In my last correspondence a scheduled tournament had been cancelled and I was about to have a week off from competition. This week allowed not only for rest from the pressure associated with tournaments but it gave me valuable time to train and refine parts of my game.

Following the week of perfecting my skills I traveled to Iasi, which is situated on the Romania and Moldova border. Here I played against Marius Frosa (Rou), ranked 27 in Romania . I previously faced Frosa last year in his homeland where he had my measure.

This year the match was a closer encounter but I was unable to succeed. However the narrowing of the score gap indicates that the past 12 months of training and play have been beneficial to my performance.

From Iasi I journeyed 16 hours by bus to the Romanian town of Medias. Here I played my 1st round match, against Dragos Iarnil Torge (Rou). This was a tough match and I had to fight hard. I was able to remain strong and focus after initially being down 3-0 in the first set. I saved 4 set points to take the first set. I then went on to take the game 7-5 6-1.

My next oppenet was Dan Dumitrascu (ROU). This match was just as challenging as the previous round match. I again came out on top, winning 3-6 7-5 6-4. The second set had it’s surprises and gave a dramatic performance for the spectators. I was 5-3 down when I was stung by a bee. For those that know me, I am allergic to bees so this proved quite challenging and concerning.

Following the win, I then proceeded to the 3rd round match. Unfortunately, I  came up against the number 1 seed Tudor Cristian Sulea (ROU). Sulea is an extremely experienced and strong player who has won 2 doubles titles this year. Following almost two days of rain delay, we played on a very wet, slow and slippery court.

I have not had an experience in such conditions in my tennis career making for a challenging game both physically and mentally. Sule’s game remained strong for the conditions and I was unable to hold on. Playing in such conditions has provided me with valuable experience, which may be beneficial if faced with the same court conditions in the future.

Following my third round exit from Medias I travelled  to the capital, Bucharest. Here I experienced  3 days of rain delay before playing my 1st round of singles.  Unfortunately I did not proceed from first round, going down lost 6-1 6-2. The next tournament is situated in Croatia. I travelled 24 hours via buses and ferry reaching the tournament location on the island of Bol.

I will inform you of how this tournament goes.

Kind regards,

Ethan