Week 32 - ITF ($25K) - Landisville, USA Hard

Julia Carrot · All-time great

Week 32 - ITF ($25K) - Landisville, USA Hard

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

A good week for Laura becomes a great week with that win.

Sramkova is a player on the rise who I'm sure we will see on the main tour by this time next year if she can sort out a couple of her weaknesses. Definitely Laura's best win in ages and I would say the only thing holding her back from playing top 100 level tennis is the serve which remained shaky throughout today and I think will take until the off season to properly sort out (at this level she got 2 chances to serve it out, at tour level that wouldn't be the case most times).

It's amazing how Laura can seemingly make no improvement in a year and then this much improvement in 4 days, but I think we saw evidence today in her movement and all round play that she has been working hard but only now she is going into matches with confidence then the hard work is starting to show. In her first match here it looked like she came on court expecting to play badly and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Laura is also playing a much more rounded and tactically sound game - when she is reaching for a ball she has stopped trying to hit it at 100mph and instead was willing to hit slower and higher to make sure it goes in, then unwind when she has time on the ball. She has also used the slice backhand on several occasions. She was prepared to defend as well today in rallies against a powerful but erratic opponent.

The only negative is that these ITFs in the US run out after this one - looking at the schedule I have no idea where she goes next!

indiana · Tennis legend

Playing matches at a level where she has more chance of winning even if initially a bit sketchiily can build up confidence in winning more matches, maybe sometimes with luck from say a retirement, but only because she put herself into a position to profit.

Playing more matches and at the right level leads to winning more matches leads to more confidence, all helping to play and win more matches again - who'd have thunk ?!

Lot of credit still to Laura for such good attitude and thought, but a week knocked out in R1 and that all doesn't develop so. She has actually at times played pretty well in defeats at higher levels but then not played for another week or so and not built, but kinda ok let's try again, and especially if she then plays less well in defeat again confidence isn't built quite apart from the important matter of lack of competitive match play.

Great to see such a week. All the very best for the final, indeed possibly finals.

-- Edited by indiana on Saturday 13th of August 2016 05:10:31 PM

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

So happy Laura's back to winning ways. I'm hoping that this is the start of her second career that will climb to even dizzier hieghts.

Priesty · Challenger level

This is wonderful biggrin

I've purposely avoided this thread all week because after the Simmonds debacle last week I made a conscious decision that following her was just getting too frustrating for me and at times I was ready to throw my phone across the room. When I saw the thread had made it to 14 pages I started to hope and pray but it wasn't till I saw a tweet from Steven an hour ago, mentioning about her serving for the win, that I ended my self-imposed exile!!

Very well done Laura, and good luck for the final. As has been said a shame she won't be able to carry on the momentum next week.

Peter too · Tennis legend

This run of wins is what has been missing, playing just one or two matches a week makes it hard to get match sharp, never mind maintain match sharpness It is a real shame she can't carry that confidence and match sharpness over into a "next tournament".

Peter too · Tennis legend

SF: ROBSON, Laura (GBR) 285 def SRAMKOVA, Rebecca (SVK) 4 163 6-3 7-5

F: ROBSON, Laura (GBR) 285 v Elbaba, Julia (USA) WC UNR CH=676 2014

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Unlikely finalist for Laura to play, Elbaba is a pretty handy college player according to her bio as she "Set the UVA record in singles wins with 133 for her career, passing the mark set by Lindsey Hardenbergh in 2012".

From the 10 minutes of her semi-final she looks like a good defender and is on the run of her life but Laura will be favourite - the key could be if the amount of matches Laura has played this week in oppressive heat catches up with her, especially as she has not gone this far in a tournament for a long time and now she is about to start her 7th match in 4 days.

n.b. doubles starts at 7:40

Strongbow · All-time great

Well done Laura

Not been easy this week.

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

Just about to start the doubles SF:youtu.be/oTm-3y9aFck

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

They recovered from a break down to claim the first set on a charge. 6-3
Freya the standout MVP in that set, barely missed a ball.

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

The second set was ridiculous, the Brits could scarcely do anything wrong; everything was working, and they looked great.
Nine straight games to close. If Freya plays like that in singles she'll go far, she was awesome. The recording will be on YouTube, and I recommend catching the second set at least. At times all four players were laughing after points as to how well team GB were playing.

6-3 6-0

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

I saw the match from 3-3 in the first set and it was a pleasure to watch. The level from both Laura and Freya was so good, from groundstokes to volleys to touch shots, and even improvised shots. I bet they thoroughly enjoyed that one and an added bonus for Laura is it didn't last long.

the addict · Tennis legend

Thanks Ali and Tony, you convinced me to go and find the stream again, as I couldn't watch it live. Thoroughly enjoyed watching, and they looked so confident ! May they play together many more times, and maybe they'll be good enough for Fed Cup.

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

the addict wrote:
Thanks Ali and Tony, you convinced me to go and find the stream again, as I couldn't watch it live. Thoroughly enjoyed watching, and they looked so confident ! May they play together many more times, and maybe they'll be good enough for Fed Cup.