Week 23 - WTA International 220k - Birmingham (grass)

indiana · Tennis legend

RE: Week 23 - WTA International 220k - Birmingham (grass)

Danjn · Lower Club Player

Katie loses 3-6 4-6

Believe it or not (you probably will believe it!) Katie had 3 break points (at 0-40) for 5-5.... oh dear... where's the Katie from 2009 gone?

Josh · Challenger level

Broady lost 6-4 6-4

Vamos08 · Intermediate Club Player

Just got back from the tennis today (going again tomorrow) so thought I'd summarize for you...

Mel "Don't let me go a break up" South vs Chekvetadze

Oh Mel. Mel Mel Mel. Trying to find an adjective that sums it up is near impossible. I would be quite keen to defend her by saying it wasn't a choke...but from the scores it's difficult not to. To be fair though this match was all about the Russian. For the first 1 and 3/4 sets she didn't look like she wanted to be there, and Mel played a very solid match, doing all that she needed to to get ahead. Then at 6-3 4-1 40-15 (2 BPs to Mel) Anna was ready to throw in the towel and tried to most un-called for drop shot from the base line which somehow she pulled off and that kind of gave her a new lease of life. From then on Mel never really looked like she thought she could win (but I guess when you've had the last few months that she has had it's understandable). Even at 4-1 in the third you could sense that if Mel didn't break or hold her next service game it was going to be hard for her to get the win. Overall there are some positives that Mel can get from it but there's no point in saying she should be pleased with how she played because she should have won in straight sets and getting ready for her next match tonight. But que sera sera...

Laura Robson vs Stefanie Voegele

Laura again shows why she's going to be one of the top women players in the years to come. Compared to players like South, Watson, Broady and O'Brien (from what I have seen) she is just so much more composed and consistent and has the shots to back it up, especially on the grass. Her serve is a weapon and wins her many a free point. Bit of a weird end to the match with Laura winning the first set with no sign of an injury to Voegele, but she took an injury time out at the end of the set, with what looked like a back injury of some sort. Personally I thought it was a bit of a delaying tactic as it was just starting to spit a little and she wouldn't have minded a quick regroup, but after breaking Robson in the next game she withdrew so shows what I know! I would say that if Wimbledon wasn't in the coming weeks she would've been a little more happy to play on though....

Wickmayer tomorrow for Laura. Is she going to win? Probably not, but if she serves well, play's aggressively and Wickmayer isn't fully accustomed to the green stuff then she's got a chance to push her all the way.

In a post-match interview Laura confirmed that she would be playing mixed doubles at Wimbledon with Jamie Murray so fingers crossed the Rob-ray combination is a flexible one!

Heather Watson vs Alla Kudryavtseva

Was looking forward to seeing how Heather would do as I haven't seen her play before and was quite impressed. The problem was that she just wasn't aggressive enough and played far too many "nothing shots" which Alla just punished her with. Her second serve was being rolled in at around 65mph at times which just played into Kudryavtseva's hands. When Heather got broken straight away I though it would be a little embarrassing for her but to be fair to her she fought back well and played some lovely shots throughout. Being broken at the start of both sets never really helped her as she was always chasing her opponent but she stuck with her until the end which was pleasing. Definitely an encouraging performance, if not a mightily impressive one.

Naomi Broady vs Shenay Perry

Again like Naomi, was excited to see Broady and again she showed signs of encouraging play. This was definitely a match that she could've won though and I'm sure she is disappointed with the result. She got the break in the first set and all she needed to do was to carry on serving as big as she had been (up around 115mph at times) and she would've been fine. But she played a really sloppy game to get broken back straight away and then to be fair to Perry she upped her game and played pretty well from then on. Match point was a bit comical as it had been gently raining so the court was getting slippy and Shenay ran in to chase down a short angled backhand, slipped as she hit it, came crashing down but still hit a winner of it. Might have distracted Broady but she managed to force a smile.

As for Katie O'Brien I only managed to catch the last game of the first set and on set point Katie missed an easy smash to finish the set which was enough for me to leave again.

Overall a very good day and looking forward to more Anne, Elena and Laura tomorrow, with hopefully a better than 20% success record.....

philwrig · Hall of fame

Review of the day.

Best and worst performance: Mel

Clearly playing well to get herself into winning positions in each set but got tight when the winning post approached. With any sort of confidence Mel would have taken a big scalp quite comfortably today.

Best result : Laura

Not at her best today but her serve again was very dominant. On the plus side wasn't at her best on Saturday or today but still managed to get the 'W'. Quotes from Ace mag.
"Yes, I am really happy and its so good to be in the next round. Everybody has been so nice to me and that really means a lot. I was not really surprised I got through, Ive been playing well in practice and I was pleased my service worked well even though she could read it. It didnt make much difference.

