Consecutive challenger tennis tournament finals proved a bridge too far for Edinburgh’s Jacob Fearnley as he lost 6-7, 3-6 to American Alex Michelsen in the Cranbrook Classic in Michigan.
It was against Michelsen at Wimbledon that Fearnley came back from two sets adrift to win in the best of five slam format.
And it looked as though he would carry on where he left off when racing into a 4-0 lead in front of a crowd who struggled to restrain their partisan feelings towards the home player.
Alas Fearnley failed to capitalise on the early double break and, similarly, in the second set he worked hard to get the match back on serve before failing to take advantage of the potential lifeline for 4-4.
It was not all down to Fearnley shortcomings – far from it – and Michelsen, with his accurate length, kept the Scot on the back foot preventing him releasing his driving forehand and sharp volleying which had been such a feature of earlier rounds.
Still, a good week overall for Jacob whose ranking will climb from 121 to nearer the two figure mark.
With the US Open looming in late August it is important he now draws confidence from a run of nine straight wins until facing Michelsen and presses on to try to ensure direct entry to the US Open though it does seem more likely he will have to go through qualifying.
