Week 24 - WTA Tier 3 - Birmingham

DavidC · Tennis legend

RE: Week 24 - WTA Tier 3 - Birmingham

jamatthews · Strong Club Player

Assuming the weather is ok, she'll be up at 11AM on Eurosport 2.

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

I shall be recording the tennis on sky+ i hate having to go to work when tennis is on.

Bladetiger · Pro player

Well done Mel!!

-- Edited by Bladetiger at 22:06, 2008-06-12

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Brilliant win again from Mel and she is definately liking the grass so far this year and doing what you are supposed to with a wild card.

3 good wins this week so far, which has been a great week, and then a chance against Wickmayer tomorrow who's a solid player but no better than the last 2 players that she's beaten.

DavidC · Tennis legend

This is from the LTA website:

The 22-year-old was understandably delighted with her result. "I started off a little nervous but after I lost the first set I still had the belief that I could turn it around," she said.

"She was hitting a lot of lines in the first set but I've got an aggressive game and I knew I should be the one attacking.

"This means everything to me, I've worked hard all year with my coach and my fitness coach. It's amazing, I'm really pleased. I came in here believing I could do well here on grass."

South, who's now bidding to equal Duries semi final appearance in 1992, was brimming with confidence for her quarter-final contest against Yanina Wickmayer.

"She's aggressive and she'll be looking to hit a lot of balls but I believe I can beat anyone here. I've got the game on grass and I think I can beat her.

"I want to go a round further and build on my performance here this week. Obviously I've got to take it a match at a time and see how I go tomorrow, but I love the pressure out there and I hope to take it, and the confidence from this win, through to my next match."

Drew · Jun 12, 2008

Just a great moment for her....cmon Mel keep it up !!!

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Good luck Mel, we all have our fingers crossed for you.

The Hoose · Satellite level

Great result and nice to read such a positive, confident interview.

Salmon · Tennis legend

Mel trails 4-5 with a serve in hand.

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

And she gets broken to lose the set 6-4 - disappointing given that she was 4-2 up, but hopefully she can come from a set down again

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Mel saves 4 break points at 2-3 in the 2nd to make it 3-3

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

However she was broken next time and lost 6-4, 6-3 - still a good effort and reaching a QF is a good achievement for her

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

Mel played well and perhaps should have taken the opening set, a horrible miss on an easy put away when serving at 4-3 30-30 was the key point of that set as she missed a routine forehand on the next point to concede the break.

Unfortunately the gap in class was too great and Mel needed to play almost perfect tennis in order to be competitive. Yanina looked destined for the top 50, probably a lot higher than that.

Mel is a Lindsay Davenport type of player but without those extra 4 or 5 inches of height, and missing the added power that goes with it. Her first strike tennis can be very impressive but her movement is a weakness and the longer rallies had a certain predictability to them.

Wickmayer, when she's not imploding, looked a very good player. Not Henin or Kim class but should be top 50 by the end of this year and perhaps top 30 within a couple of years.

indiana · Tennis legend

Great effort.

Now let me say that I have no great knowledge of most of the British women tennis players. But the fact that Kundalini says "her movement is a weaness", does that mean that we have yet another British tennis player that is far off having the fitness that would make the best of her tennis assets ?

I was very encouraged last year to see the results of Naomi Cavaday and the positive comments. Then I saw her playing, and yes some of her tennis was impressive, but she definitely looked to need to work on her fitness and lose weight.

It seems a recurring theme with British players, and if it is a real problem, what are the LTA doing about it ?