Week 1 - WTA International ($500K) - Shenzhen, China - Hard

Peter too · Tennis legend

RE: Week 1 - WTA International ($500K) - Shenzhen, China - Hard

blob · All-time great

that all went a bit pete tong niculescu too canny with that flick slice she plays so much and good defence, she's quite an admirable pain in the wotsit sometimes, and that looked how Laura felt at times today
Sophmore year in the top always 100 gonna be tough still probable CH, maybe top 50 and thankfully not many on tour play like monica.
GB 2 Romania 1

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Laura was playing OK up to 3-2 but she did fall away quite badly at the end. I think Laura will learn how to win this type of match, but it will take a while.

Laura certainly pplayed better than a score of 2-6 3-6 suggests, partly because Niculescu played well and partly because all the games Laura won she won easily and she lost all the close games.

Possibly a lack of match sharpness showed at the end as well, at the end of last season Laura was very good at competing right to the end but today she lost belief that she could win once she got broken in the 2nd set.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Hi everyone temporarily back on line, having to rely on 3G for my phone! Didn't see any of the match, maybe just as well. This matchup was always going to be tricky, Laura doesn't like different mixes of spins etc., and it would seem Niculescu played really well making it doubly tough. No disaster though and maybe good for her in the long term, needs to find a way to be more effective against this type of opposition. Looks to be playing at a similar level to last year but maybe just a bit rusty. Also Laura reacts well to losses so that's a positive.
I'm guessing the lack of penetration on serve was probably done to protect her 2nd serve.

One question I have for who watched the match, any sign of improvement on her movement compared to last year?

philwrig · Hall of fame

Thanks for the extra info. After further thought it would seem that her returns which are normally her strength weren't firing today possibly because of the spin put on the serve. Good observation about the conditions. Laura' s best results last year were when it was very hot and faster than today.

Jan · Hall of fame

thanks for the match info - tricky match for Laura, but good to hear the positives!

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

When I was watching the match I thought Laura's serve lacked the penetration it normally has, and those stats certainly bear it out. I don't think she would be protecting her second serve against Niculescu who gets a lot of returns in but doesn't hit return winners, so I guess it was the cool conditions which hindered her. If Laura has to play Niculescu again she would like it to be about 25° warmer and bright sunshine.

Movement wasn't really a factor as Laura had plenty of time to get to Niculescu's slices, but I thought she did come to the net a bit more often than in the past, and usually to good effect. I still think Laura doesn't know the best way to approach this sort of match tactically, and maybe today she got involved in too many long rallies from the baseline in conditions where her pace wasn't going to stop Niculescu getting the ball back every time.

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

Bit shocked by the result really. Thought Laura would have too much for Monica.

Still it's early in the season. Onto the next event

Peter too · Tennis legend

Anne and Candantu lost their doubles match to the top seeds 0 & 1

blob · All-time great

in doubles anne and cadantu lost to the #1 seed chan sisters 0+1

blob · All-time great

ha! no one posts it for 4 hours, then we do within 20 secs of each other!

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Usually happens!