As a bitter twist of fortune, Jacob Fearnley's 13-match unbeaten run came to an end here in the second round at the Stockholm Open against Dutch tall order Tallon Griekspoor. The qualifier ranked 99 in the world, a 23-year-old, went down to the tight 7-6 (7-0), 6-3 match to the player ranked 37 in the world. Perhaps Fearnley had hoped for something in securing what would have been the best win of his professional career in terms of ranking.
Fearnley has shot up meteorically from a ranking of 646 at the start of the year to break into the top 100. His career path was given an impetus after a successful college tennis career in the US, where he spent time practicing before making it professional. The match against Griekspoor was a fantastic opportunity for Fearnley to take another step forward in being part of the top players of tennis; however, this proved too much on this day.
The match began extremely tightly contested, and Fearnley was breaking Griekspoor early to take the lead. But Griekspoor started to capitalize on the chances at a critical juncture by breaking back to take the set 4-4. The tiebreak that sealed it reflected exactly why Griekspoor has far more experience and dominated the tiebreak completely to take the first set excellently. Griekspoor just couldn't be denied as the second set went on. With a strong serve and aggressive play, he broke Fearnley two times back from 3-3 in what became a decisive victory.
This loss is the first that Fearnley faced in trying to pass a top-40 player, though even with the loss, the young Scot can still see hope for his future in tennis. Fearnley was quite determined and quite skilled on his way to the second round of the Stockholm Open. As a matter of fact, he disposed of two qualifying rounds, thus expressing his ability to raise his game. Then, he showed himself ready to take established players in the first round of the main draw by defeating Corentin Moutet from France.
A look into Fearnley's near future is ambitious, as he plans to look into qualifying for the next ATP indoor event in Basel, Switzerland. It will surely please him to be ranked high enough to qualify directly for the top 100 ranks for the Australian Open in January. For the young aspirant athlete, this would indeed be an incredible dream; for him, an adequate price for perseverance in the game.
In other news, Britain's Harriet Dart saw an early exit in Osaka, Japan's WTA 250 competition. She lost to Denmark's Clara Tauson at 6-3, 6-2. 28-year-old Dart has reached a career-high ranking of 70 this season and wants to wrap it up by ending it well. Through all this, determination and passion are going to serve as a bigger inspiration to many in the context of Fearnley and Dart in professional tennis.
