Britain’s Paul Jubb amazing week ended in the semi finals after a 4-6, 5-7 loss to Sebastian Ofner – but he leaves with his head held high after seeing his ranking rocket up 88 places to provisionally #201, just a few spots shy of his career high achieved two years ago.
Austrian Ofner put in a solid match winning an astonishing 90% behind first serves, as well as an impressive 15 aces. But the headline statistic of 33 winners told the story as he consistently came out on top in baseline rallies with some fabulously constructed points mixing depth with short angles. He converted two of his three breakpoints and served out with an ace to reach his first ATP Final.
“I have always played well on grass, so for my first final to come on grass is something special,” Ofner said on court after his victory. “It’s also the surface on which I qualified for my first Grand Slam at Wimbledon. I just wanted to go with power on my first serve [at the end] because that’s the best chance to have no rally. But I played great the last games and happy that I got the win.”
Jubb should take heart from a great week where he came through qualifying to win three rounds of main draw as well as taking out top seed Ben Shelton yesterday in an epic encounter lasting two hours and 45 minutes, while Ofner contemplates a first tour title at the age of 28.
In the final, the Austrain faces Alejandro Tabilo who defeated Gael Monfils 2-6, 6-2, 7-6 (7-3). The French veteran had recaptured his grass court form this week having not played on the surface for three years, but ran into a red-hot Tabilo who is having a career-best season by reaching his third final of the year.
Monfils closed the first set in just 28 minutes with an ace and looked convincing but Tabilo struck back by breaking twice in the second to square things up. Both men upped their game in the decider with no breaks of serve and the tie-break began with a superb 27-shot rally where Monfils – who had looked passive throughout the point – attempting a drop shot which Tabilo chased down for a backhand winner. He clenched his fist to the crowd and rode the momentum to take the match when Monfils double faulted on the last point.
“I think I started a little nervous, not really intense. I couldn’t find the court,” said Tabilo afterwards. “As the first set went on, I started getting a little looser, started hitting the ball [better]. Second set, I knew it was a new match and I had to start all over.”
Monfils now heads to Wimbledon where he will face countryman Adrian Mannarino in the first round before a possible encounter with Stan Wawrinka, while Tabilo will look to sleep well and recover for tomorrow’s title match – after which he will also contest the doubles final with partner Diego Hidalgo against Robert Galloway and Britain’s Julian Cash.
