Week 1 - WTA International - Auckland, New Zealand

djlovesyou · Strong Club Player

RE: Week 1 - WTA International - Auckland, New Zealand

Peter too · Tennis legend

Anne 6-2 *4-3 after two more breaks of service.

djlovesyou · Strong Club Player

I think she'll close it out from here.

Touch wood. She seems more adept than some of our other girls at finishing opponents off.

djlovesyou · Strong Club Player

Oh dear, I'll keep quiet now. Maybe she'll do better.

Peter too · Tennis legend

6-2 *5-4 two more breaks of service, this set is a lot closer than the first.

steven · Tennis legend

What a tragic set this is from a serving point of view - 7 breaks in 9 games.

Still another MP ...

Please ...

Peter too · Tennis legend

That was getting close Anne finally wins 6-2 6-4 after going from match point to break point down.

dougie · Club Coach

Flip didnt think she wud ever win tht set... so many breaks ahead jus to be broken bak lol served it out for a 6-2, 6-4 win tho! Impressive stuff!

djlovesyou · Strong Club Player

Good work Anne. WTA QF at her first attempt this year.

I know it'll get tougher, but it's a lovely start.

Peter too · Tennis legend

In the 2nd set Anne got 61% of her 1st serves in but Suarez Navarro got the measure of them and Anne only won 45% on her 1st serve and 46% on her 2nd serve, well down on the 1st set.

steven · Tennis legend

Yes, the scoreline looks comfortable in the end. wink

You've got to take advantage of these good draws when you can get them, and she certainly has

- that's one top 50 player she's definitely going to have dislodged before long, I think.

TBE's calcs on tennisforum.com and my 'quick and dirty' where-would-these-points-have-ranked-her-last-week calc on the top 25 table both have her up to 56th (at worst 57th) - she's closing in fast on the top 50!

Wozniak (not Wozniacki, thankfully, though she's there too) or Morita up next.

-- Edited by steven at 02:28, 2009-01-07

Tutu · Club Coach

Great result, second tour QF! Make it a SF!

Peter too · Tennis legend

In the QF Anne plays either Ayumi Morita (JPN) Q 83 or Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN) 4 33. Anne has played both of them once and won both times.

steven · Tennis legend

D L16: Borwell/Muller beat (Alt) Domachowska/Nakamura by 0-6 7-5 10-7
D QF: Borwell/Muller lost to Llagostera Vives/Parra Santonja by 3 & 1 cry

S L32: Anne Keothavong WR 60 beat (WC) Mirjana Lucic (CRO) WR 433 by 4 & 2
S L16: Anne Keothavong WR 60 beat (8) Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP) WR 49 by 2 & 4 biggrin

S QF: Anne Keothavong WR 60 v (Q) Ayumi Morita (JPN) WR 83

At first sight, this looks like a draem draw for the QF of a main tour event, and it's certainly better than having to face one of the top seeds, but Morita is on an astonishing 20-match winning streak since late October, having won the 50K in Tokyo, the 50K in Kolkata (thrashing Wobbly 2 & 2 on the way), the 75K+H in Toyota and got through three rounds of qualifying and two rounds in the main draw here.

Morita also turned a straight sets defeat against Wozniak in July into a straight sets win here, which suggests that she has improved a lot since she lost to Anne in Roland Garros qualifying in 2007.

Looking on the bright side, though, the ITFs in Asia tend to be slightly weaker than those in Europe, and in any case Anne has reached the Final in four of her last five 50Ks (winning two of them), she won the 100K+H in Krakow and she is stronger than Katie O'Brien, who ended Morita's 22-set winning streak when she took a set off her in qr1 here and was a break up in the final set against her.

All in all, it could be tough (especially if her serve continues to misfire) but this is likely to be one of Anne's best chances to get to a tour semi this year!

DUSTY DICK · Club Coach

Great stuff from Annie. Mental belief must be sky high right now.