Lao is the highest-ranked player Emily has beaten this year. It must be rare for the highest-ranked player beaten all year to be lower-ranked than you when it is more than halfway through the year, so it might be quite a confidence boost if she can finish off Crawford. She has taken the 1st point in the tiebreak.
Oops - I got called away while I was writing that and when I returned and checked the score before posting, Crawford had won the next 7 points to take the tiebreak 7-1
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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!