Girls: Wimbledon Juniors - Grade A (Week 27)

Spectator · All-time great

RE: Girls: Wimbledon Juniors - Grade A (Week 27)

DavidC · Tennis legend

R2

(6) Elise Mertens (BEL) d. Katie Boulter 6-3 3-6 6-1
(11) Karin Kennel (SUI) d. (WC) Lana Rush 7-6(2) 7-5
(2) Ana Konjuh (CRO) d. (SE) Harriet Dart 6-1 7-6(4)

Pippa/Jasmine lost their doubles 6-2 6-3

Re Maia the following is in the Scottish Herald:

"She was even making a decent fist of it in the second set at 4-3 down before her day took a turn for the worse. Her vision began to become impaired, her legs started to shake and, although she carried on for a few games more, she could not complete the match, and retired injured at 4-6, 6-3, 4-1 down.

"I was really enjoying it, playing well and then suddenly it happened," said Lumsden, whose fellow Glaswegian Anna Brogan had been eliminated from the competition on Saturday night. "My left eye went completely blurry and my legs started getting a bit shaky. It might have been a migraine, because my head was really sore, or it could have been low sugar.

"It was really weird but a similar thing happened last week when I wasn't on the court, I lay down for 10 minutes and it got better. Maybe I should have eaten more before the match, but I am not sure really. Last week when it happened, I got a little bit scared, but this week I just thought 'oh no' because I knew I wouldn't be able to continue. But hopefully if I can get my ranking up I can have a lot more junior slams," added the teenager who is now coached by Mark Walker."

She's okay to play doubles though and at the moment Anna and Maia lead Katy and partner 5-1

DavidC · Tennis legend

I doubt whether 7 is Katy's favourite number. Seeded 7 in both singles and doubles she has exited first round. At least in the doubles it was the young Scots who benefited. Harriet and Lana also gained some consolation for their singles defeats earlier.

Doubles R1

(WC) Brogan/Lumsden d. (7) Dunne/Komardina (GBR/RUS) 6-2 3-6 6-3
(WC) Dart/Rush d. Mikulskyte/Parazinskaite (LTU) 6-4 6-4
(8) Kalinina/Shymanovich (UKR/BLR) d. (WC) Asghar/Horn 6-2 6-3

In singles the heavyweight clash tomorrow is between top seed Belinda Bencic and Anett Kontaveit (US Open finalist and Australian Open semifinalist)

steven · Tennis legend

I'm a day and a bit late with this, but never mind ...

I saw two of the junior girls when I went on Monday (would have been more but for the O'Mara effect!) - Harriet played well, it took her a few match points to close it out, but she always looked like she had the edge and seems to be growing up, in the sense that she seemed a lot less young/delicate than she looks in photos (lest that be taken the wrong way, I mean it as a good thing!) and pretty mature on court (then again, she was winning, which always helps, and I didn't see that much of the match)

I then saw the truncated final set of Maia's match. She was getting completely outplayed by a good opponent and I was amazed that she had managed to win a set. The retirement seemed to come out of the blue (i.e. the reason wasn't that obvious from the other end of the court) but now it all makes sense and I imagine anyone there earlier in the match when she must have been playing really well would have noticed that something had gone wrong and been less surprised when she called it a day. What a frustrating thing to happen (I'd say worrying too, but she didn't seem too worried which is hopefully a good sign) - in a way, now it's happened twice, it's more likely to get investigated and hopefully sorted for the future - and if it had to happen at all, maybe better that it happened in the UK than in a junior event a long way from home.

Alexei · Lower Club Player

Lana's match was incredible. She was 5-1 down and opponent served for the match twice and was broken before finally closing it out.

PockyTastic · Futures level

Alexei wrote:
Lana's match was incredible. She was 5-1 down and opponent served for the match twice and was broken before finally closing it out.

Sounds like a gutsy performance from Lana. How does she play? Does she have a game that looks like it will transition well into the seniors? Though I guess she's still only 16 so has a few years left in the juniors .

