At 2-0 in the final set Emma had several break points to go double break up. That could well have been too much for her opponent to recover from but Emma just couldn't get over the line. 

the addict wrote:

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Julia Carrot wrote:

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Was that horrendous noise during Emma's last serve (and on and off throughout) a plane or a train?

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 The stadium is about 100 yards from a main railway line, and about 6 miles from one of Chicago's airports

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 Thanks - guess must be those huge double decker Amtrak things - they are not high speed but obviously very noisy. 

 

 Have you been there?  Or just checked a map?

 

-- Edited by Julia Carrot on Sunday 22nd of August 2021 08:41:49 PM

It was windy. At times very windy.

First set Emma didn't seem to have the confidence to hit her shots in these conditions. Her groundstrokes were often short, inviting to be struck for winners. It was so easy for Clara.

2nd set Clara played a poor game to start the 2nd set, Emma broken once again but from then on she began to strike the ball with more conviction, lots of super shots, aggressive tennis as she dominated the set 6-2.

Although Clara saved 2 bps in the opening game of the 3rd set, a df gave Emma the lead. A brilliant forehand winner immediately after her serve as Emma held for 2-0. Two errors from Raducanu at the start of the next game yet Clara made 3 in a row, saving bp with an unreturned first serve, a df gave Emma a 2nd chance but again she was unable to get her return in court off what looked to be a fairly ordinary first serve. Some good play from both before Clara ultimately held.

From then on it was a struggle for Emma. Clara dominating most of the points. Emma broken, then got another break thanks to errors from Clara. Two super backhand cross court winners from Clara as she broke once more, followed by a love hold. Emma saved bp in the next game and later came up with a fantastic forehand cross court winner from deep behind her baseline as she held for 4-4.

At 15-30 it looked promising for Emma but Clara with two super winners as she took the next three points. Raducanu with two poor backhand errors to start her next service game. Recovered to 30-30 with good play but with no penetration on her first serve, every service point was hard work. Emma with a poor backhand long to finish the match.

Difficult to assess Emma's performance given the conditions.

I was out and missed it all so thanks for the info on how the match went. Pity re the result in what sounds difficult conditions.

But what a further encouraging couple of weeks from Emma, culminating in such a real contest against Clara Tauson, former junior adversary and JWR 1, who has been solidly playing the circuit over the last year, generally moving up levels and been around the WR 100 mark over the last 6 months. Emma of course was off the circuit for 15 months until only coming back in June, so whilst partly no doubt many will feel they want to keep a lid on their expectations, and it's really about the longer term, it has undeniably been exceptional progress over these last 3 months. As AV indicates we knew she was a great prospect but this period has surely produced much more than any of us truly expected?

Well done Emma and all the best for US Open qualifying. Rest up. 

Anyone know when the qualies for us open start and when the draws are? Thanks

brendan wrote:

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JonH comes home wrote:

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Anyone know when the qualies for us open start and when the draws are? Thanks

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 Starts tomorrow so I guess the draws will emerge sometime today

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 Thanks Brendan

Crispy wrote:

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Wikipedia has Emma and Harriet just sneaking into US Open qualies seeding @ 31 and 32 respectively

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_US_Open_%E2%80%93_Women%27s_Singles_Qualifying

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Your link needs adjusting to this one

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2021_US_Open_%E2%80%93_Women%27s_Singles_Qualifying