Serena and Azarenka wont take long, Murrays match wiull definitely start earlier. Cilic and Kuznetsova are both headcases so might take longer winning there matches.

As tony mentioned, the reduced speed on Laura's first serve made life very difficult as she wasn't getting anywhere near enough unreturned serves. In the previous match Laura got 30 unreturned serves to Stephens' 21. This time R 12 - S 16. Sloane played some super tennis but also had spells where she couldn't land a first serve and Laura rather wasted those opportunities; the game at 4-4 in the first set and 1-1 in the 2nd, the returns weren't doing enough damage and then Robson would make a soft error too often. Shame about the final game as she had a great chance to break but throughout the match she seemed so reluctant to attack the net when she had Sloane on the defensive. Ironically, Laura got broken coming in behind a good first serve as she turned it into a difficult half-volley that she put in the net. Robson did much better saving bps than in previous matches this year especially given the reduced pace on her serve. The other thing that stood out is how often she stands watching her last shot for a moment rather than immediately recovering her position in the centre of the court, creating opportunities for Stephens that wouldn't exist against most players.

Stephens' defence and her speed around the court is so good that Laura needs to be landing big first serves and aggressive returns, once the rally develops Robson had to play several excellent shots to win the point. Thought her depth was impressive, shots landing near the baseline that Sloane couldn't handle won her plenty of points. Looking at the match stats, Sloane winning 59% behind her second serve despite 4 dfs compared to Robson's 30% was the difference between the players. You'd expect Laura to punish the 2nd serve but it so rarely happened; in the 2nd set Stephens won an astonishing 79% behind her 2nd serve, Laura's forehand contributing a total of 8 ues towards the 20 points Sloane won behind her 2nd serve during the match. Anyway, a good effort all things considered.

-- Edited by kundalini on Saturday 19th of January 2013 01:20:27 PM

Jamie Hampton unlucky to get a back injury when she looked like having a decent chance to take Vika down.
A resurgent Kuznetsova also through.

Julia Carrot wrote:

---

Didn't you just know a Cilic match was likely to go five. Seppi serving to go 2 all . Looking like we could have had a proper night's sleep instead of the broken stuff. Yeah, know I can follow Andy's, but really................ !

---

My sleep patterns are also all over the place from this tournament and 5 setters in preceding matches don't help. I think someone should invent a phone app that wakes you up when selected players matches are about to start. At least it looks like Andy will finish just as Laura starts now.

A slow start from Laura, and Sloane is certainly timing her shots better. Hopefully Laura can work her way into the match.

Interesting she elected to receive. Probably something to do with her double fault start in the previous match. Unfortunately it didn't work though.