The girls (who were the last to make the cut) did really well to recover from a set and a break down to get into a MTB, but after fighting back from 2-6* to level at *7-7, they lost the last 3 points
Game over, 6-2 4-6 10-7
Shame, this little swing last year was great for Em, making two WTA QFs and the Zhuhai final. As a result she's about to slip out the top 200.
Naomi first up tomorrow, should be streamed.
-- Edited by PaulM on Monday 26th of September 2016 12:24:45 PM
Pity re Em. I think she might just stay in the top 200 for now. But yes does have 60 WTA QF points coming off in a couple of weeks.
She does seem to be a bit of the hired partner. And as she drops down the singles rankings, if she wants to continue playing for some time at a good level, it would be good to find a regular ( maybe similarly placed ) doubles partner that she is compatible with. Probably easier said than done.
AS with an ace and a df as she holds to 30 for *0-1
NB down 15-30 after a df but helped by a poor f ue from AS, finishes with an ace as she holds to 30 for 1-1
AS rather gives away her serve in a game with two dfs and then two more ues *2-1
Naomi struggling to land her first serve but holds to 15 despite her 2nd df, assisted by 2 backhand errors from AS 3-1*
AS comfortable hold to 15 *3-2
Naomi comes through from 15-30 after another df, also 2 aces 4-2*
AS love hold thanks to 2 volley winners *4-3
NB love hold including a nice drop shot and 2 unret 1st serves 5-3*
AS holds to 15 thanks to some ugly tennis from NB *5-4
Naomi with an ace and an unreturned 1st serve as she holds to 15 to take the opening set 6-4
Awful returning of the AS 2nd serve in that set. Naomi failed to return 5 second serves. Low first serve percentage but scored well with unreturned first serves and a few aces (won all 11 first serves points, 10 weren't returned).
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AS saves 3 bps after getting herself in trouble with 2 dfs. Naomi probably should have done better with one first serve return on bp that drifted long. *0-1
Stream died for a spell but Naomi appears to have held to 15 for 1-1
AS comfortable hold to 15, most of which I missed, *1-2
Naomi very careless with a df, a forehand ue and two volley errors as she gives away her serve to 30 for 1-3*
Naomi with two of her best points so far, a forehand return winner off a first serve then a sliced backhand drifted down the line for another winner, a df makes it 0-40, Naomi breaks to 15 for *2-3
NB broken to love though AS played a couple of super points off first serves, helped by a df and a Broady forehand into the net on the first point of the game 2-4*
AS holds to 30 as Naomi clearly frustrated by her inability to get returns in play, having had 15-30 *2-5
Naomi with 4 unret as she holds to 30 for 3-5*
AS in trouble at 15-40 saves 2 bps, first a lucky netcord backhand winner then a super forehand pass after Naomi attacked the net but two errors hand Naomi a break *4-5
NB holds to love, finishing with two unreturned serves 5-5*
Naomi with a couple of super points, a return winner early in the game then a volley winner to break to 40 for *6-5
Naomi with a good serve + volley play, then a brilliant lob winner on the defensive, an ace, a shocking forehand unforced error on an easy put away after a good serve, then stream vanished before the final point 7-5
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A few thoughts: Both players came up with some good serves and the occasional cleanly struck winner or well constructed point but neither looked remotely convincing, though I do wonder if the conditions were slightly tricky for playing attacking tennis. To her credit, Naomi got over her frustration quickly enough to fight back from *2-5 in the second set, making herself tough to beat by cutting out the errors. Naomi seemed to be less aggressive against the Sadikovic 2nd serve in the 2nd set, thus managing to get most of her returns in play.
Low first serve percentage (46%) but got a lot of unreturned first serves as well as 6 aces, so ended up winning 84%. I'm surprised by 53% won behind the Broady 2nd serve, didn't feel like that, especially with 5 dfs but I only noticed one return winner from Amra and the stream crashed for a few points. Ignoring the dfs and unreturned 2nd serves, the respective ue counts were similar. Naomi did a decent job of mixing up her game, drop shots, attacking the net with mixed success.
-- Edited by kundalini on Tuesday 27th of September 2016 03:52:45 PM