wolf wrote:

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L16: (WC) Laura Robson UNR v Urszula Radwanska (Pol) WR 128

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That is a mouth-watering tie. What an opportunity to make even more waves for the youngster.

Good win from Laura there. Means Laura will go top 900 when she enters the rankings at the very least (going on current ranks). Just one tournament left to play though of course...

Good fight from Samantha. I didn't expect that one to be as close as that against Obziler, especially at 4-0 down in the opener.

Well done Elena and Katie. It's weird to see Katie getting wins at 75k levels when she loses in 25k R1 matches in the same month. Daft. Ah well. That is Katie for you.

A slightly more rushed appearance today at Welti, college commitments meant I could only arrive just after 1:00, and I also had to leave early. Don't you hate these meaningless things that always seem to get in the way of playing/watching tennis?

MD R1

Laura Robson (GBR) beat Sarah Borwell (GBR) 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-3

I joined this with Laura serving at 5-6, and she quickly held to force a tie-break. Sarah went 4-1 up, with a couple of edgy forehands from Laura, but just like yesterday Sarah had trouble closing out the set, and Laura won the next six points, by memory a double and a wild forehand by Sarah from 4-4. Sarah recieved some medical treatment at the end of the first set, but it was nothing serious, only some gentle rubbbing of the hamstring. With Sarah serving at 1-2 in the second set, there was a marathan game, but Sarah held firm to hold and then cruised to the next four games, overpowing Laura at times. A single break in the third set was enough for Laura though, who never looked in any real trouble except for saving two break points in the first game. Laura's game was just how it was when I saw her at Wimbledon, her backhand was her more reliable shot but her forehand crosscourt poses problems when she plays rightys as it is often deep and wide which opens up the other side of the court. I'm sure as she gets older Laura's power will increase and that will only add to what is already a technically terrific game.

(4) Tzipi Obziler (ISR) beat Samantha Vickers (GBR) 6-4, 6-3

The 35yr old veteran Obziler, a conservative player who picked the right moments to attack, took on an opponent 18 years younger, and things looked bad for Sam, who has a refreshingly unorthodox ball striking ability as she tends to brush up the ball when doing topspin from almost underneath the ball, as she soon found herself 4-0 down, maybe a bit overawed that about 50 people were watching the Robson match next to her. All of a sudden though Sam got a break back then held, and we had a match back on our hands. Sam grew in confidence and errors suddenly came from the racket of Obziler, while Sam picked her off with a few nice winners. She got the seond break back and soon found herself serving at 4-5, but just couldn't quite pull through despite having a couple of game points, on one of which she had a volley which went agonisingly just wide. In the second set, Sam held her serve with assurance, but just couldn't get into Obziler's service games. At 3-4 30-30 Sam finally cracked with two forehand errors, and Obziler served it out with ease. Overall though a good positive display from Sam though, and encouragement for the future. After playing two former top 100 players in the space of two days she surely will have learnt a lot about her game.

Nikola Frankova (CZE) beat Claudine Schaul (LUX) 7-6(4), 1-6, 6-4

A marathan match here, saw none of it as I was watching the matches on the other side, but I can tell how the match went scoreline wise. Schaul took a 3-0 lead in the first set, and I think served for the first set at 5-4, but that might be my memory playing tricks on me. In the final set Schaul was 3-1 and 4-2 up, but again blew the lead and lost the match.

Megan Moulton-Levy (USA) beat Yasmin Clarke (GBR) 6-2, 6-0

I feared for Yasmin before this, as Megan with the make-up of her game I doubt loses many matches when her opponent doesn't hit through her, and from what I have heard of Yasmin she is not the most aggressive. My fears were proved right, but the scoreline was as bad as it was because, and I am sure Yasmin will be the first to admit this, Yasmin played awful. She cleary likes to get to the net, but against someone who moves as well as Moulton-Levy your volleys have to be spot on otherwise you will be passed. Even Sarah Borwell, an excellent volleyer, only used the net approach sparingly when playing Megan yesterday. I really can't remember Yasmin winning a single point at the net, and that was not her only problem, she didn't find her range from the back of the court either. I'm sure there is much more to her game than I saw today, and hopefully she will pick herself up and move onto her next event and do herself more justice there.

Katie O'Brien (GBR) beat Katalin Marosi (HUN) 7-6(1), 6-4

Katie, that was class. Her groundstokes, particulary her backhand, were right on the money, and she backed it up with her serve being accurate, a plus as her second serve is often her downfall, so having a high first serve percentage is vital. She went 3-1 up but got pegged back to 3-3, but apart from that one break never really looked in too much trouble on serve, and as she was the one making inroads on the Hungarian's serve, I had no doubt when I left the centre at 5-5 she would win a TB if she got there.

Unfortunately tommorow is a no no, I'm hoping to go down on Saturday and Sunday for the semis / finals and maybe Friday for the quarters as I think there is a evening session. Will have to consult the OOP play for each day though and weigh up whether it is worth the journey, but it would be mad to pass up the oppotunity to watch some high class tennis when it is relatively near (about 40 minutes).

Sarah blogs on what it was like to play Laura at http://www.tennishead.net/prozone/interviews/2008-09-24/borwell-blogs-playing-laura-robson/ - it's a good read, especially if you're Laura!

The Mail has a piece too, with better pictures. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-1061330/Britains-teenage-star-Laura-Robson-enjoys-lunch-date-75-fans.html