Nice win from Fran - I thought we'd get 2 from 4, and she was the one, along with Lily that I was worried about. Not having played for so long makes this result very special and fingers crossed that she can recover the freshness she will need in the second round. Fran's injuries have been very cruel, because when she is injury free, she is really good.
Anyway keeping my fingers crossed for tomorrow - I feel Harriet should come through, but Heather and Fran have tougher assignments I'd have thought.
SO SO close to getting the full house - I wanted four and we could so easily have had four - but you can't have everything you want - and the girls did so much better than the boys that you can only be happy, whatever
Very pleased that Fran got her win in two sets too
Benoit has an odd mannerism she blinks very rapidly about half a dozen times before tossing the ball up. I don't remember seeing any other player do that so I wonder if there is a purpose to it.
Interesting.
I hazily recall from somewhere that there are two kinds of receptor at the back of the retina; one distinguishes colours, and the other distinguishes contrasts of black and white. The B+W receptors are dominant in low light levels - at dawn and dusk - and the colour receptors dominate during bright daylight. If trying to distinguish between different levels of brightness in bright daylight, you are best off half-closing your eyes, and peering though your eye-lashes - colours fade slightly, and contrasts of luminosity become much more apparent. Dark sunglasses also have the same effect on eyesight. Anglers, for example, find it easier to spot fish below a shimmering moving reflective water surface, if wearing sunglasses.
An eye-fluttering routine before serving might well stimulate the B+W receptors, without anaesthetising the colour receptors, and give a player a legitimate marginal advantage in the quality and quantity of visual information reaching the brain.
I am opining well above my pay-grade already here, but just to be hung for the full sheep, not some measly little lamb... There is also a non-zero possibility that the B+W signals, assuming that they evolved first, reach brain receptors several micro-milli-nano seconds earlier - an extremely marginal amount, of no particular interest to anybody who isnt, say, opening the batting in a cricket Test match, or trying to judge the path of a tennis ball travelling towards them at 125 (km/h or mph) delete as appropriate. Much more pf a marginal gain for receiver, not server.
It'd possibly be an interesting research project to a sport scientist to investigate. Benoit might have an idiosyncratic tic. If anybody happens to know that Sir Donald Bradman is reported as having suffered from a similar affliction... At any rate, it's certainly possible to imagine some research into reaction speed to visual stimulus at different levels of luminosity, which would be better researched in Loughborough than in Sydney, Paris or New York.
She has lost the second set 6-3 - another long three set match for her - wonder what effect that lengthy three set encounter in her last match will have. She is battling hard though.
Lepchenko has broken for 2-1. Not looking good - Heather was 0-30 up on Lepchenko's serve, but failed to convert. Temperature is rising here - 25 degrees now, with a very high humidity. By the time Harriet's match is underway, it should be about 30 degrees. All comments on performances need to take that into account, in my humble opinion.
Heather out 6-3 3-6 1-6 - all went a bit Pete Tong in the 3rd set. Her previous exertions in that last lengthy first round match may have caught up with her I think. Harriet next up - not expecting much support for her against Taylah, but think her quality will win through. Go Harriet and commiserations to Heather, who gave it her best.