Fran lost the tiebreak 7-1

Kristyna is a big server, but can be quite erratic at times. Freya will need to return well to stand any chance.

-- Edited by paulisi on Wednesday 4th of February 2015 04:55:29 PM

Ah; 4*-2

GL Fran, catch up later

Awesome wins for Katy and Freya

Oh here goes.

Zander v Lumsden

Nina has absoluta nothing spectacular about her game but it was enough to beat Maia, who showed glimpses of real class but too infrequently to pose any kind of serious threat to the solid German. She started weakly, but settled down and got it back to 3-4, only to lose a long game and never really got back into it.

Zanevska v Whybourn

Oh, Lisa! Brilliant match. Lisa is a strong, if not stronger, off the ground that ever (if still a bit inconsistent) but she's lost a fair bit of pop from her serve with the shoulder, and as a result was always under pressure. Her return game kept her in the first set but once Zanevska held that was it. In the second she got an early hold under her belt and it was pretty much one way traffic, a mixture of good play and errors starting to trickle from the top seed's racket. Zanevska didn't offer much actually, I'm going to assume she had a bit of a bad day because she didn't look like a player just outside the top 100, it was all a bit meh really. Lisa led 3-0* in the third and had a point for *4-0, but Zanevska saved it with a lovely one-two, and that gave her a bit of a spring in her step and it was quickly *3-3. Lisa dug in to hold and then fashioned another break point, and this one she did have a chance on. She had the early advantage but Zanevska defended well, and eventually hit a clean winner after a long and intense rally. Zanevska then blew 15-40 in the next game by dumping two very weak returns into the net, but served confidently to level at 5-5. This time, Lisa could only save the one break point, and even though she had a shot in the final game, she couldn't quite get there.

It's frankly unbelievable that she is playing at that level so quickly. Yes, Zanevska did not look like the top seed, but irrespective, Lisa is playing top 250 tennis right now and it was really exciting to see her back competing on court. She has something about her which is incredibly likeable, and a game which is nice to watch. If she schedules right I really think she can make a big move this year. She was brilliant, and has nothing to feel down about.

Pacquet vs Wallace

This was embarrassingly one-sided and as over in the same time as it took Lisa to play her third set.

Mikulic vs Christie

I hadn't seen Freya before but she has serious game. Huge serve, huge groundies, moves pretty well for her height. A little bit immature in shot selection at times and had a couple of brain freezes but that will all come with time. Her opponent was standard fair again at this level, solid in all aspects but nothing really dangerous, and Freya kept her errors low and stayed calm for the most part. She recovered from a horrible double at 5-5 in the tiebreak to save set point with brave play, then easily saved another set point on her own serve before a big return sealed the set. After that it was completely one way.

Easily the most impressive of the younger girls who played today.

Moore vs Broady

I was focusing on Christie because this was a train wreck. It attracted a large crowd of players, officials etc..., perhaps to see how the poor umpire who looked about 12 was going to cope. Naomi blew up in the third game over nothing (or well it was something but she was wrong) but held it together to take a clear lead. Tara woke up at 1-5 down but she was vulnerable on serve, and played with a lot of tension, often just pushing the ball around rather than hitting it. Naomi was smacking it, but making lots of mistakes. Second set was equally poor fair but the last game was very dramatic, loads of deuces, Naomi taking her 8th match point.

Definitely a confidence thing for both, for the two passages of play where Tara loosened up she looked really good, but she was tight as a drum I felt. Naomi verged between hitting massive winners and a stream of errors really. Completely lost her service rhythm at times as well.

Voracova vs Dunne

Voracova has no obvious weapons and does nothing with the ball. I am at a loss as to how she qualified for Oz a few weeks ago, maybe she was jet lagged but Katy was doing all the playing in this one. Voracova was lucky to take the first set but Katy never looked like losing. I had to leave at the start of the third but the second set wasn't even close once she realised she just had to work the ball and wait for the opportunity to attack. It was a very mature, confident display from Katy, really impressed.

Sorry that's a bit patchy and not very insightful!

Really interesting to read, PaulM - great stuff. Thanks.

Thanks, PaulM, for taking the trouble to write that up - very good of you. A nice insight in to the days play
I always enjoy the write ups from people that attended events, and appreciate the generosity of the time they give to share the experience.