cozy Palm Coast clubhouse with two of the finalists, Jack Sock and Dimitar Kutrovsky, right behind me. “Fancy meeting you here,” I tell them, as I hold the door. They must be convinced I shadow them everywhere by now.

In a rare display of Futures seeding actually going to form, it’ll be top seeds Kutrovsky and Sock facing off today against the second seeded team of Greg Ouellette and Blake Strode.

From left: Sock, Kutrovsky, Ouellette and Strode

It’s also a final that features three four-year college grads/standouts (and one high school senior). This will be Kutrovsky/Sock’s fifth pro final together in the past six months…

while Ouellette and Strode are making their first finals appearance together (although both have made pro finals with other partners).

The weather holds, but Strode does not, broken in the first game on a nice low return from “The Tar” (Kutrovsky) that eventually sets up a well-Socked putaway. The top seeds get a second break in the seventh game, with Kutrovsky hitting a perfectly measured crosscourt lob to start the game and Jack nailing a forehand second serve return at Ouellette’s feet to end it. Sock is broken while trying to serve out the set, but then Sock/Kutrovsky break Strode to take the first set 6-3.

The second seeds fight back, however, going up a break in the second. Sock double faults himself into a 0-30 hole serving at 2-4, but does well to extract himself and keep things close. Strode, the Arkansas grad who’s deferred Harvard Law for a year to try his luck on the pro tennis tour, then takes command, holding to love then slicing an error-forcing return while his partner steps up with some super forehands and an absolutely perfect lob to break and take the second set 6-3.

During the changes of ends, the woman who tends to the tunes (and the “PA system”) also manages to thoroughly entertain us with some spirited dance maneuvers. She’s hilarious, and her enthusiasm only adds to the great spirit in which this match is being played.

As befits a terrific final such as this – with all four players hitting at a high level, playing in front of a large and appreciative crowd – the match will be settled in a match tiebreak. (Actually, it would be better if they played out a third set or even played an abridged pro set, but that’s another argument for a different day.)

Palms Away – The Final USA F4 Installment (Part I)

Saturday begins a bittersweet weekend for me at Palm Coast, as it’ll be my last weekend covering live tennis for two weeks, until it’s time for ATP Delray. What the heck am I supposed to do with myself in the interim? Get a life? I dunno – sounds like a dicey proposition.

Anyway, no worries about such weighty matters on this semifinal day, as the sun shines bright and the little amplifier under the ump’s chair pumps out the Jock Jams. The first semifinal of this day features the eighth seed with the nickname that will never catch on, Romanian “That’s So” Razvan Sabau against Italy’s Nicola Ghedin. Six years ago, Sabau was the #74 player in the world, with wins over Janko Tipsarevic (2 of them, actually) (wins, not Jankos), Guillermo Coria (no word on the state of his serve at the time), and Sergey Demekhine, now the infamous coach of Vera Zvonareva. These days, Razvan is ranked #520 at age 33, with maybe a lost step and some evaporated vim but certainly with shotmaking skills still in tact.

Meanwhile, the 22 year-old Ghedin comes in ranked #1,269 with a career high of 1,081, and it’s the first time he’s ever been to the semifinals at the pro level. His previous best result had been the quarterfinals of the 2009 Todi Challenger, where he lost 0-6 0-6 to Challenger Tennis Player To Watch David Goffin.

Nicola Ghedin, at left, with Razvan Sabau

I tweet that Nicola’s coach is someone called Cesare Zavoli, which makes me crave cheese ravioli, but after the match I see that Andrea Collarini has tweeted some much more interesting information:

(helpful note: read from bottom up)

First of all, let me say how impressed I am with Andrea’s quick mastery of the American vernacular. I’ll also admit that his tweet is a tad more relevant than mine. Furthermore, I’ll confess to wishing I had seen this information earlier, as it would’ve saved me from such embarrassing follow-up tweets to my cheese ravioli one (which was mortifying enough as is), like:

“Ghedin, he of the shoddier resume, is out of the gate quickly. Holds, breaks and holds for 3-0.”

