Because of my Portugal quest for the first clay title in my career has finished i feel like i should sumarize my road to title.
Lets begin right from the R16 match against Ridsl. I absolutely did not know what to expect from this guy as he is a realatively new to the tour and i recall i came to this match with a bit of underestimation. And it proved to be wrong decision as he was playing, especially he was moving, greatly so i had to switch to high level (not best necesarily) to keep match in my favor and despite winning first set 6/0 he showed great resistance. 2nd set i again lowered my level a bit after the first set and he managed to win his firsst 2 games on serve, leading 2/1 and then i again started to play what i need to and grabbed next 5 games winning 6/2. Very good warming match for me to start Clay swing and gaining some confidence for upcoming matches and tournaments and if this guy keeps playing he could be a regular TOP 20 player.
Quarterfinal vs FEDERER2. Same as against Ridsl, i did not know nothing about the guy, however this time i did not underestimate at all as i noticed he uses Janowicz and also i knew he is an american so was expecting ping around 200ms and having to deal with JJ serve + higher delay, thats never easy so i took the match seriously. And doing so payed off greatly. The match in terms of returning was my one of my best in my entire career, got aced only 3 times against average 1st serve speed of 199 km/h which is absolutely great (especially after i developed a new returning technique which helped me a lot to get into the returns more often) and once i managed to get into the rally, it was a straightforward match and thus it corresponded with a result 6/0 6/0.
Semifinal vs Isaldor. Now this is very the tournament really heats on. First match playing against another topdog of a tournament i know i have to show my best to be able to win the match. This particular match was even tougher due to fact that i play with Isa many practice matches so he knows and reads my game very well, but so do i so odds were even. As the match started he managed to win first two points on my first service games but i focused on next 4 points and managed to turn very important first game into my favor. However he confidently won his first service game on love and he seemed in great shape so from now on i switched to my best possible level i can play on clay. Since 1/1 i have won 3 games in a row with great game on his serve and started to little dominate over him but only a little as he unleashed full power game, trying to hit winners from almost every position so i was many times forced to retreat to defence and wait for his errors which payed off until 5/3 when he suddenly, i dont even know how it happened, break my serve and returned nicely back into the set. I said to myself i still have a mental edge as he was serving to stay in set so i put a pressure on his service game and managed quite easily break and grab a set in good manner. 6/4.
After that 1st set finish, i got into a godmode, was really on fire plus isaldor obvious lack of a Plan B i managed to quickly go 3/0 which obviously definitely break his resistance and after still some big rallies i usurp the 2nd set with quite a bit harsh score for Isaldor 6/0.
Despite seemingly a clear score of this match it was great clay court match, Isaldor showing a BIG level and forcing me to play my absolute best to make it look so clearly. I am especially glad that his issues are currently gone so we could play almost in perfect conditions also lag-wise. Good luck in rest of clay season, My Greatest Disciple.
Final vs IsniperXZ. I took a match as serious as i could have. I was well aware of Snipers abilities especially after our last exhibition match which i lost, and his great improvement in last month. However i was still aware of my lack of practice on clay along with the fact i played that exo with Nadal so i knew i can play much better. So before the match i played with CPU IC 8 Fognini whom i managed to beat in straights 6/4 6/2 and got a huge confidence boost as it was the first time i beat IC 8 in Bo3.
So lets head to the match now. I won my first game on serve very confidently and had a great feel of myself and on the next return game i managed to get 1 BP, however i failed horridly on that point and he managed to win next 2 points relatively easily. That saved BP gave him the right amount of confidence for the start of the match and he exploit that to suddenly break my serve ! From now on i unleashed my best i could but at the same time i adapted to Sniper tactics and play it with him, instead of my usual attacking game we played a pushy game with occasional and unexpected accels.
And i was very surprised how well i could play classic clay court tennis full of long rallies and despite next 5 games were close i managed to win them ALL and usurp the 1st set from being break down 1/2 to 6/2 and with advantage to start to serve in 2nd set. Now my confidence was really skyhigh and it seems i underestimated a situation a bit and got satisfied how the match went and lost a focus in my first serve game and lost it quite quickly. However i showed great mental and focus once again and got my break immediately back and i kept my focusness and concentration on high level until the end of the match. From 1/1 we held our serves, but many of them were pretty tight and with a bit of luck for returner, once could break however it did not happen and from 3/3, i have to say i played one of my best 3 games in a row in a long time winning all 12 points out of 12 with a great variety, net play (especially nice dropvolleys and smashes), and surprising attacks, to totally scarify Sniper, who obviously could not find any answer to my superb game, especially struggling while i was on the net. This three last games of 2nd set asured me my FIRST clay title in my career and hopefully not the last one.
Stats for the final match.
Thank you all for great matches and looking forward to future clashes.