Week 19 - WTA Premier ($4.03M) Madrid, Spain - Clay

Peter too · Tennis legend

RE: Week 19 - WTA Premier ($4.03M) Madrid, Spain - Clay

RBBOT · Futures qualifying

DF wrote:

Fingers crossed for the TB

I think you need to consider yourself banned from any more Laura match threads until you change you user name.

DF · Tennis legend

Well. The match slipped away from her.

The more experienced player came through eventually

Stircrazy · Tennis legend

Peter too wrote:
R3: ROBSON, Laura (GBR) 41 lost to IVANOVIC, Anna (SRB) 16 16 7-5 2-6 6-7(5)

She battled all the way. Heart-breaking that she should double-fault on match point Ivanovic.

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

My internet connection went down just as Laura double-faulted. . . a bit of a dismal end!

blob · All-time great

Did anyone else find that match very hard to watch - the word that keeps coming to mind for me is 'scratchy'.
I would of course have liked it very much if Laura had won, but even then I don't think I would have enjoyed it.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Another tough defeat for Laura, and she still hasn't won a tie-break yet this year which has cost her 3 or 4 matches.

Laura started to play really well at the end of the first set but in the second set ran into problems with a lack of first serves and Ana completely destroying her second serve. Although she was in double figures on double faults by the end that did have a large part to do with the fact that any 2nd serves that weren't well placed disappeared (and to be fair Laura was nearly as good at crunching Ana's 2nd serves).

Laura then battled really well to get to 5-2 but a few nerves serving it out combined with several inspired shots from Ana cost her and I don't think she played a bad tie-break under the circumstances but she wan't able to establish a lead in it. When they were both struggling with serves Ana's ace at 3-3 was quite critical.

Overall a really good week for Laura and much improved on the last couple of months. If she can maintain this level of performance then she will have a few more good tournaments, especially if a couple of the really close matches start to go her way.

korriban · Challenger level

Well that was a very good performance from Laura overall, and from where she was a week ago, even more so.

But to lose from 5-2 up final set......well she really ought to have won, because her movement and (more the most) her consistency and shot production off the ground were fantastic. Both her forehand and backhand today were sensational, and I love her scrambling and defensive work too......still only average by top player standards, but much improved for Laura.

But that serve. 11 DFs. AGAIN IN DOUBLE FIGURES. And when she misses her first serve (which she does too often), how many miss by 8-10 feet? Lots. Repeatedly. Frankly most of her first serve misses don't have a chance. To DF match point down must really frustrate her, and drive home the point.

Whoever becomes her next coach has to sort out this serving issue once and for all. It's affecting her confidence, and there are simply too many service games being lost without the opponent doing much......even worse the opponent knows a DF or 3 could be just around the corner, so it keeps them interested. With such a fine looking service action, not only should she be serving 1-2 DFs per set max, but she should be serving huge numbers of aces and unreturnable serves on her first serve. Kvitova at her best (Wimbledon victory year) was unplayable on serve.....alas she has battled through serve issues too. Ivanovic wasn't much better on serve today, but at least she had more service winners.

Wonder if Lisa Raymond is going to pitch for the coaching job? Very risky with no experience (I would be concerned), but she IS a serial winner.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to Rome and RG, and on today's performance Laura must know she's nearly there again..........with a serve guru's magic touch and even more improvement on speed and movement she can be the real deal. So close.

philwrig · Hall of fame

The key game was at 5-2 in the third when Laura was in her pomp and Ana came up with some big aces, otherwise I think she would have broken her for 6-2. And then the point at 15-0 5-3 was key which she nearly won.
Brilliant performance in patches and she was the dominant player, but just not enough when both players got tight.

indiana · Tennis legend

Such a pity, but still a really good and encouraging week.

In the short term the rankings aren't falling that kindly for Laura and one more win would have really helped.

Her 140 points won ( net 125 rise ) are likely to see her only move up two places from WR 141 to WR 139, but having got close to a whole batch of players, a R3 win ( further 110 points ) would have seen her pass at least another 6 players and possibly even into the top 32.