Respectable performances : Heather and Naomi

Heather was always going to struggle a little having had so little grass court practice but put up a decent effort. In fact at one stage in the first set things seemed to be going her way a battling effort but ultimately no cigar. Should be better for the run though.

Naomi I thought also put up a decent effort but like Mel she couldn't win that first set when she went the break up. Fought to the end though so hopefully can do some damage in Wimby Qualies.

Worst performance : Katie

Never looked in with a shout in this match and her serve continues to be a real weakness. Doesn't get the cheap points alot of other players get on this surface.

DavidC · Tennis legend

Vamos08 wrote:
Just got back from the tennis today (going again tomorrow) so thought I'd summarize for you....................

Overall a very good day and looking forward to more Anne, Elena and Laura tomorrow, with hopefully a better than 20% success record.....

Thanks for the report - good job that Laura maintained her winning run to keep your nan and grandad happy!

Weather permitting Anne is first up followed by Laura on Centre, with Elena relegated to Court 1 (third on)

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, thanks for the reports Vamos. Very interesting and much appreciated.

steven · Tennis legend

The Times on Laura's win http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/tennis/article7145633.ece tho less detailed than the reports here.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Thanks for the reports Vamos.
How busy was it yesterday? I saw one picture of the centre court which showed a stand with alot of spare seats.

I presume that Nigel Sears was there. Where the British players who weren't playing cheering on their compratiots or was it a case of only concentrating on their own personal games. Just interested as I went to see the GB men recently at Newcastle and wondered whether the girls acted any differently under the guise of Sears. Any signs of team bonding etc., ?

Josh · Challenger level

Don't know about Birmingham but last week at Nottingham it all seemed pretty good. Tara and Broady were watching the match on centre court and I asked them the result of Lisa's match which I had missed and they seemed quite disappointed she had lost. Also during Bally's semi I was sitting next to Nino and Sears (not totally a coincidence) and Naomi came over to say thanks for the WC for Birmingham.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Thanks for that Josh, nice to see.

One final question for Vamos.

Did any of our girls receive on court coaching which is now allowed at Main Tour level ?

Sorry if I am being a bit of a pain for asking these questions.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Bally maybe about 30 mins from kickoff, Anne slightly longer, Laura's match cancelled.
All this weather permitting.

Interesting radio commentary from a local radio station.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/englandcms/livestreams/int9.asx

SMC1809 · All-time great

More rain in Brum. Not sure either will get on tonight.

Vamos08 · Intermediate Club Player

Ugh annoying day. Play was suspeneded on the outside courts until 12.30 originally, but they also said that centre was delayed until 14.00 which I thought was odd. Don't really understand why the show-court took 90mins longer to prepare but hey ho. Then they cancelled all play on court 1, which is right next to courts 2,3 and 4 (4 which wasnt even supposed to have play on) and jigged the OoP around, moving the matches onto 2, 3 and 4, so I assume there must've been some draining issues on 1. After an hours play on 3 which was the first to start they announced that all play would be cancelled on centre to our delight (funny that they decided it to cancel the potential crowd-pulling matches exactly when the refund-policy had expired.... but I love a good conspiracy).

I left once the rain started again towards the end of the first set of the Craybas-Ferguson match as I didn't think either of the Brits would have enough time to get on (and looks like I made the right decision.)

Depending on weather and Brit success might go back on Thursday or Friday when hopefulllyyyyy it will be a little more exciting!

BTW if you didn't realise that was my tweeting you today steven! You had the priveledge of my first tweets... :)

-- Edited by Vamos08 on Tuesday 8th of June 2010 07:24:28 PM

Vamos08 · Intermediate Club Player

philwrig wrote:

Thanks for the reports Vamos.
How busy was it yesterday? I saw one picture of the centre court which showed a stand with alot of spare seats.

I presume that Nigel Sears was there. Where the British players who weren't playing cheering on their compratiots or was it a case of only concentrating on their own personal games. Just interested as I went to see the GB men recently at Newcastle and wondered whether the girls acted any differently under the guise of Sears. Any signs of team bonding etc., ?

Umm the centre court was never much more than half full I would say, lot's of school kids around as groups got in for free I think. Was a little bit disappointed about the amount of cheering for our girls but what can you do!

Tbh I don't know what Nigel Sears looks like, but I heard the LTA office call him in over the loudspeaker so he was there. As for whether or not any of the other girls were there supporting, Laura came to watch some of Broady's match, but that is all that I saw. Didn't see any of them support Mel which would have been nice given the positions she was in, and a but of moral support might have been nice...but as I say I didn't see everyone so they well might have been there at some point. Anne must've arrived quite late because she was on the practice courts around 5pm.

Laura had some on court coaching at 5-4* and then again when Voegele was having an injury time out at the end of the first set, but that is all that I saw on the day. Although today Tony Roche was there and came on to give Sophie Ferguson a few pointers whilst they were deciding what to do about the rain.