Week 20 - WTA International 220k - Strasbourg (Clay)

Akhenaten · Pro player

RE: Week 20 - WTA International 220k - Strasbourg (Clay)

philwrig · Hall of fame

Bally clearly the better player here but just unable to close the door on her opponent.

philwrig · Hall of fame

More mps coming methinks . Please take one Bally !

Peter too · Tennis legend

R1: BALTACHA, Elena (GBR) 8 59 v CIRSTEA, Sorana (ROU) Q 35 6-3 7-5

R2: BALTACHA, Elena (GBR) 8 59 v RODIONOVA, Anastasia (AUS) 99

philwrig · Hall of fame

Yes yes yes. Best win on clay.

Akhenaten · Pro player

Wow. Fantastic Bally!

Maza1987 · Challenger level

great stuff

wales1994 · Club Coach

Great win there Bally should give her abit of confidence on the clay, just in time before RG :)

steven · Tennis legend

Unbelievable win there for Elena against WR 34, who reached the RG QFs last year.

She lost a 3-setter to Rodionova in USO qualifying last year, so revenge would be sweet ...

DavidC · Tennis legend

Magnificent result - Bally's best win on clay by a country mile, and I think the best in rankings terms by any Brit on this surface since the early 1990s (Anne has beaten Mattek-Sands and Suarez Navarro, whilst Sam Smith beat Anne Kremer, who were all ranked between 35 and 50, but I can't think of any others)

philwrig · Hall of fame

Cirstea not playing though to the level of a top 35 player at the moment. There was a picture of her in action on tennis forum playing with a bandaged right wrist and she has been out of form.

I'm not taking anything away from Bally because it was a brilliant effort I just think you've got to put it into context.

steven · Tennis legend

philwrig wrote:

Cirstea not playing though to the level of a top 35 player at the moment. There was a picture of her in action on tennis forum playing with a bandaged right wrist and she has been out of form.

I'm not taking anything away from Bally because it was a brilliant effort I just think you've got to put it into context.

It's pretty obvious that Elena (indeed, any of the Brits) wouldn't have had a cat's chance in hell against a top 35 clay court specialist in top form, so what you say doesn't surprise me at all.

Bally beating a clay courter in the top 100 on their preferred surface would have been a shock for me though, so I still think it's a very impressive win and suggests that she would at least have a chance of getting through R1 at RG if she got a good draw - and she needs to, given that she's defending 50 points!

-- Edited by steven on Tuesday 18th of May 2010 06:13:43 PM

philwrig · Hall of fame

Rodionova performed one of the more impressive Houdini acts in the last round by coming back to win from 15-40 1-5 down in the third. A win for Bally here will in some ways be as equally impressive as the Cirstea one.

DavidC · Tennis legend

Play starts at 10am BST tomorrow with Bally second on court 2 after a doubles match

DavidC · Tennis legend

From the LTA site:
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"It was a really great match and that was the best I've ever felt on clay. I haven't played since Rome quallies and the extra time on the clay really helped me today. I was at the NTC and I was able to get decent time on the clay-courts there, plus some solid practice here."

Baltacha added:

"I wasn't sure how I would take to the clay here because it's very wet and slow and to hit a winner you have to really pelt it but it's been really good. My coach told me before the match to play like I was on a hardcourt and that's what I did. I really took it to her.

Today I played my way and made my game work to my advantage because I'm a good enough player to do that. That's an important lesson for Roland Garros.

I'm really looking forward to playing Rodionova. Our match in New York was pretty fiesty and she's a tough nut but it'll just be about the tennis out there. I've got nothing to lose. I'm really, really up for playing her."