Week 31 - ITF W60 - Lexington, USA Hard

Peter too · Tennis legend

Week 31 - ITF W60 - Lexington, USA Hard

Lambda · Challenger level

Katie is defending the title here, having beaten Jodie in the final last year.

the addict · Tennis legend

Lambda wrote:
Katie is defending the title here, having beaten Jodie in the final last year.

80 points to defend and only seeded 6 so some competition here. I hope she can get through a few rounds as otherwise she's facing a significant drop in rankings - could be 20 places according to OER.

Peter too · Tennis legend

R1: SWAN, Katie (GBR) (6) 153 (CH=118 2022) v DAAVETTILA, Sara (USA) Q 609 =CH

DF · Tennis legend

Peter too wrote:
R1: SWAN, Katie (GBR) (6) 153 (CH=118 2022) v DAAVETTILA, Sara (USA) Q 609 =CH

Katie wins 6-3 6-3

Mervatron2 · Challenger qualifying

Solid start

Peter too · Tennis legend

R1: SWAN, Katie (GBR) (6) 153 def DAAVETTILA, Sara (USA) Q 609 =CH 6-3 6-3

R2: SWAN, Katie (GBR) (6) 153 (CH=118 2022) v JONES, Makenna (USA) 299 =CH

foobarbaz · Strong Club Player

Watched the first set of the match against Daavettila on the ITF livestream. The qualifier played quite well, very dependable service action, high 1st serve percentage, and hardly making any unforced errors, whilst generally taking the initiative in the rallies. However, she didn't have the weight of shot to really trouble Swan, who managed to win a high percentage of service return points throughout, without really having to find the lines. Katie was solid on serve, winning all her service games, even though some went to deuce. The 1st set was a good tussle, and probably just what Swan needed, having not competed for a few weeks since Wimbledon.

I didn't understand the scheduling, Swan was first on court yesterday starting at 10am, her potential 2Rnd opponent didn't get on court till late in the evening, having been scheduled 6th match on. Weather conditions are as normal at Lexington in the summer, hot and humid.

-- Edited by foobarbaz on Thursday 3rd of August 2023 04:23:29 PM

foobarbaz · Strong Club Player

Today's match against Makenna Jones due to start much later now (perhaps around 10pm UK).

Peter too · Tennis legend

R2: SWAN, Katie (GBR) (6) 153 lost to JONES, Makenna (USA) 299 2-6 3-6

PaulM · Tennis legend

Yikes

Lambda · Challenger level

Although Makenna is probably a better player than her ranking suggests as she is still building her ranking having come from being unranked on becoming pro after completing her MA last June to her current ranking, I wonder if Katie had an issue in the middle of the match? From 2-2 40-40* in the first set she won only 4 of the next 23 points, with 3 of those points being from a DF and 2 aces and didn't win another game until the 5th game of the 2nd, from which point the momentum was largely with her but by then it was too much to pull back.

foobarbaz · Strong Club Player

Lambda wrote:
Although Makenna is probably a better player than her ranking suggests as she is still building her ranking having come from being unranked on becoming pro after completing her MA last June to her current ranking, I wonder if Katie had an issue in the middle of the match? From 2-2 40-40* in the first set she won only 4 of the next 23 points, with 3 of those points being from a DF and 2 aces and didn't win another game until the 5th game of the 2nd, from which point the momentum was largely with her but by then it was too much to pull back.

Yes, it was quite a perplexing match from a GB perspective. The US player played very attacking tennis in the middle part of the match, really going for the corners at the first opportunity, and hardly made a mistake. Jones was rushing through the points. Swan also made quite a lot of unforced errors, and so couldn't get over the line in each game. Perhaps there was slight issue, the serve wasn't so effective and the 2nd serve in particular was getting the treatment from Jones. The second set was running away from Swan at 0-4, but then Jones became nervous and her game faltered. Swan almost recovered to get the score back on serve, but not quite.

The loss might be partly down to Swan not having competed since Wimbledon, and in previous years the first tournament of the US swing has been a bit hit and miss. The two matches here in Lexington show that opponents are taking risks early in the rally in order to shorten the points and avoid running about when at a disadvantage in the rally.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

I guess the players need to learn to adapt from grass to the heat over there, the speed of the courts (the hardcourts in the US swing are actually faster than grass in terms of pace through the court) and the height of the bounce - fast pace and high bounce versus what is now often medium pace on grass (Queens aside) and lower bounce. And clay which was slow pace and higher bounce. Lots of adaptation and it is the same for all but shows the need to adapt quickly to new conditions

dodrade · Futures qualifying

Hope Swanny isn't injured again, presumably will take a hit in the rankings next week?