Maybe she can pick off a few of these next week...

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

Laura was good in patches but overall a disappointing display, really poor serving, 50% first serve percentage not good enough, 11 dfs in 52 second serves is about par for Robson this year. In the tiebreak only 2 first serves out of 6, one df and 3 other points given away with poor errors. Neither player was remotely impressive. Laura made so many careless errors at key moments in the match.

First set was reasonably good from Laura after the horror start, plenty of super shots. No idea why her form totally deserted her in the 2nd set, she did seem panicked by Ana attacking her 2nd serve, resulting in a complete serving meltdown. Did well early in the 3rd set only to throw away a 40-15 lead with awful serving then a ridiculous mistake when she had total control of the point when bp down. Super play to get to 5-2 then couldn't land a 2nd serve return at all, allowing Ana to hold twice. Both players giving away their serves with shocking play from 5-5 then Ivanovic managed to put together a reasonable tiebreak, assisted by Laura's awful errors.

Laura's defensive play is improving, she stayed in several rallies that looked lost to me. The potential is there for her to be a good clay court player but she needs a functioning serve and her 2nd serve return has to find the target more often. Ivanovic was ahead 32-21 on unreturned serves and 18-10 ahead on points won by the return.

indiana · Tennis legend

Oops, don't panic LOL. WR 41 to WR 39.

( can't edit on my phone ).

philwrig · Hall of fame

kundalini wrote:
Laura was good in patches but overall a disappointing display, really poor serving, 50% first serve percentage not good enough, 11 dfs in 52 second serves is about par for Robson this year. In the tiebreak only 2 first serves out of 6, one df and 3 other points given away with poor errors. Neither player was remotely impressive. Laura made so many careless errors at key moments in the match.

First set was reasonably good from Laura after the horror start, plenty of super shots. No idea why her form totally deserted her in the 2nd set, she did seem panicked by Ana attacking her 2nd serve, resulting in a complete serving meltdown. Did well early in the 3rd set only to throw away a 40-15 lead with awful serving then a ridiculous mistake when she had total control of the point when bp down. Super play to get to 5-2 then couldn't land a 2nd serve return at all, allowing Ana to hold twice. Both players giving away their serves with shocking play from 5-5 then Ivanovic managed to put together a reasonable tiebreak, assisted by Laura's awful errors.

Laura's defensive play is improving, she stayed in several rallies that looked lost to me. The potential is there for her to be a good clay court player but she needs a functioning serve and her 2nd serve return has to find the target more often. Ivanovic was ahead 32-21 on unreturned serves and 18-10 ahead on points won by the return.

No way was that a disappointing display unless you expected her to win that match for which she was 3/1 underdog.

Her play in the first set and from 2-2 to 5-2 in the final set was equal to her peak form from the US open last year.

Yes I agree she had a shocker in the second, and given that it was remarkable how well she played in the final set.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

indiana wrote:
Oops, don't panic LOL. WR 41 to WR 39.

( can't edit on my phone ).

Yes Laura is provisonally WR39 with 1,425 points having been WR38 with only 1,300.

Top 32 mark has been around 1,500 so far this year so a first round win in Rome would give her an outsite shot at making it.

Peter too · Tennis legend

That was a very different match to Laura's previous one. Laura and Anna were both big hitters, able to demolish any weak serve or weak shot from the other. As a result every point was balanced on a knife edge as they both attempted to hit a winner before the other got a chance. The result was a lot of winners and a lot of unforced errors. Several times near the end of the 3rd set Anna hit the line for a winner when she was doing little more than trying to get the ball back. I think Laura played well and kept to the task but it certainly wasn't up to her performance in the previous match, which was outstanding.
I think she is playing around top 20 standard on average but some matches are far better than that and some worse, however each cycle of matches takes her level one step higher. It's fascinating to watch her progress, albeit at times a mite frustrating.