Oh Mel... just no I just want to know what's happened to you

thats a shame from Mel. Was in control of the second set, and losing 3 match points is just :(

She was in a nice quarter too.

I thought the grass would bring her year back to life, but this is a tough one to swallow. Let's hope Birmingham, where she has done well in the past, can bring her more joy.

Saw all the action on centre yesterday (stayed the night and planned to go today, but started raining just as I got there and after some milling round the city centre decided to go home early - I imagine they're on by now).

A few reports, I'm sure I've got some of this muddled but there we go!

1) Naomi B: an, um, interesting match, in which the ballboys featured prominently (Rodionova described it as 'like a zoo' and had stern words with one.) Rod deserves her bad reputation - I've never seen a more bile-filled individual, it was like watching a spoilt 5-year-old. Quite how Naomi resisted the urge to slap her I don't know; I was just dreading someone's phone going off and Rod coming over and braining them with her racket...Anyway, it was a good match, largely dictated by Rod's mood, but Naomi left me a little underwhelmed. The backhand is sound as ever, but her forehand is a rather disappointing thing, often loopy, fairly light and mid-court, BUT she is consistent and makes a lot less errors than your average Brit. Going forward she was poor, netting a great many overheads/volleys. Rod clearly didn't like the grass, calling it a 'b***** garden', but was impressive in the second set. Naomi's serve got her a lot of points, but it was consistency rather than winners that won it for her, I felt. Naomi's coach's contribution was largely saying 'tall' or 'big energy' on tricky points - presumably as a reminder, in case she was feeling short...

2) Lisa: pretty dreadful display from Lisa, as I'm sure she'll admit - but Gullickson was very impressive indeed, and has a great game for grass - huge, well placed serves and lovely touch at the net. She is a portly figure, and perhaps if Lisa had been able to keep rallies going longer this might have told, but Lisa is not really that kind of player and wasn't really on form today. She was incredibly negative towards herself almost from the outset, and didn't ever really get out of that mindset - something she needs to work on I guess. Body language was terrible, and can only have made Gullickson (who seemed lovely, incidentally) feel better. That said, Lisa's backhand is, to my mind, a much bigger weapon than Naomi's, and is a joy to see - unfortunately, she was trying to be way too aggressive all the time, with little thought to constructing longer points, and that just didn't work against Gullickson. Still, to my mind, Lisa is a very big prospect, and it was nice to see her play again.

3) Mel: yes, the scoreline was disappointing, but watching Mel cemented in my mind that she is still a cut above Naomi B at the minute - I'd never appreciated before what a fantastic returner of the ball she is, but it really showed today. Barthel has a good serve, but Mel was getting it back with interest almost all the time, and her compact shots had a weight and depth which was superior to Naomi (who has a rather elaborate forehand preparation) in my view. The first set was easy, as Mona was serving badly, and Mel was not forcing her own play, just being conservative was enough. The second was similar, but with better serving from Barthel; can't quite remember what happened when she served for the match, but the tiebreak was heartbreaking - Mel DF'd on the third MP (having served very well throughout).

After losing the TB, she was obviously distraught and stormed off for a toilet break. In the third, she was incredibly aggressive, playing as though she had nothing to lose, and though that paid dividends at points, it was too risky and Barthel (who looked nothing special) just had to wait for the error. The better player lost, in my view - it was purely the mental side of things that lost it for Mel, I think. She fought incredibly hard, and had the look of playing for her life out there. I still think she has the talent to get back to where she was, it's just a question of confidence now. Incidentally, recognised Mel's boyfriend there from one of her blogs - don't know if he's a wheelchair tennis player?

4. Dubs 1: despite Fitzy's best efforts, this was a rather un-dubsy doubles, with Jade & Katie determined to have lengthy baseline rallies. The 'underdogs' stormed through the first set (which had relatively more net play), due to Anna's skill at the net, and to Katie & Naomi dumping almost every volley into the net, and Katie serving about 3 DFs in her service game. After that, it became less about net play and Anna got bypassed a bit at the net - she impressed me a lot, having great touch and reactions compared to the others. Jade I can see as a future Katie, not quite sure why, but she has very penetrating solid groundstrokes and looks as though she will always get the ball in - a rarity for a Brit! Fitzy has a quirky serve, in that on her first serve she does the traditional symmetrical toss/racket hand raise, whereas on her second she already has her racket held up in the air long before she tosses...not quite sure what this achieves, but her first serve was strong, and she didn't seem hindered in her movement at all. Her groundies weren't as good as Jade's though (tho she did a fair few passing forehands down the line) - i'd still recommend her for a dubs Wimby WC over any of the others in this game. Katie & Naomi were poor at the net throughout.

5. Dubs 2: this was a great game, and Mel really redeemed herself, especially with a series of great volleys at MP down in the TB when it seemed obvious she would miss. It was great to see her enjoying playing with Anne too. Marino impressed me a lot, she has a great serve and very heavy shots. I was sitting next to Pelletier's coach, who was saying beforehand how it could've been a Grand Slam 3rd round matchup, which I thought was a little exaggerated. Mel was probably the best net player in the match, but Anne's backhand impressed me and she served well aswell.

Sorry, that's rather lengthy! Was really looking forward to seeing Windley/Fitz today but never mind, hope someone else was there...

Thanks for the report JB - Arina sounds as bad as her sister unfortunately, so just as well that they don't appear to have any other siblings about to come on the Tour

Four matches started briefly today before being called off. In the two with British interest it's

Anna S 0-2
Tara 1-2

Tomorrow's oop sees all remaining men's and women's first round, plus the outstanding women's doubles first round match (Borops)

Sounds like LTA should give Rodionova a Wimbledon wild card for the sheer entertainment value...

Glad that Rodionova acted like that throughout the whole match. I didn't watch much of the women's stuff on centre, I saw the end of Naomi's match and Mel's TB by standing in one of the corners. Completely missed Lisa's match but saw quite a lot of Anne/Mel since it was the last match of the day.

Anyway it was either the first or second set when I came in at one of the change of ends and sat at the side, level with the baseline near to the back. As I was sitting down I had opened my bag and rustled through a few things trying to find the draw and OOP I printed off to see Rodionova's ranking, who the winner would play in the next round etc. I wonder why they haven't started the point yet and look up to see Rodionova glaring at me waiting to serve. I just stared back but it was quite hard to tell because she had sunglasses on. If someone folding a couple of places making minimal noise about 20 metres away could wind her up that much then I have no idea what would have happened if someone's phone had gone off in the front row. I wouldn't have been surprised if she had smashed the ball at them. I could tell how grouchy she was just from 10 minutes of watching the match, must have been interesting to watch her antics throughout the whole match.

Regarding the ballkids, there was a bit of an awkward incident where Eaton framed one of Ghedin's 120+MPH right into the face of one of a 5 year old girl behind him. Time sort of stood still as both players looked at each other and the umpire while the girl burst into tears and no one knew what to do. Eventually the umpire got off his chair and led her of the court, leaving both guys looking very guilty. There was also a lineswoman who must have been about 70 constantly telling the ballkids what to do, encouraging them etc after every single point. She was so focused on telling these 5 year olds who didn't have a clue what they were meant to be doing that she couldn't even do her own job. The umpire overruled her about 3 times in a row and still she's telling them where to roll the balls, where to stand etc. It wound me up loads.