Nicolas won the match against Alejandro Falla
Nicolas Mahut stepped into an open centre court located at the International Tennis Hall of Fame, where heat was at its peak with more than 90 degree’s of temperature and still rising, and thought, as he regularly does, about the marathon match at Wimbledon this season.
''Nothing is comparable than what I experienced in Wimbledon. Every match, I play now seems a lot easier than ever before,'' he told reporters. ''I have stopped complaining anymore''.
Mahut brushed aside the high temperature reaching the mid-90s to defeat Alejandro Falla 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 in the round number one of the Hall of Fame tournament on Tuesday. It was Mahut's first singles battle since his defeat to John Isner at the grass court Grand Slam tournament that made them both an instant star in the world of tennis.
Their lengthiest tennis match of eleven hours and about six minutes was adjourned on two occasions before John Isner triumphed 6-4, 3-6, 6-7 (7), 7-6 (3), 70-68. However, there was no risk at all for yet another marathon match at the Hall of Fame tournament. The championship plays three sets, along with a tiebreaker.
Once again fighting the sun but this time it was firing, not setting and Mahut needed a more conventional one hour and twenty four minutes to knock down Falla, a Colombian Tennis ace who entered within three points of hammering the tennis master http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/f/mardy_fish/index.html?inline=nyt-per.
''I was having a tough time out there,'' commented Querrey, who knocked down Jesse Levine 6-3, 6-3. ''Fortunately it was just a matter of fifty nine minutes in the end”.
While commenting on the heat, Mark Stenning who is the CEO of the Hall of Fame said that the championship informed the management as well as the tennis lovers to get ready for the hot temperature. Additional stations delivering water were available, and the air conditioned novelty shop as well as the museum of the Hall of Fame were also opened for the spectators to hang out.
''We went through gigantic, amounts of water, which was one of our chants, to the management,'' Stenning said. ''A large number of people came in and asked, 'Where can I have some ice water? Where can I have air conditioning? There was typically a spot where people could get out of the heat.''
Carsten Ball from Australia called off the match while playing against Argentina player Brian Dabul due to extreme heat, championship officials said. He was dragging behind 1-0 in the third set of the match.
The rest of the players did manage to remain cool.
Mahut frequently demanded for a towel to clean away the sweat and the request became more often as the match proceeded and the points became more significant; in the last game, he swept away his brow and racket tackle fundamentally every point. At breaks, both of the players smacked icepacks on their necks as well as shoulders where as the ball-boys kept umbrellas to prevent them from the sun light.
''I had no option. Either you fight or you go back in the locker room,'' Mahut said.
Mahut hammered Falla’s serve in the game number sixth to win the first set, then lost the second set by falling down in his first service. Yet, the French tennis ace must have been motivated when the chair umpire shouted, only 51 minutes in the’ Final match set.''
The drop shot of Nicolas earned him the game, and he hammered down Falla's serve to grab a 4-2 lead in the final set when the Colombian dropped three of his first four serves to lag behind love-30. Mahut won the game, as well as the match and later waved the spectators who supported him till his victory.
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