Week 35: US Open (women's main draw) - hard

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

RE: Week 35: US Open (women's main draw) - hard

Jan · Hall of fame

good luck Laura!

TomTraubert · Futures level

its jezza bates as pundit on r5SX so were getting loads of updates on all things hev too as they go along

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Pretty one-sided so far . . .

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Start of the second looking a lot better . . .

Julia Carrot · All-time great

C'mon Laura

Julia Carrot · All-time great

Praying now. 5 - 6* !!

Spectator · All-time great

Saw her go break point down and couldn't watch. Sorry she got broken.

Jan · Hall of fame

Saw the first set but then had to go out. Just back. It looks as though Laura was at least competitive in the second. Hope she can get that wrist properly better.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

It really wasn't Laura's day today, really struggled to find her range on the groundstrokes and failed to hit her spots on the first serve so Li Na didn't have to be at her best to win comfortably. First serve percentage of 52% but virtually none of those were close to the lines. Laura is normally so good at putting away short/slow balls but not today which is why her winner count was so low.

A couple of positives to take out of today:
Laura at least adapted to the fact she was struggling and reined in her game in the 2nd set to cut down the errors by going down the middle a lot which at least kept it competitive.
The 2nd serve looks a lot better - putting some spin on it makes it less attackable
The last game was excellent from both players which was nice to see after the rest of the match was scrappy

With a lack of matches recently, not surprising that Laura had a match where she struggled but at least she achieved what was expected of her whilst carrying an injury. Priority now is to get the wrist back to 100% before hitting the Asian swing where she will be looking to finish the season strongly to stay close to the top 32.

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

Depressing display from Laura. Never looked comfortable in the windy conditions. Very slow around the court today. First serve had no penetration. Just the occasional super shot in amongst a lot of unforced errors. Li Na served well, 11 aces, returned the Robson first serve with ease.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

tony_orient wrote:
It really wasn't Laura's day today, really struggled to find her range on the groundstrokes and failed to hit her spots on the first serve so Li Na didn't have to be at her best to win comfortably. First serve percentage of 52% but virtually none of those were close to the lines. Laura is normally so good at putting away short/slow balls but not today which is why her winner count was so low.

A couple of positives to take out of today:
Laura at least adapted to the fact she was struggling and reined in her game in the 2nd set to cut down the errors by going down the middle a lot which at least kept it competitive.
The 2nd serve looks a lot better - putting some spin on it makes it less attackable
The last game was excellent from both players which was nice to see after the rest of the match was scrappy

With a lack of matches recently, not surprising that Laura had a match where she struggled but at least she achieved what was expected of her whilst carrying an injury. Priority now is to get the wrist back to 100% before hitting the Asian swing where she will be looking to finish the season strongly to stay close to the top 32.

Agree with every word of that.

indiana · Tennis legend

Not so good today unfortunately and Li Na didn't have to be that good to get the win.

At least Laura got her 160 points in difficult circumstances. I hope the wrist is properly sorted soon and trust it hasn't been particularly set back ( I am assuming thst she has had good advice ).

Ideally would want to be fit for that Asian swing and look towards a good end to the season. Aside from the wrist injury, she actually looks in good condition and has clearly been putting in work.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Very sluggish today, to be fair it was similar to the Garcia match, footwork not to the level she is capable of.
Could've nicked the second set but probably didn't deserve it.

I agree the second serve does look better, but everything else below par.

I wonder whether we'll see her for the Asian swing, hopefully but paramount to get that wrist 100% before doing so.

Overall I just get the feeling her target was to win 2 matches, she did that, and with the wrist and lack of matches and practice anything else would've have been a huge bonus.

Will be tough to be seeded for the Oz open now but the priority must be getting the wrist 100%.

I'm pretty positive about next year though as she's now gone through her sophomore year without going backwards, so everything next year should be better.

Julia Carrot · All-time great

Moving on

. Hev's doubles about to start. Court 4.