Some very positive results there

Unlikely I know but am i right in saying a win for Mel gives her a chance of moving into top 100...even if only for one week

ARGH. Katie at 101 after winning today! Of ALL the places.

Having said that, there are several players underneath her who could overtake so bit early to say but Katie would easily have to have a good few wins here to make a real splash at top 100. Mel's win takes her top 150 though currently! Naomi stays buoyant at 195 with her win. Another win would take her only a few spots higher though.

One impression I have from an enjoyable day at the DFS was that if we were able to morph Katie and Amanda then we would have some player! Amanda's serve is top class and delivered lots of free points, or set up easy winners, but unfortunately she was unable to find enough first serves at the end of the tiebreak.

Katie's serve is anything but top class and once she lost her opening service game of the second set with 3 dfs the rest of her game came under pressure and frankly she looked the likely loser all the way to the tiebreak. Then someone in the crowd shouted "Come on Katie - remember Eastbourne" - hardly Churchillian, but it seemed to do the trick and she showed great character to up her game and take the breaker.

Katie's backhand, especially service returns, looked excellent in the first set, but this is an area Amanda will have to improve (though she does have a decent backhand slice), along with her movement, but she certainly has the weapons and resilience to become a top 100 player.

A positive for both was their treatment of spectators. Amanda was willing to sign lots of autographs and pose for photos with numerous kids straight afterwards, when a number of players would have skulked away. Similarly Katie was endearing with her generous thanks to the crowd for their support.

Major problems with the rail service from Manchester meant that I only arrived as Amanda was starting, so saw nothing of Bally (someone I spoke to said it was a high quality match with the Russian making few errors) but it did enable me to have a chat with Naomi Broady, who was similarly delayed catching a train to London for the Wimbledon quali WC play-offs. Naomi Cavaday's match unfortunately clashed with Amanda's.

I only saw the first set of Mel v Fitzy, but it was fairly evident early on that Mel's greater weight of shot would prove decisive. Anna will need to step up the gym work to compete favourably at Tour level, but it was good to see her having some joy serve volleying. Her doubles successes have clearly helped her in that respect.

cakj1234 wrote:

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All credit To A Elliott, but when you are in a winning position they should be taking this. All to often we lose matches from winning positions, and afterwards are showered with praise for doing well, which she has but she should have won it.

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This is unfair. What happened was Rezai played conservatively at the sharp end of the tiebreak, and gave Amanda nothing, knowing that her groundstrokes were likely to be superior in long rallies, and that Amanda would find it very difficult to create good winning situations if her serve didn't do the trick. To get so close to winning on her first appearance in a WTA MD, against a player of this quality, expecially after 2 matches on Sunday, is highly creditable. On Amanda's match point Rezai made sure she got a decent, but not spectacular serve in, and Amanda netted a backhand return

Elliott was keen to take the positives from the match saying: Im a bit gutted now but overall I think it was a good week,

I just played two great matches to qualify for my first WTA Tour event and I held a match point against a girl who has done a lot in the game, in the first round. Hopefully Ill make these the tournaments I play week in week out, said Elliott.

Bondarenko has just broken Anne to lead 2-1