That result might take Em back into the top 400 as well with not much to defend she should overtake Jade in rankings soon unless Jade starts going deep.

Gabi was about 8/1 with the bookies.

I didn't get there till early afternoon so missed Gabi and Freya (which was a shame) but here's how I saw the others:

Jade - very tidy, clean play (as always on grass). Solid. And no sign of injury. Was toe-to-toe with Witt. But she looked nervous on serve and so it wasn't really suprising that when she came to serve to stay in the first set, it was pretty dodgy. The second set was always going to be quick.

Lisa - she shouldn't have played. She couldn't serve, was just rolling the ball in, grimacing and almost in tears at various times. Which was a huge shame because she was absolutely on a par (if not better) in the rallies. But I couldn't root for her to win the the second set because then she'd have to had played a third - and you couldn't wish that on her.

Emily - Em did a good stint in the office today. The pint-sized Spanish girl was basically a bit better than her and the games got away from her at the start. But Em stuck to it, applied herself, hit some lovely forehands (and a few chippy choppy ones too) and made the Spaniard work hard. And even when Em lost the first set, she came out fighting in the second. BGV took a lengthy time-out for her back but resumed well, trying to play her best to close it out in two sets. And Emily had to play good tennis to squeeze out the second set. Which she deserved. Even the start of the third wasn't a given. And the fact that Emily wouldn't go away made the Spanish girl throw in the towel. All credit to her.

The two Katy/ies

I'm putting them together first because, just to say, it was lovely to see the two young players, on adjacent courts, playing well and showing some character and skill. Hope for the future. And really it doesn;t matter if they won or lost today - there's no 'criticism', it's all foundations for the future.

That said, my view from livestream is confirmed - Katie B is 'the real deal'. Beautiful racquet- head speed and acceleration, good footwork and leg-work, great natural skill. She could have won the match but that's no different from saying Brianti could have won it - it was very close.
The only comment one could make is that Katie had Brianti on the run so many times, at full stretch and out of position and all Brianti could do was slice the ball back , often floating it up to give herself time. And katie never snuck into the net to do the simple volley into the open court. It made life easy for the Italian and put pressure on Katie to keep finding clean winners. A small change up in tactics would have tipped it in her favour. But, as I say, it really doesn't matter - she's so exciting for the future.
Katy D had strapping on her leg but showed no sign of any injury - was scampering around the place and is one of these players who 'talks' on court - about this, that and the other. It's endearing. But she never mentioned her leg or looked at all bothered by it. But Pascek was just a little too strong, forcing Katy further back, and provoking the unforced errors. And, yes, Katy had her chances but P deserved it - it wasn't the same quality of match as Katie's.

Thanks for the reports! 

Haven't seen it mentioned yet (apologies if I've missed it) but Katy and Katie got the other doubles qualifying WC. 

They both tweeted about it and are scheduled tomorrow. Good luck to them! Glad their senior experience gets to continue a bit longer and good luck to the rest of the girls left.

paulisi wrote:

---

Katy was bagelled in the second set. I have a feeling the injury came back.

Steven is there - he may be able to confirm, except i think he is watching Katie

---

I was in between the Katy/Katie courts for much of the time! That means I wasn't watching either match incredibly closely, so I may have missed something, but Katy didn't seem too hampered to me, though the injury was heavily strapped as you would expect, and she probably was hampered even if not that obviously. I thought she played very well - just a pity her serve wasn't working too well because she broke Paszek again and again in the 1st set. She has a really lovely attitude on court too. great fun to watch

Looking at the other reports, there's not much to add really - I agree with all that's been written about the matches I saw.

-- Edited by steven on Tuesday 17th of June 2014 11:36:22 PM

Pity for Katy D, but good that she appeared pretty fit, if understandably strapped up.

It is unfortunately indicative of what can ( if not usually to quite such an unlucky extent ) happen in women's matches with non dominant serves and many close games. One player just marginally getting on top can produce a very lopsided score and / or seemingly huge change in momentum. So without seeing the match, or at the very least following the scoring, it is perhaps dangerous to be too negative or say talk about "falling apart".

Looking good, going forward, for Katy. I hope that she can indeed significantly improve that serve

I didn't think there was anything really wrong with Katy Dunne's serve - a lot of the women there were better returners than servers (as is the case higher up in the WTA too). It could be better, obviously, but the basics are good.

Both Em and Gabi have started.