hello

As i said on another site it was a good day. certainly made me feel happier at the state of the womens game in this country. A lot of people have commented on the lack of fitness by some of our girls. I can honestly say most of our girls look in excellent physical shape, Georige, Bally and Jade windley were ones i noticed that looked in great shape. As did Katie. Tara seems to be better aswell since the last time i saw her.

Having never seen Cav in the flesh before i can't really comment but she looked trim and fit. And during Mels match she was really running for her forehand and going for it, i'm taking thats something that was worked on during the time off in april/may.

Cav vs Mel tomorrow is going to be big babe tennis, both just whack their shots from the word go. I actually couldn't believe how hard Naomi was hitting the ball sometimes. Mel hit some frightening shots aswell but Meusberger dealt with them well and actually ended up winning most of the points when i was there to take the 1st set. You did know that if Mel got her game together that she would win as she dictated everything.

Bally was dissapointing in the first set missing quite a bit she was 6-4 2-1 down and i started thinking Oh god shes going to lose this one but she upped her level. Upped her motivation with come ons in all kinds of languages. It was great, she should have won the final set 6-0 as she had game points in both games that Hofmanova won. Watching Bally in the flesh is just great much better than following her on livescores.

Katie was in great form, there was quite a few long rallies in the match which Katie tended to win which i think broke Larsson who wasn't playing well and kept missing her point winning shot. I don't know what it is but i think Katie feels confident when she plays at the challenger level but stepping up to the WTA tour she maybe freezes. She certainly looked good enough for the top 100 today.

Tara was playing well, it was going with serve and at 2-2 she had a break point to go up 3-2, then it all fell apart and the errors came thick and fast. Kerber does nothing with a tennis ball except put it in the court, although sometimes she goes for a return. With the top seed out Katie really should be looking at making the final here.

Georgie wasn't playing great but was solid enough to keep Windley at bay who played some great shots and then some poor ones. Her backhand was quite devistating and whenevr they satrted to have a backhand to backhand rally Jade would usually end up winning it with a great winner. Georgies forehand came to the rescue at most points though. Didn't see the last 4/5 games though so don't know what happened. The match was closer than the score suggests.

Don't know what else to say so if anyone has any questions ask away.

First Round

(Q)Mona Barthel (GER) d. (1)Lucie Hradecka (CZE) 64 36 63
Jade Curtis (GBR) d. (LL)Leonie Mekel (NED) 76(8) 64

Lina Stanciute (LTU) d. (wc)Jocelyn Rae (GBR) 63 76(5)
Stephanie Foretz (FRA) d. (7)Camille Pin (FRA) 63 30 ret.

(4)Angelique Kerber (GER) d. (Q)Tara Moore (GBR) 62 61
Giulia Gatto-Monticone (ITA) d. Karolina Kosinska (POL) 64 63

(Q)Nicola Geuer (GER) d. Mervana Jugic-Salkic (BIH) 62 63
(6)Katie O´Brien (GBR) d. Johanna Larsson (SWE) 61 63

Melanie South (GBR) d. (8)Yvonne Meusburger (AUT) 36 75 63
Naomi Cavaday (GBR) d. Katalin Marosi (HUN) 61 64

Yulia Fedossova (FRA) d. (wc)Anna Smith (GBR) 64 64
(3)Kirsten Flipkens (BEL) d. Andrea Hlavackova (CZE) 63 63

(5)Elena Baltacha (GBR) d. Nikola Hofmanova (AUT) 46 62 62
(Q)Lisa Whybourn (GBR) d. (wc)Stephanie Cornish (GBR) 64 63

Georgie Stoop (GBR) d. (wc)Jade Windley (GBR) 61 62
(2)Kristina Barrois (GER) d. Teodora Mircic (SRB) 75 63

Doubles R1

(1)Hlavackova/Hradecka (CZE) d. Brozda/Kosinska (POL) 64 62
Elliott/Thomas (GBR) d. Rae/Windley (GBR) 75 46 13-11

Larsson/Smith (SWE/GBR) d. (4)Jugic-Salkic/Mircic (BIH/SRB) 64 75
Kerber/Moore (GER/GBR) d. Anderson/O´Brien (RSA/GBR) 63 61

Hofmanova/Marosi (AUT/HUN) d. Cavaday/Curtis (GBR) 62 76(3)
(3)Barrois/Meusburger (GER/AUT) d. George/Whybourn (GBR) 62 64

Mekel/South (NED/GBR) d. Babilon/Geuer (GER) 76(5) 75
Klaschka/Tavares (GER/BRA) d. (2)Foretz/Pin (FRA) wo.

Of the winners Merv it sounds to me that you were most impressed with Katie and Cav. So can they make it an all GB final ? Also is the main problem with Tara's game the number of unforced errors or are there any other weaknesses. Was Stoopy carrying an injury ?

Yeah Katie and Cav were the most impressive but their opponents offered little to challenge them on the day really. Bally had a much tougher match and found a way to win and quite comfortably in the end. She played some great rallies towards the end and was very pumped up. I was impressed with Mel in parts, i only saw the 1st set of Mel though and she wasn't playing smart tennis, at times she hit some cracking winners though and ther serve was just gettign warmed up.

The only players left in the draw now that i see maybe casuing a problem are Kerber and Barrois but they are nothing to be affraid of. I didn't see Foretz but she will be a dangerous player in the top half.

Based on today it was the UF errors that were casuing a problem for Tara. She some times struggles when shes fored out wide on the backhand and is forced into the slice. She has the shot their but was missing it into the net quite a bit yesterday. She had the game its about putting it together and she'll come through. I heard some coaches talking about Tara and saying shes given up on juniors and has chosen to play seniors instead, didn't qutie hea the reasoning behind it though.

Georgie had one of thouse knee things just under her right knee that a lot of the player have today like Nadal. Don't know if its a major problem or just something that niggling. She didn't seem to struggle with it on court. When i saw the massive ice pack i got worried but i'm taking it was just trying to manage the problem.

Disappointing from Stoopy but maybe she has got a slight niggle.
Thanks Merv for your insight.

Katie beat Greur 6-2 6-4
Barthel beat Jade 6-1 6-4

Three winners is about expected I guess. Would have hoped Jade would have done better but then her opponent knocked out the world no.60 in the last round so must be in good form.