Weeks 3-4 - Australian Open, Women's Main Draw - Melbourne, Australia - Hard

DF · Tennis legend

Weeks 3-4 - Australian Open, Women's Main Draw - Melbourne, Australia - Hard

DF · Tennis legend

Halep wins 6-2 6-4

the addict · Tennis legend

Harriet loses 2 & 4. That's not a bad scoreline at all, but as I didn't see any of the match, I can't judge her performance.

Still a very good tournament though, and another step upwards

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

People might see it differently but I thought that was a very decent showing by Harriet.

She's only WTA 170-ish. An unforced error against WTA 4 is not the same as an unforced error against WTA 400.

She knew she had to go for the corners, hit it flatter, etc. She hustled well, she played her schemes of play. THere's a lot of positives from that.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

But good fight from Harriet in 2nd set from 1-5 down.

DF · Tennis legend

A lucrative tournament for Harriet smile

PaulM · Tennis legend

I bet she'd love that backhand on break point at 4-5* again.

Was fairly outclassed until 2-5* in the second when Simona got a bit shaky and Harriet really stepped up to take a few chances and make it into a big fight. Did herself justice I think.

Jajon · Strong Club Player

Played a hell of a lot better than vs sharapova and when she played Barty, so I hope she feels pretty good about that and her tournament as a whole

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

If only Harriet had played the whole match as well as she did the last few games, it might have been a serious contest. Missed an overly ambitious backhand down the line at bp 4-5* and made a few too many careless errors in that game, otherwise she would have been level in the 2nd set. Lots of super shots, combinations and sustained attacks from Harriet towards the end of the match.

Her first serve simply isn't competitive at this level, nor is her 2nd, so she's starting most rallies after her serve, on the defensive.

In the first set she played a super game to break back for 1-1, with clever use of the drop shot and a backhand down the line winner. After that there was an occasional good point but too many errors. She could have broken Halep at the end of the first set but for a terrible sliced backhand unforced error long on bp after two aggressive backhands cross-court had won her the previous two points.

Michael D · All-time great

So the final round up and then over and out for the women's participation in the AO (as I assume the mixed doubles is unlikely too).

And yes good show from Harriet at the end... but this should have made clear to her that to have a chance to reach the top 100 she needs to improve her serve, otherwise it will be much more difficult for her to make real progress on her ranking, which is back up to LR 141 at present.

R2: WATSON, Heather (GBR) 75 lost to MERTENS, Elise (BEL) [16] 17 3-6 0-6
R2: DART, Harriet (GBR) [Q] 173 lost to HALEP, Simona (ROM) [4] 3 2-6 4-6

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Michael D wrote:
So the final round up and then over and out for the women's participation in the AO (as I assume the mixed doubles is unlikely too).

And yes good show from Harriet at the end... but this should have made clear to her that to have a chance to reach the top 100 she needs to improve her serve, otherwise it will be much more difficult for her to make real progress on her ranking, which is back up to LR 141 at present.

R2: WATSON, Heather (GBR) 75 lost to MERTENS, Elise (BEL) [16] 17 3-6 0-6
R2: DART, Harriet (GBR) [Q] 173 lost to HALEP, Simona (ROM) [4] 3 2-6 4-6

Yep, no one in the mixed from the women.

emmsie69 · ATP level

Great effort from Harriet, still needs some power but the overall game is there. She does appear to have gained a bit of muscle but still not quite strong enough physically to compete with the top players.

HarryGem · Club Coach

Not sure how to assess this competiton for the British women.

On the downside Jo was well beaten and looked like a player who hasn't played many matches for a while and questions regarding the condition of her knee have not really been answered. However, she needs to play if she can or she simply won't be match fit to defend the points she got last year in the clay season.

Katie B looked good at times but was well beaten in the end though no disgrace losing to Svitolina. Like Jo she needs time on court.

Heather looked ok in first round but her loss yesterday wasn't really a great show. Still good to see her playing better than this time last year and at least enjoying life.

Harriet played well to qualify and reaching the second round is one better than last year. In a way the good news is that there are obvious areas she can improve, notably the serve which is far too weak at the top level and her perfomance against Halep was a step up from those against Sharapova and Barty last year.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

I think you generally have to consider it a success. Much like Andy on the men's side (bar that Kyle run 2 years ago), if Jo goes out early, then it's largely just a matter of when singles interest ends, and given she hadn't won since the US Open, and barely played either, I doubt many had high hopes for her going into this. For us to get 4 in the main draw of an external slam is decent, and I think 3 of them did better than they'd be expected to. Harriet came through quals (unseeded) and won a main draw match, which is great for her. Watson won a 50/50 against a higher ranked player, and Katie had *4-5 and *5-6 in her match, and while Svitolina ultimately was generally comfortable and (understandably) the better player, it wasn't as if she got an early break both sets and simply held - I bet she'd be feeling pretty anxious towards the end of both sets, which is a credit to Katie.

It's a shame British singles interest is over after day 4, and while certainly not revolutionary, most can hold their head high, and it's always the danger when you have one legit strong player, because it is a case of eggs in baskets.

emmsie69 · ATP level

I view it as a success, Harriet has now come through qualifying 3 times in a row and her performance is iimproving each time she gets to the big stage, Katie got an unlucky draw but went toe to toe with Svitlona validating her place there on a PR, Heather performed well in the lead up, picking up where she left off at the end of last season and just had a bad day. I think subject to injuries we will have 4 players in top 100 (including KBs PR) for Wimbledon.