The match
Finished off Bo Cen 6-1, 6-4. This was the rain-delayed one — picked it back up on 8/30 at 3-1 in the first set.
Same read as the night we started: Bo can’t handle my first serve, and his own first serve is returnable. He’s solid everywhere, prefers the forehand, backhand is consistent, but the way to beat him is to make him play — deep rallies until he gives you something.
Best news of the night: the overhead is back. After missing five or six of them against Will, I was finishing at the net again, and it showed. The first set closed out quickly — held at love, broke him at 40-15, then served it out with two aces. 6-1.
Second set was the fun one. Broke him at love to open, and then immediately got broken back on three double faults, which is exactly what I deserved for thinking “my first and second serve are weapons tonight.” Broke him right back and from there the serve was genuinely a weapon: three aces in the 3-1 game, three more at 4-2, three more at 5-3, and four or five in the final game.
Two things kept it from being 6-2. At 3-2 I had a free overhead sitting there at the net and tried to get cute with a drop shot instead — netted it, and he came back to hold. And in his other holds he just kept lobbing me and staying alive in points until I made the mistake. He earned those games by refusing to go away.
Closed it 6-4 after a marathon final service game, four or five deuces.
The takeaway: the serve is a weapon and the net game is back, and the only two things that cost me anything all night were three double faults in one game and one overhead I tried to make prettier than it needed to be. Take the easy ball.