Week 44 - ITF ($10K+H) - Sunderland, GBR - Hard

indiana · Tennis legend

Week 44 - ITF ($10K+H) - Sunderland, GBR - Hard

steven · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:

Be quite interesting to see how Samantha Murray gets on against Tara. Her scores have been quite impressive since she came back from university in the USA.

The LTA have just reported on twitter that she beat Tara 4 & 5 this morning! I know Tara has been under the weather, but that's still quite a scalp for her.

Also:

Samantha Vickers bt Alix Collombon 64 61
Yasmin Clarke bt Amanda Elliott 16 61 75

-- Edited by steven on Thursday 4th of November 2010 03:32:38 PM

SMC1809 · All-time great

R2: Anna Fitzpatrick (Gbr) bt Francesca Stephenson (Gbr) 6-2 6-3 smile

Edit: And in case you didn't know Samantha Vickers (Gbr) bt Alix Collombon (Fra) 6-4 6-1 wink

-- Edited by SMC1809 on Thursday 4th of November 2010 02:45:40 PM

steven · Tennis legend

Oops, I now see what I did there LOL

philwrig · Hall of fame

Other results
Emma lost in three sets
Joss beat Jess 7-5 6-4

philwrig · Hall of fame

Tara served for the second set at 5-4 and Jess was 3-0 in the first set with a double break and also a break up in the second.

indiana · Tennis legend

steven wrote:

indiana wrote:

Be quite interesting to see how Samantha Murray gets on against Tara. Her scores have been quite impressive since she came back from university in the USA.

The LTA have just reported on twitter that she beat Tara 4 & 5 this morning! I know Tara has been under the weather, but that's still quite a scalp for her.

Hmm, was just saying, but not sure I really wanted it to be that interesting

philwrig · Hall of fame

Sam Murray is a useful player and when Tara is in the mood she was in this morning, she is capable of taking the big scalp.

Peter too · Tennis legend

QF: FITZPATRICK, Anna (GBR) 3 505 v CLARKE, Yasmin (GBR) WC 1109
QF: RAE, Jocelyn (GBR) 4 609 v FRANKOVA, Nikola (CZE) 1042
QF: MURRAY, Samantha (GBR) Q UNR v VICKERS, Samantha (GBR) 950

-- Edited by Peter too on Thursday 4th of November 2010 08:02:42 PM

philwrig · Hall of fame

My full report on today's play :

I arrived at 11.45 a.m, with Tara already a set down and receiving a medical timeout for treatment on her right shoulder. I then wondered over to the other courts and settled down to watch the Yas Clarke/ Mandy Elliott match where Mandy had just won the first set. Yas quickly seized control of the second set, dominating from the back of the court with Mandy making alot of bad errors. When it looked like the second set was just about finished, I decided to concentrate on Tara's match where she seemed to be losing the initiative having been a break up at 3-1 in the second. The score was 4-3 in Sam's favour, but then Tara appeared to turn it around going up 5-4 with a break, it didn't last though with Tara then dropping the next 3 games to lose the match. It was a fully deserved victory for Sam whose down the line shots time and time again putting Tara on the back foot. I was lucky to get the insiders view on the match from Tara's coach John Morris, who basically had very little sympathy for his pupil, saying yes she hasn't been feeling well, the shoulder is a slight issue but you are well enough to take to the court there are no excuses. Her coach clearly believes Tara needs to get stronger mentally and not to look at excuses for poor performances/defeats. Clearly adopting the tough love attitude to coaching Tara. He actually felt a defeat like this would do Tara good being another valuable lesson learnt. Tara's coach said that all throughout her junior career Tara had been told repeatedly how good she was, but now she realises that she is not going to reach the top of the game(top 100) without working very hard off the court as well. To that end she is going to train in Las Vegas with other Adidas players during the offseason. She was very emotional after the match and firmly believed during the last point she got a bad call, but to be fair the match was lost long before that last point. Her ranking objective for the end of the year is top 300, top 200 at least next year and eventually top 100. Coming back to Sam she is clearly a player on the up and is not far off a top 500 player already.

(report to be continued)

philwrig · Hall of fame

(report continued)

Whilst Sam/Tara's match had completed it looked as though Mandy had seized control of her match taking a 4-1 lead but Yaz fought back to take a 5-4 lead and although she failed to serve out for the match at the first attempt she was able to do so the second time at 6-5. There was nothing between the two players ability wise, Yaz has more variety in her game but Mandy had more power especially on serve. Yaz prevailing because she was just the stronger mentally. Didn't see any of Miss Vickers match but would think the other Sam should win their quarter final matchup.
Watched the Fitzy/Fran match briefly where Fran broke in the first game of the match but then Fitzy seized control and eventhough Fran was quite competitive it was basically a comfortable victory for Anna.
I then took my mum for some lunch and witnessed the prematch routines of Joss and Jess in the lead up to their match. Jess listening to music on her headphones by herself, Joss laughing away with other players. I was very disappointed with the way Joss started the match, appearing as if she was just playing a practice match and as a result Jess raced into a 3-0 lead in the first set and had game points to make it 4-0. Finally Joss woke up and started playing much better, not anywhere near her Commonwealth gold winning form, but still good enough to comeback and nick the first set. It is very clear what strengths Jess are , a great instinct for retreiving and a very good first serve. Unfortunately she didn't get enough of them in. Jess was clearly exasperated at the end of the first set, berating herself loudly for not getting enough first serves in. I feared for her at this stage, but after going for a toilet break she put up a plucky performance in the second set. During this second set I spoke to her dad who wasn't watching, once again as per last year he was very amiable. I discovered that both sisters are now training pretty much fulltime at the Gosling centre. He also said that all the british juniors get on very well off the court which was very nice to hear.

I was quite impressed with Emma Devine, big first serve if not consistent, but alas she fell away after winning the first set 6-3.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Thanks, Phil. First-hand reports are great to read.

DavidC · Tennis legend

Madeline wrote:

Thanks, Phil. First-hand reports are great to read.

Seconded

Peter too · Tennis legend

QF: FITZPATRICK, Anna (GBR) 3 505 beat CLARKE, Yasmin (GBR) WC 1109 7-6(2) 6-3
QF: MURRAY, Samantha (GBR) Q UNR beat VICKERS, Samantha (GBR) 950 6-4 6-1

LordBrownof · Futures level

So is that 6 points for Sam Murray? Where will she enter the rankings?