Harriet breaks again for a 6-5 lead and is then broken back in a marathon game for 6-6. Painful to watch - tie break and bed for me I think.

Taylah df handed Harriet a break for *2-0 and an aggressive f cc just wide for another break *4-0. Harriet took the 2nd set 6-1 then a medical time-out.

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Dart agg b dtl 0-15, Preston f dtl winner after rally 15-15, Dart f cc that Preston cannot keep in play 15-30, ordinary looking Dart return followed by Preston backhand error wide 15-40, another Dart f cc that takes TP off the court with her f cc landing well wide for the break *1-0

Dart drive volley, then another that TP fires just long 15-0, wide 1st unreturned 30-0, Harriet f cc that Taylah fails to get her f dtl over the net 40-0, unreturned 1st 2-0*

Taylah b ue net 15-15, Preston dominant finishing with f winner 30-15, angled return from Harriet that Taylah fires narrowly wide 30-30, df 30-40, Taylah dominates rally as Harriet overly passive, Preston volley winner 40-40, TP dominates again, this time finishing with a smash winner A-, Harriet attempts to move Taylah around yet is unable to get her b over the net *2-1

Aggressive f cc from Harriet 15-0, Harriet poor shot selection off deep ball 15-15, looks like Taylah left ordinary Dart b that landed on far edge of baseline 30-15, Preston shot lands on baseline to set up smash winner 30-30, good T 1st 40-30, ugly return error long off slow, short 2nd serve 3-1*

Good aggressive play from Taylah, finishing with f winner 15-0, Harriet gets control of rally then gives it away with timid approach that allows Preston to fire fierce f pass that Dart can't cope with 30-0, Harriet pulls f wide 40-0, slow 2nd serve clips net and falls long for df 40-15, careless f error long from TP 40-30, Harriet pulls f cc just wide *3-2

Dart dominates, finishing with f winner 15-0, decent wide 1st unreturned 30-0, good T 1st unreturned 40-0, good wide 1st unreturned for love hold 4-2*

Good T 1st unreturned 15-0, super play from Harriet, moving Taylah around then wrong-footing f winner behind her 15-15, Taylah dominates but poor f error net 15-30, again Preston aggressive but f error net 15-40, super b cc slice winner from Harriet after Taylah slice, for the break *5-2

Taylah punishes a 2nd 0-15, Harriet defends then Taylah overly ambitious f dtl that lands wide 15-15, Harriet attempts f cc but it clips the net allowing Taylah f dtl winner 15-30, unreturned 2nd (I think) 30-30, Taylah goes for f dtl but can't get it over the net 40-30, Preston b error just long 6-2

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Only watched 3rd set and a few highlights of other sets. Stats suggest that the Dart 2nd serve was extremely vulnerable in the opening set yet only lost 4 points in the rest of the match and 2 of those were dfs. Harriet didn't face a bp in sets 2 or 3. Her placement of the 1st serve looked impressive but 2nd serve success perhaps had more to do with the competency of the returner. In contrast, Harriet was able to win a high percentage returning 2nd serve in all three sets, helped by 9 dfs from Taylah. 

-- Edited by kundalini on Wednesday 8th of January 2025 04:42:56 AM

Fran still to play - due on court shortly

QR2:- Harriet Dart WR104 [Q3] def Taylah Preston (AUS) WR170 (7)6-7 6-1 6-2

QR2:- Heather Watson WR162 lost to Varvara Lepchenko (USA) WR129 [21] 6-3 3-6 1-6

*****

FQR:- Harriet Dart WR104 [Q3] v Nao Hibino (JPN) WR143

Yes, Fran takes the first set, 6-4

Teichmann draws level, 15-13 in the tie breaker

Physically she's looking ok and it's evening and through the worst of the heat. She's playing some great tennis but also being so far back is very exposed to short balls, either having to scramble forward when she wasn't necessarily wanting to and not being in the right position, or for Teichmann to hit short angled winners which she's doing fairly regularly.

Was very unlucky on that final set point, had worked the point beautifully and was only a little long with the final backhand.

... and Teichmann wins .. 3-6 in the last .. to be honest it was nip and tuck all the way ...