KARL CORBETT in SAVANNAH
Photo: Karl Corbett
Every tennis tournament is a war of attrition. Only one player emerges unscathed. There are always surprises and setbacks, upsets and injuries. Everything is running true to form here at the 2019 Savannah Challenger event.
Of the 16 seeded players, only #2 and #15 remain, one on each side of the draw. Two of our seeds fell to injuries, and twelve were imply beaten.
Diversity, again, is the order of the day. Our semifinalists include an Argentine, an Australian, and Indian and an Italian. 17 Americans have been sent home.
Our first semifinal:
#15 seed Federico Coria (ARG) has played tough tennis, taking out two French adversaries and beating the #1 seed, American Tennys Sandgren, in straight sets. He’ll face Aleksandar Vukic (AUS), who had to fight his way through the first two rounds, playing three tiebreak sets overall. He’s played just one set since then, given an opponent’s injury in round 3 and a walkover in round 4.
The two have never met.
Our second semifinal:
#2 seed Paolo Lorenzi (ITA) has only dropped one set so far, taking out the #6 and #16 seeds along the way. Ranked #108, this clay court veteran could move up to #102, should he take the title here. His opponent, Sumit Nagal (IND), entered this event ranked #332 in the world, and has improved his ranking 29 places just by getting this far. His play keeps getting stronger as the week rolls on. Like our first semifinal, it’s the first time Nagal and Lorenzi have played
Semi-final #1: Match report.
Federico Coria advances to the Savannah Final Photo: Karl Corbett
It is hard to describe the intensity of live men’s tennis. Nothing you see on television will give you a clue. However, our first semi-final was about finesse, not power. There was not a single ace served in the match. In his second service game, Aleksandar Vucik sent one down the middle and came to the net. Federico Coria punished him with a screaming winner down the line, setting up a break point. Vucik never tried that tactic again.
Later, receiving at 4-4, Coria parked out wide in the ad court and pummeled forehands again and again to earn a break. At 5-4, Coria took the first set with a stylish drop shot that Vucik never touched.
Until the last few weeks, Vucik had not played clay courts since June of ‘18, and it was starting to show. In the second set, Vucik’s opening service game ended with a lengthy rally, capped off by yet another Coria drop shot. Coria took a love hold and the air went out of the stadium. Vucik was broken again, having won a total of two points thus far in the set . As Coria is served at 3-0, Vucik missed two easy put aways. You could see it on his face. You could read it in his eyes. It was effectively over. Errors kept coming. Vucik tried a drop shot that landed six feet short of the net, and gave up another break to 5-0. Coria held at love, and the match was over. In the second set, Coria’s first serve fell in at 88%, and he won 25 of the set’s 31 points, to move in to tomorrow’s final. Well earned.
Semifinal #2: Match report
Rain fell the minute the first match ended, and a passing shower hammered the canvas roof on stadium court, but the second match got underway on schedule.
Sumit Nagal broke Paolo Lorenzi at 2-2 with a thunderous cross-court winner, as rain threatened again. Storms passed to the north and south. Our venue at The Landings slipped through the eye of the needle without a drop of rain. It was such a close call that officials called a lightning delay, even though the horizon was starting to show blue skies.
Play resumed, and Nagal held at 3-2, leaping in the air to take high, bouncing balls and smash them downward into Lorenzi’s side of the court.
Even with his aggressive play, Nagal could not hold. It’s all even at 3. Lorenzi returned the aggression with an ace, the first of the match, to start his service game, and held at love. The war was on. New balls, please. High quality tennis, long rallies, grunts and shouts at every shot. Nagal cracked under the pressure. Serving at 4-5, he double faulted, with the second serve dropping six feet past the service line. Then three errors and Lorenzi had the first set, 6-4.
At age 37, Paolo Lorenzi has seen it all. When he comes to the net and is beaten with a screaming passing shot, he carries on. Broken, down 2-0 in the second set, he painted the lines on second serves, charged the net for ridiculous drop shot winners and held at love. Three games later, Lorenzi broke back. 3 all in the second. New balls, please.
Somewhere along the line, the changeover music played: “Hold On, I’m Coming”, which only worked for the next two games. Then, Nagal broke at 4 all and served out the second set, 6-4
The war rages on. Storms are looming on the court and on the weather radar. Lorenzi breaks for a 2-love lead. Nagal screams with rage. The skies darken.
2019 Savannah Semifinalist Sumit Nagal Photo: Karl Corbett
Another break for Lorenzi and a medical timeout for Nagal. “Hold On, I’m Coming” two more times and Lorenzi leads, 4-1. Storms pass to the north and south, and the Savannah Challenger once more slips through the eye of the needle. Nagal serves at 2-5. Lorenzi starts throwing up lobs on every ball until Nagal throws a lob back his way. Then Lorenzi hits the hardest, flattest ball in his repertoire and draws an error. Lorenzi is serving at match point. Another lob, another error, and it’s over.
Dispirited, Nagal shakes hands at the net. Lorenzi is going to the final. The house music starts up with a snappy little tune: “Happy”. Lorenzi is. Nagal isn’t.
Comments