Broady edges cliff hanger to move 1 match from Oz Open
Liam Broady clinched a gripping final set to edge past big hitting American Jeffrey Wolf and move to within one match of the Australian Open.
The Stockport-born Tennis star had needed to come from a set down in the first round and he did it again here to clinch a 3-6 6-4 6-4 victory.This win was more dramatic than Tuesday’s opening round as Broady faced two break points of his own in the penultimate game before sealing the match on his third match point.Broady had started the better, drawing first blood in the third game by breaking the Ohio-born Wolf and then holding to consolidate his lead.
Broady had two break points for a double-break lead but after Wolf had saved the first of those with an ace, he went on to hold.That proved to be the turning point in the set, with Wolf taking a long sixth game and then using the momentum to break Broady again and wrap up the set 6-3.Serve dominated in the second set as Broady looked to re-establish himself in the contest and it was in the tenth game before either player forced a breakpoint, but a forehand winner by Broady brought up two break points and after seeing the first chance slip by, Broady took the second one to even the match up at a set all.
Broady looked set to take an advantage when he brought up two break points in the fourth game of the final set but the big serving American, who was serving well in the Melbourne sun, extricated himself from a tight spot to hold.A titanic third set threatened to get away from the Heaton Chapel left hander in the ninth game when some big forehands from Wolf took him to a 15-40 lead, but Broady hit two service winners to peg the American back and though he couldn’t take the first game point, the huge roar that Broady let out when he took the second told everyone that he knew how crucial that hold was.And so it proved in the next game, when some brave defending saw him retrieve a Wolf smash and when the American hit the second smash wide Broady had two match points.Typically, Wolf saved the first with an ace, his twelfth of the match and when he saved the second match point, it was easy to wonder if Broady’s chance had gone, but another great return gave Broady a third match point and this time he forced Wolf to hit a forehand long and seal Broady’s place in the final qualifying round.
The final qualifier will take place in the early hours of Friday morning, where he will face the Russian Roman Safiullin, who previously beat Broady in last year’s Roland Garros qualifiers, but with two three-set wins behind him already this week Broady will be desperate to qualify for this year’s first grand slam.