I thought Naomi played reasonably well in defeat. Super first set. Went to pieces for perhaps 10 mins in the 2nd set, making error after error, then not far off recovering from a double break down. Kept attacking in the 3rd set. Rather lucky to avoid getting broken at the start of the 3rd as Julia put a straightforward volley wide on break point. Naomi broke for 3-1 only for Julia to dominate with some huge hitting. The 3-3 game was one to forget: a missed volley at 30-0 followed by another 3 errors. Broke back immediately to love thanks to some excellent shots. At 5-4* Naomi went for her shots but didn't quite do enough to reach match point. The tie-break started with several errors from Naomi. She couldn't recover this time.

Conditions were painfully slow outdoors. Julia got back a lot of super shots from Naomi. The Broady serve wasn't doing much damage, Julia's returns often landing close to the baseline. Naomi's defence was surprisingly good, possibly helped by the conditions. She tried to attack the net but the margin for error was minimal as Julia looked very comfortable hitting passing shots. Having said that, Naomi scored well with volleys. The error count was high though a significant percentage were aggressive shots that didn't miss by much, sometimes after a lengthy rally. 

The umpire seemed to make a habit of over-ruling calls some distance away, which annoyed both players. 

indiana wrote:

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Pity.

Is Fitzy still working with her ?

I can hardly ever watch Naomi without thinking that a really good coach having got hold of her early, so much more ...

But at least, working with Fitzy that serve has become a much more consistent weapon, although yes faster conditions help.

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 I noticed him watching yesterday when they were playing indoors. 

In terms of the result, yes disappointing but in terms of the performance, it was better than I expected to see in such slow conditions where she would hit a great angled aggressive return, then another super aggressive forehand, yet the ball kept coming back. It wasn't obvious to me what she should do to win points other than play near perfect tennis, which she managed in the first set, assisted by Julia making some surprising errors. Once Julia raised her level, keeping her first serve percentage above 70% after the opening set, cutting down on the errors and taking every opportunity to attack, it was tough for Naomi. 

From the matches I've seen since the new coaching arrangement started, I would say Naomi looks a more professional player than previously; still some room for improvement but there seem to be fewer tantrums, less negativity, she's more likely to keep fighting until the end, she's getting to balls that she might not have bothered to chase down previously. I think she could shorten the duration of her poor spells in matches. The 2nd serve aces were interesting yesterday indoors though none today outdoors.