DavidC · Tennis legend

Anna/Maia ran out of steam in the third but Harriet/Lana have hit back against the fourth seeds who served for the match at 6-5 in the second, and have levelled at 6-7(2) 7-6(2)

-- Edited by DavidC on Wednesday 3rd of July 2013 07:48:42 PM

DavidC · Tennis legend

Unsurprisingly the other 2 first round matches ended in defeats, though Freya and Gabi did at least extend a set against the second seeds.

R1 (L32)

(1) Krejcikova/Siniakova (CZE) d. Boulter/Wallace 6-0 6-0
(2)Bencic/Uberalova (SUI/SVK) d. (WC) Christie/Taylor 6-1 7-5

Anna/Maia lost the first five games of their second round match but have recovered to 4-6 7-6(3) 0-2
Harriet and Lana are 4*-5

DavidC · Tennis legend

Harriet/Lana's match is suspended at that point

Doubles R2

Alves/Tomic (BRA/AUS) d. (WC) Brogan/Lumsden 6-4 6-7(3) 6-0
(4) Gonzalez/Zhao (ECU/CAN) level with (WC) Dart/Rush 7-6(2) 6-7(2)

wolf · Tennis legend

R2: (4) Gonzalez/Zhao (ECU/CAN) beat (WC) Dart/Rush 7-6(2) 6-7(2) 6-1

DavidC · Tennis legend

The girls final will be between Belinda Bencic and Taylor Townsend after two contrasting semis. Belinda was only challenged in the early part of the second set and coasted to a 6-0 6-3 win against French Open semifinalist Louisa Chirico. Taylor prevailed against second seed Ana Konjuh in a nervy semi where the occasion appeared to get the better of both girls - Ana was racking up an astonishing high unforced error count on her backhand, and Taylor appeared a deserving winner in the end 2-6 7-6(4) 7-5. Taylor appears to be benefiting from coming over early (Edgbaston qualies) to try and get used to grass, and did offer a few nice serve & volley + net points - though I only saw bits and pieces of the match.

Here are a couple of interviews with Brits

Harriet Dart http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/23164844

Freya Christie http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/23169906

Gabi Taylor: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/23169902 (scroll down)

-- Edited by DavidC on Friday 5th of July 2013 03:22:52 PM

Spectator · All-time great

I don't know if it was posted on here already, but there's a lovely video from the Eastbourne junior tournament: www.lta.org.uk/fans-major-events/LTA-summer-grass-court-events/Aegon-International/Video-Audio/

Interviews with both US and UK teams - including Taylor Townsend ... (and a very ambitious Katie Boulter!)

-- Edited by Spectator on Friday 5th of July 2013 03:37:20 PM

DavidC · Tennis legend

Final

(1) Belinda Bencic (SUI) d. (5) Taylor Townsend (USA) 4-6 6-1 6-4

A very enjoyable match to watch, and both of these players will offer much to the Tour in future. Taylor has the bigger game, with powerful serve and forehand backed up with an impressive willingness to come to the net (her volley winners were into double figures) and although inconsistent seemed to be playing better than yesterday against Konjuh. Belinda is a delight to watch for anyone who enjoyed Martina Hingis's brand of tennis. She knows what shot is likely to be the most effective in any given position, has great anticipation and resilience. Like Martina there are question marks as to whether she is likely to develop the power to prevent being overwhelmed by the likes of Serena Williams, but she has enough to make a serious impact in the game.

There were two key games in the match: the first with Taylor leading 4-1 in the first involved her saving 9 break points giving enough of a cushion to take the first set. Belinda ran away with the second but was close to losing her composure at 1-3 15-40* in the final set before she eventually regained it and broke back in another long game, and always looked likely to win from that point.

The previous two girls to do the Roland Garros/Wimbledon girls double in the same year (Agnieska Radwanska won both in different years) were Amelie Mauresmo and Martina Hingis, who both went on to win the main event here.

As a result of the length of this match Kyle's doubles will probably be on sometime between 5 and 6pm