Week 22 - WTA Grand Slam ($13M) Paris, France Clay - *singles main draw*

steven · Tennis legend

RE: Week 22 - WTA Grand Slam ($13M) Paris, France Clay - *singles main draw*

DF · Tennis legend

Not a good start to the third set, Broken in the first game

albino · Intermediate Club Player

Kaia Kanepi, winner in Brussels last week, awaits the winner of this match.

DF · Tennis legend

0 - 2 down in the third

Come on Heather! Turn it around

Maza1987 · Challenger level

got to focus

Bob the Ball Boy · Junior player

arrgghhhh tough... bit of bad luck at 4-3 but promising display for her first match back. she had her chances and could have definitely sneaked it but i guess thats the difference when you're not match tight!

Maza1987 · Challenger level

Well, I was pleased with the amount of forehand winners she was hitting.
It was interspaced with too may ue though. And voegele played well on all the bp
in that final set apart from the one lucky netcord.

still not too disappointed though. Just pleased that she is back.

DF · Tennis legend

Heather did well for her first match from illness.

Will improve with match fitness

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Sounds like it was a very good effort from Heather on her first match back and certainly provides grounds for optimism once she gets to the grass courts and it's more of a level playing field with Hev having missed the entire clay season.

According to the stats she hit 38 winners which is a lot more that I ever remember her recording (though the stats do look a bit strange with Hev on 38-24 Winners-UE and Voegele 21-24 but winning more points)

indiana · Tennis legend

Pity, but in that final set Heather just wasn't making enough returns and couldn't truly test the Voegele resolve except at 3 - 4 * ( where to be fair Voegele held up well ).

Certainly was a very winnable match if Heather had been more match tight. Hope she comes out of the match well and can pick up her game further on the grass.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

Two words - HEV'S BACK!

I watched her match with interest and no expectations. It really showed that she wasn't match sharp, but she got better as the match went on. Many more UEs than usual for her (it felt abit like watching Laura at times ). but enough great play in there for me to feel optimistic about her going forward. Her forehand seemed to have more oompf too.

Jim Courier put it the best, she hasn't got the weapons, so she's like a Radwanska, who to be fair hasn't exactly done badly for herself with her limited weapons. I look forward to the continued fight and spurring on that our No 1 and 2 will give each other, which ever order they end up in.

indiana · Tennis legend

I was quite encouraged with Heather's attacking intent, which was something she was previously working on. Maybe indeed went for a few too many lines when on the stretch. I think many of these shots plus the too many ( unusual for her ) non returns of serve would not have counted as UEs, helping the apparent winner / UE disparity. She certainly made more clear winners.

steven · Tennis legend

@TennisReporters: "Sophie Amiach says on @radio_RG that Laura Robson has a back injury and pulled out of doubles. Not good"

PaulM · Tennis legend

I thought Heather played a very good match, executed just about as well as she could.

She was a half-step slow and lacking a bit of sharpness but that's not surprising. Still, the match really could have gone either way, and she made some uncharacteristic errors at key points.

Voegele played steadily enough, but it was nice to see Heather forcing and being aggressive so frequently. Her forehand looked good and the serve seemed to be working well which I was surprised at after such a long break.

I think she'll slowly build herself back up, if she can get a few wins at Brum and even Eastbourne she will be in good shape for Wimbledon.

steven · Tennis legend

Bally's thoughts are covered in some detail in this article by Ros, whom some of us met at DC:

http://t.co/2HDe7YY78d