Laura not quite at her best yet unfortunately. Heather seems to lack the match fitness / mental sharpness she used to have in abundance and Bally played a cracker IMO, thought Kirilenko would be a very bad match for her so Bally did well to take a set.

Only Kyle and Tara have done anything really of note...

I really don't think we should expect too much from Heather yet. She is not yet 100% and is getting back her match fitness and indicated in interview lafter her first match here that she'd felt very good in her R1 match but would just see how she came out for R2.

Actually she seems to have backed up much better in her second match here than last week in Birmingham, although I think she played successive days there. At times she has looked very good and with a continuation of the more agressive intent from earlier in the year.

I wouldn't worry about her longer term. She has caome back from a quite debilitating illness and now needs to build up again with training, but more especially matches. I am sure the mental strength and fighting abilities are still very much there, just more a matter of the match fitness needing to catch up.

concern Heather and Laura ranking will be ?!...

There's a video on the BBC website with the final point of the match, and a chat with Woz.

That final point encapsulates everything that is wrong with Laura.

Dominating the point with awesome groundstrokes, driving her opponent back until they are reduced to defensive shots, setting the final ball up perfectly, which only needs to be placed into the empty space, the point is won.....but no......why not try to hit it at 100mph at a target 2 mm from the line, overpress and miss the entire court by over 10 feet.

Honestly, its like she wants the crowd to give her style, artistic impression, and technical merit marks for how hard she can hit it, and how close to the lines she can go......again, its a lack of maturity.......Kevin Pietersen style. Hollywood over Chorley Wood!

Not quite sure what you are saying here, TennisKnowHow. Laura ( with her still many faults ) is a top 40 ranked player, who thus naturally competes in all the top tournaments and will come up against players of varying ranks including the very top playets, who she does have a pretty good record against. So she can hardly avoid playing them and of course will want to beat them.

Yes, she needs to improve many fundamentals, such as that serve ( certainly better at times this week, most especially yesterday ) , her movement and her shot ny shot focus ( I see too many seemingly unthought shots, although some made to look worse by not being in position ).

But I am sure she realises that herself, and is not just focussing on beating top players ( though it clearly does inspire her ). We would all love to see her get it all together sooner rather than later, but her overall progress is still generally upward ( check her ranking and CH this time last year). It is rather more that she is still just 19 and still to me has a lot of learning and maturing to come ( different players mature at different rates ). Folk will say why can't she sort that serve. Heck, I am sure she wants to and works at it, but not as easy as some may think, especially in the heat of battle.

I repeat today was certainly not dire. I see kundalini predicted Laura WR 9 by season end, so to my mind maybe is expecting too much and judging on too harsh a standard. I was pretty positive myself, predicting WR 17. But I am more ( too ? ) understanding that progress is not llinear.

Today, the serving at times, particularly second set was good, and the action and first serve placement looks better this week. Her shot making again was at times great, but yes inconsistent much of the time. She still pushed Wozniacki pretty closely, and if Wozniacki was some way from her best, it was srill at times a pretty decent match.

Yes, paulisi, and while I would certainly accept that Laura is currently particularly guilty of not maintaining her top level, it is how good that top level is that continues to excite as to what may be possible.

As always a measured response from Indy.

I contend that in patches, Laura can do things that almost noone else in world tennis can do, particularly on power and ball-striking, and that when everything clicks, she is nigh on unplayable. Think Kvitova at her best. And that IS something to get excited about. In fact she is SO good during these patches, that all her other considerable weaknesses (movement, speed, footwork, consistency, serve, shot selection, tactics, variety, mental) are a complete irrelevance, as she dominates all the points from the serve or the return.

The simple fact, however, is that with Laura these patches rarely last long - sometimes just a few points, sometimes a few games or a set, sometimes a whole match, and occasionally 2 or 3 matches in a row. Never for a whole tournament (or at least when it matters). She has not won a tournament of any kind, junior/senior; singles/doubles; ITF/WTA since she was a 14 year old girl.....approximately 80 pro singles tournaments, and no doubt 40-50 other tournaments as well.

Without big improvements on the other attributes (above), she will continue to have the odd moment of glory, but no cigar! There seemed to have been improvements on all of them (eg at the US Open), but in some ways 9 months later she is now back to playing roughly the same way she did previously, albeit with a much higher ranking (due to excellent July-October performances last year). Those glaring physical and technical problems still remain. And she still seems to play with no gameplan, no tactical awareness, no control.....hence so many Hollywood shots!

I am more convinced than ever that some big seismic event will need to happen in her life to force her to commit to Andy/Maria levels of dedication to EVERY aspect of her game on and off the court. This may never happen. In fact, I'd be surprised if it does, given her character (i.e. far too nice). If it does, she could even be a #1 player one day. Certainly a GS winner.

But as things stand I wouldn't be surprised in 18-24 months time if she still hadn't won a tournament of any description since her last victory as a 14 year old.......whilst the big marketing contracts continue to roll in......there's a touch of the Dimitrov about her........good-looking, super talented, but too nice, not fit enough, not ruthless enough, not dedicated enough (to date).......Hollywood shots rather than effective tennis.

I think she's an absolutely fantastic player-in-the-making, but perhaps the most frustrating (non) athlete I've seen on the tour.