Week 25 - Wimbledon Rd 2: Elena Baltacha v Kirsten Flipkens

Peter too · Tennis legend

RE: Week 25 - Wimbledon Rd 2: Elena Baltacha v Kirsten Flipkens

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Broken to drop the first set 7-5 :(

Not a bad set from Elena but a few too many errors creeped in to her game near the end of it.

seagull · Hall of fame

3-0 down...what the hell is going wrong?

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

4-0 now.

Just too many errors, especially off the forehand, and her play is a bit too predictable, and the errors at times are not even close to the court.

Flipkens has played a good match and looks to be a very handy grass court player, but she isn't doing anything exceptional out there.

Count Zero · Tennis legend

hmm, serving to avoid a bagel :(

steven · Tennis legend

This is so sad. How can she play so well and keep her head so well against Bondarenko and then completely capitulate here having been a break up in the 1st? cry

Count Zero · Tennis legend

all over 75 61. not a good score to lose by really.

alex03maccy · Grand Slam Champion

a match she should have won. poor.

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Firstly, Flipkens played a good match and she should be ranked a lot higher than she is as she's got some great touch around the net and knows her way around the court really well.

But Baltacha had a very disappointing performance out there. Too many errors and it is the size of the error that often was the worst part of it, and the problem for Elena seemed to be that she had no Plan B when her game wasn't working, and instead just kept on going for big shots. And that second serve needs working on as well.

That was a winnable match and if she had played like she did in round one, then she'd have had a good chance of doing so. Shame that she just couldn't put it together when it mattered.

I'm sure she'll love the fact she's supposed to be back on court later in the doubles as well, and given it's on a court TBA, she'll probably be on a show court.

jb288 · Satellite level

Feel so sorry for Bally. Have just sent an email to Gerry Sutcliffe complaining about his comments - it's just ridiculous the levels to which the media are stooping, and he's just following that agenda, all to pacify two-week tennis 'fans' who don't have a clue what the girls have been doing the rest of the year. It makes me so angry! The Mail has the improbably-jowled Martin Samuel (that well known tennis expert) ridiculing the players today, and it's just gone too far - what will they say if we get a suicide? I'm sure they're all far too sensible to be bothered by it, but it's just getting pathetic, and the Sports Minister shouldn't be indulging in such tripe.

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

KF looked very impressive. I'm not that surprised her use of angles, spins, taking the pace off the ball, and especially her brutal treatment of Bally's 2nd serve, eventually destroyed Elena's confidence, to the extent that she missed routine shots. Given the level of play from Kirsten, I don't think Elena really had that much of a chance unless she was right at her peak.

Still think Elena can move up the rankings and become a regular feature inside the top 100, provident she can stay healthy.

-- Edited by kundalini on Thursday 25th of June 2009 03:18:58 PM

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

jb288 wrote:

Feel so sorry for Bally. Have just sent an email to Gerry Sutcliffe complaining about his comments - it's just ridiculous the levels to which the media are stooping, and he's just following that agenda, all to pacify two-week tennis 'fans' who don't have a clue what the girls have been doing the rest of the year. It makes me so angry! The Mail has the improbably-jowled Martin Samuel (that well known tennis expert) ridiculing the players today, and it's just gone too far - what will they say if we get a suicide? I'm sure they're all far too sensible to be bothered by it, but it's just getting pathetic, and the Sports Minister shouldn't be indulging in such tripe.

Martin Samuel does make a couple of good points in his article, although not when he is actually talking about the players. When he sticks to football, he is one of the best sport journalists in the country though.

But he did make the mistake of mentioning the amount of money Boggo would have got had he lost in round one of all three events. Shame for him that Boggo actually won a round in the mens doubles (and thus surely proved he deserved with wild card into that event), and has a winnable first round match in the mixed doubles (especially as Wassen has already played 4 hours today), so if he wins that, he'll have definately deserved that wild card as well.

PockyTastic · Futures level

On paper and if I hadn't watched the match, I'd say the result was disappointing given their past h2h. However from what I saw of it Flipkens played some inspired tennis and seems to have a great all court game.

Bally started well but then got very tight - she didn't replicate her form from Tuesday night, but didn't play terribly. I really pressure might have been a big factor - similar to the Keothavong match. I mean there were som many photographers literally sitting on the court taking photos!

jb288 · Satellite level

I must say it was lovely to see Flipkens slicing it and coming forward, there were some beautiful dropshots at the end - lets see some more of that from everyone, I'm bored of baseline rallies!

DUSTY DICK · Club Coach

Thats a real let down from Elena. The second set was just so poor from her. When you think back to her display in the first round. This is often the case with GB players at Wimbledon. They have a cracking good first round win and then fade away in the second round. The press will jump all over this defeat but us genuine tennis fans know how disappointing this result is for Bally against someone outside the top 100 and whom she has beaten twice. A win would have lifted her into the top 100 and sealed her US Open place. So as a supporter i'm not pleased with this as a third round spot was well within reach.