Week 42 - Womens ITF (25K) - Mount Gambier, Australia

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

RE: Week 42 - Womens ITF (25K) - Mount Gambier, Australia

Smidster · Challenger level

Mel won 6-4 6-0 and plays 6th seed Natalie Grandin (RSA) in Final

Firehorse67 · Newbie

Good win by Mel in difficult (windy) conditions. Local newspaper report:

http://www.borderwatch.com.au/archives/1553

Drew · Oct 18, 2008

Firehorse67 wrote:

Good win by Mel in difficult (windy) conditions. Local newspaper report:

http://www.borderwatch.com.au/archives/1553

Appreciate the link from Downunder....welcome firehorse67 !!!

Drew · Oct 18, 2008

From the article above they appear to be using THIS to post updates on the final !

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

I'd be surprised if Mel wins the final. Grandin seems like up a bad match-up for her. Their previous meetings, back in 2006, were straightforward victories for the south african 6-4, 6-0 and 6-4, 6-3.

Drew · Oct 18, 2008

Sure but has Mel not come along way since 2006 ? Hope its a close affair.

DavidC · Tennis legend

Impressive scoreline from Mel. There's also a detailed report on her QF with Hisamatsu, complete with unflattering picture, which can be linked to from the above site (or replace 1553 with 1551)

Firehorse67 · Newbie

I spoke to Natalie after the game about her record against Mel and she said she's expecting a tougher contest this time. They have contrasting styles, so it should be a great final. The forecast is for cooler weather and less wind.

Drew · Oct 18, 2008

Who do you think will win Firehorse ?

Firehorse67 · Newbie

The hard surface should suit Melanie's game better, so I'm picking her to win. She would want to reduce her number of unforced errors though, from the first set today.

On a slow surface I would definitely back Natalie. She's just getting back into singles and could cause some upsets down the track.

Drew · Oct 18, 2008

Thanks for your views....hope Mel can keep the UFE count as low as possible...fingers crossed.

steven · Tennis legend

I didn't expect to be awake now but I am, so I'll paste in the twitter in chronological order. First a quick catch up. Comments in italics are mine.

03.38 Players on court, windy in Mount Gambier now
03.40 South won the toss. Grandin to serve first.
03.42 30-30
03.46 Grandin 1-0. Was at deuce twice.
03.50 Game South 1-1. Went to deuce.
03.52 30-30
03.53 30-40
03.54 40-40, third game in a row to deuce
03.56 Game Grandin, leads 2-1
04.00 Game South 2-2, great serving
04.03 Game Grandin, leads 3-2
04.06 Game South 3-3

This twittering is great as a makeshift way of doing live scoring, though typing this into a mobile keypad would be a bit tiresome!

04.09 Game Grandin, leads 4-3, all games going with serve.

Oh dear, the twitterer is asking for it ...

04.12 South down 0-40 on serve ashamed

04.13 South double fault, break to Grandin bleh

leads 5-3
04.15 South breaks back smile

Grandin leads 5-4
04.18 Game South 5-5
04.21 Game Grandin, leads 6-5
04.28 Game South 6-6, tiebreak!

04.30 *2-1 Grandin in tiebreak 1 m/b
04.31 4-1* Grandin in tiebreak still 1 m/b
04.33 *5-2 Grandin leads tiebreak 2 m/bs
04.34 Grandin won tiebreak 7-2, first set 7-6

-- Edited by steven at 05:13, 2008-10-19

steven · Tennis legend

04.39 Only 30 percent power left on the laptop. will switch to the phone for updates if it dies. LOL slight technical hitch there!
04.42 South wins service game, leads second set 1-0
04.52 Long service game (10 minutes already) for Grandin, deuce again
04.56 Grandin holds serve eventually, 1-1 I dread to think how many bps Mel must have missed in that game, she'll have to be careful not to get broken as a reaction
04.58 Grandin breaks serve, leads 2-1 bleh

Oh dear, could see that coming a mile off
05.07 South breaks serve after a marathon game, 2-2 smile

Let's forgive her then wink

05.11 South holds serve, leads 3-2
05.14 Strong service game for Grandin, 3-3
05.20 On the phone now. Grandin broke serve, leads 4-3 second set. cry

05.21 Grandin held serve, leads 5-3
05.24 South held serve, trails 4-5
05.30 Grandin wins! 6-4 in the second set. Full details later. cry

So, that's two 25K Finals and 34 points in total for Mel in two weeks in Australia, but as no. 1 seed in both events, she mustbe disappointed not to have come away with at least one of the two titles. She has another chance next week in Port Pirie.

-- Edited by steven at 05:31, 2008-10-19

Michael Gorey · Newbie

I was the twitterer (twit for short). I felt like a twit sitting there with a mini laptop, cameras and mobile phone worried about when the battery would die. If it had gone to three sets I was in trouble.

Some photos from the final are online here: http://cli.gs/yeHyzt

I'm currently uploading some video and will give the links soon.