This is supposed to be indoor carpet, but judging by the clips Em has posted it looks more like lino. "Fastest tennis court I have ever hit on"

Rather hard to follow the score without a point-by-point update. Em is one set all 6-4 6-7

One bad service game at *5-4 in the second. Her opponent hit bigger which was the difference, and Em's forehand fell apart in the two tiebreaks. Although the Czech girl took a couple of liberties on line calls I felt. One particularly dodgy one on what would have been an ace for Em and I thought was clearly in.

Well done Beth.

PaulM wrote:

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Streaming from the same place as last time. No umpires for first round of qualies and the courts are absolutely mental. Its going to be bonkers when we get to the higher ranked big hitters in the main draw.

I loved Beth's reaction to walking onto the court last night to hit, a total disbelieving "What the f...?!" .

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 Sounds like it would have suited Emma had her ITF career not ended prematurely.

Quite a few French indoor courts have what looks to be this sort of surface - blinkin impossible as far as I'm concerned - the ball skids off the court, really fast, and low, and you feel really unsure with your 'appuis'/your grip with your feet (is there a single word for it?), and the light often reflects badly off it (although at least this one has a darkish surface, some are very light blue) - whenever playing a team match and I walked into a salle like that, I would just think, well, at least this will be over quickly.

But Beth is doing OK - a couple of breaks but she's taken the first set 6-3

Beth seems to have got the hang of the ice rink anyway! Well done.