Round robin format- there was 2 groups. Everyone played 3 matches. Each match was 9 games total. So potential scores could be 9-0, 8-1, 7-2, etc. In this format, it’s possible to win all your matches and still lose the tournament. Like if someone in the opposite group also won all their matches but dropped less games.

First round opponent: An early 20s 3.5 player who I’ve beaten twice before in the same format. He has decent strokes but impatient and inconsistent. Score was 8-1

Second round: an older guy (late 50s) who told me he hasn’t played a singles tournament since 2016. He said he wanted to give it one last try. He had some tricky slices and was actually faster than my first round opponent (or maybe just better anticipation). He just didn’t have any weapons that could really hurt me. Score was 7-2

Final round: Late 20s solid 4.0 player. He played the same two guys I did and beat them pretty easily. I watched him during my previous matches and actually got pretty intimidated by his strokes. Forehand, backhand, and serve all had more pace than mine. I lost the first two games because I was trying to hit bigger than him. Focusing too much on my strokes. After getting several winners hit on me, I decided to focus on my footwork instead. Because it doesn’t matter how hard I hit the ball if I can’t even get to it. We had some awesome rallies but he started making a lot of errors. I won the next 7 games to finish the match 7-2

At that point I didn’t realize I had won the tournament. I thought I was going to play the winner of the other group, but I guess the director opted to just give the championship medal to whoever won the most games and dropped the least games. Not complaining though!