On September 12, Rahber caps a perfect season with at 11-0, only the 3rd perfect run in Golden Ball History, handing Tri only his 2nd close loss of the season at the hands of R. Read below from Rahber:

Rahber over Tri – 6-7, 6-0, 10-7

Brutal tough match against Tri – First set was pretty toughly contested – both of us were serving pretty decently – Big serves were dominating mostly – Forehands were the order of the day along with some drop shots. I was mostly dominating on my own serve until 2-3 when missing a few first serves and Tri instantly took advantage and put some pressure on and broke. He ended up missing a few first serves next game and we were back on serve. Tough game for me to take it to a tie break and had to come back from 0-30 as I was feeling the Tri pressure. Some good serves to take it to the tiebreak – Tri was too good and I tried to get aggressive but no go.

2nd set I knew I had to push Tri out of his comfort zone and put pressure on him before he steam rolled me. So the plan was keep it deep and no errors – and I hit a high and he hit a low and I started serving pretty big. Tri seemed to lose hope and was saving his energy for the 3rd set super tie break and I took it 6-0. 

Super tiebreak was all over the place – Tri was on fire and putting lots of pressure on me and causing my forehand to break down. He jumped out to a 6-3 lead and I was pretty sure I was dead. On 6-3 Tri hit a great Dropshot and I was able to run it down for a return winner. That was a big change in momentum and I decided that everything was going high deep and I was not missing. Tri missed a couple of Dropshots and made a few errors and I was able to pull out the tie break. 

Great match – fair play and good athleticism even if the strokes weren’t the best. I was most impressed by how much pace Tri gets on his serve even for being not a tall guy. If he improves his 2nd serve he will be even more of a nightmare to deal with. Looking forward to another battle soon!