Australian Open

I won my first match 6/1 6/0 6/1 against Michael Williams who is young player with plenty of talent and a handicap of 5. I felt good on the court and that I was moving well. I have my QF match against World no 3 Chris Chapman tonight at 6pm. 2 am east coast time. I am looking forward to this match, last time out I lost to Chris 6/5 in the fifth set so hoping for a better outcome this time.

I pulled off a good win against Chris Chapman last night. 3/6 6/4 6/5 6/5. I started the first set well going 3/1 up before Chris fought back and I played some stupid shots trying to do to much so lost the set 6/3. I re focused and played a good second set. I went 5/1 up but was only able to close out the set 6/4. 3rd set I played well and was in control with set points at 5/3 but Chris never gives up and I won the set 6/5. I remained focused however, just taking it one point at a time and found myself with a great opportunity to go 5/2 up in 4th. I was 40/30 up serving with Chris having to be chase worse than 1. Chris hit a good force to force a racquet error out of me & I ended up losing the game. In hindsight it was the wrong serve to serve a railroad with a chase worse than 1 to defend. The match soon became 4 all then I went 5/4 up and chappy took the next game to make it 5/5. We both played a good last game. I went 0/30 down but got 2 good chases to get the serve back and I served my way to victory.

I now play world Champion Rob Fahey in the SF of the singles. Before I take on Rob we have to team up to play our first match in Aus Open doubles. Fortunately we won this match comfortably against Darren Long & Andrew Fowler 6/2 6/2 6/2

Rob came out firing in the first set. He was ripping the ball hard and hitting his targets well. I was struggling to keep my railroad tight. I soon found myself 4/0 down. I didn't panic. I knew I had been playing some good tennis and if could just contain Rob's serve and get some rallies going then I could find a way back in. I started to serve tighter and the rallies became longer and I started to claw some games back. I soon tied the first set up at 4all after 4 long games. Rob would go 5/4 up after a long game where I had game points. I took the next game to make it 5all. Rob was chasing down everything and putting a 100% effort in and so was I.some of the rallies were epic. I managed to save some sets points and while at deuce on the receiving end I was able to get two good chases. We changed ends at i serve 2 good serves to close out the set. I knew this would of been a sucker blower to Rob.

I started the 2nd set pretty well but failed to close some game where I had multiple game points. Rob was still playing aggressive and retrieving well and I was a little lose with some shots. Rob took the set 6/2.

The 3rd set was the best tennis I have been involved in.almost every point there was a epic long rally. Were trading games. It was Rob who got the break with winning 2 close games at 3all to go 5/3 up. I didn't panic, i knew i could still win the set and i dug deep. Chasing every ball down, not letting Rob have an easy point. I tied the set at 5all. I won the first point and then Rob won the 2nd after 2 long rallies. I went on to win the next 3 points from the receivers hitting a dedan to win the set. Rob then informed the marker that he had to retire. He said That I was going to be the only winner of this match and that if he played anymore on this very hot today that he would either have a heart attack or get injured. we had been playing for 2.5 hours. The most pleasing thing for me was my fitness. I felt like I could keep going anther 3 or 4 sets if I had to. All the training with Mike Cecchi is really paying off. there is no doubt he is the best trainer in the state. So with that said, I am in my first ever major final. I am very proud to of got this far in a field that had 10 of the top 12 players in the world and that I had to beat the world no3 and world no 2 get here.

The doubles SF last night didn't go our way unfortunately. We lost in 5 sets to Chris Chapman & Steve Virgona. 2/6 5/6 6/4 6/3 1/6.

We started the first set slowly but were unlucky to lose the set 6/2. I think Rob forgetting his shoes and borrowing Tim's didn't help lol. in the 2nd set we picked our game up and there were a lot of good rallies. We felt like we were dictating play but couldn't find winners and also seemed to have the bounces go against us. It was a real shame not to win the 2nd set because if we had, we would of won the match. I felt we were the better team in the 2nd set but had nothing go our way. The next 2 sets Rob & I were solid and won the 6/4 6/3. In the last set Rob and i started slowly. We were feeling the affects from yesterday while the other two still looked fresh from a couple days off. They played a good set and won the set 6/1 and the match 3 sets to 2.

So now its time to play in my first Open Final agaisnt the world no1

I started the match well against Camden. I wasn't really feeling nervous at all. More excited to play in front such a big crowd in my first Open. The rallies were long at the start of the match and it felt like I was in for a long night on a very hot court.