“Am hearing inklings in the crowd that Sabau coaches Ghedin? In which case: student schooled the teacher in a 6-1 in a quick first set.”

and

“Wow, that was quick: Nicola Ghedin d (8) Razvan Sabau 6-1 6-4 in under 1 hr. Odesnik vs. (3) Matt Reid next up.” (my using “quick” in three consecutive tweets is no doubt a testament to why I score so low in the Times Word Nerd thingamajig, too.)

The Palm Diggity – More Tales From The USA F4 Palm Coast

Friday begins as another lovely day for tennis in Palm Coast.  And by “lovely” I mean gray, overcast and cold. “Pity us, people up north,” I devilishly tweet, hoping to stir things up amongst the disgruntled folk living north of the 31^st parallel. It doesn’t work. The people of the twitosphere are remarkably good at not taking my infantile bait. Either that or they’re all too buried under snow and/or their fingers are too frostbitten to text me angry but concise messages.

Anyway, it’s horrifically cold again. But we hearty folk in North Florida are undeterred, heroically playing tennis (or, even more heroically, watching it) despite the semi-frigid conditions. It’s quarterfinal day, and it’s thus time to play the quarterfinals. As sometimes happens on quarterfinal day.  And as is nearly my sworn duty at this point, I begin by chronicling the progress of Jack Sock.  Today he plays the third seed, 20 year-old Aussie Matt Reid. Also playing concurrently are Andrea Collarini against the 8^th seed, 33-year-old Romanian “That’s So” Razvan Sabau, as well as Italian Nicola Ghedin against Arkansas standout and Harvard Law deferrer Blake Strode.

I don’t care how fair this is for the players – all this simultaneous action is hell on my spectating/reporting. How the heck am I supposed to keep careful track of three matches at once? Regardless, I try. It’s the least I can do for you, dear readers.

Jack begins serving to Reid on Court 4, but they must’ve switched the net over from Court 3, because – as with the one during his comeback win over Soong-Jae Cho the day before – this mesh is messing with his shots, too; it carries a forehand wide at 30-40 in his first service game, and he’s broken just like that.

Though both guys struggle through some deuce holds, serves are held throughout . The scruffy blonde from Oz displays a potent forehand – biggest I’ve seen in the tournament – while Jack struggles at times with errors off the ground, even while throwing some winners in the mix.

Third Seed Matt Reid

The points usually end with a Socked winner or error – by my incomplete tally (I was checking on other matches at times), Jack hits 4 forehand winners and 2 backhand winners in the first frame, but commits 5 forehand and 7 backhand unforced errors. He does try to press the issue a bit more, successfully venturing to net a number of times. But it’s the third seed Reid who displays better consistency in the opener, with almost as many winners but not nearly as many errors.  His one break holds up, and he takes the first set 6-4.

I duck out to check in on Collarini’s progress. Or lack thereof, as I find him down two breaks, 2-5* to the 8^th seeded Sabau, who to my eyes resembles Andy Kaufman’s character Latka from the old TV series, Taxi.

Disingenuous Image Alert: This pic is from Sabau’s match the day before

Regardless, the Argentinian-American gets one break back with a backhand crosscourt winner, but then the Romanian breaks him right back to take the first set 6-3. I dart on over to see Ghedin serving for the set against Strode, which the Italian wraps up at love with a drop shot and a passing shot winner, 6-4.

Back to Jack. I return to find Reid serving at 2-3 15-40 in the second. A Sock return hangs on the net and decides to stay on Jack’s side, negating the first break chance. But Jack gets a Reid on his opponent’s drop shot on the next point, sliding a forehand up the line that Matt badly botches for the break.

Sock holds from 0-30, Reid holds to 15, and Jack serves out the second set despite faking himself out with a drop-shot-to chipped-forehand-morphed-midstroke monstrosity at 40-15. Started the game with an ace and a service winner. Closed it with two forcing forehands. 6-3, 1 set apiece. The high school senior shot for shot with a Top 400 guy two years his elder. (That might not sound like much, by the way, but there aren’t too many high school seniors out there playing Top 400 ball.)