British Tennis Forum

Ella then had three break points although, to be fair, Ruzic played very well to save those

PaulM wrote:

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You're being kinder than me CD!

 

Harriet through 6-4 6-3 over Millie.

-- Edited by PaulM on Tuesday 10th of June 2025 04:09:14 PM

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 I'm not defending the game at *4-3

You can't, just can't, be a break up in the third and then serve four DFs (not one after the other but all the same) 

Ohh no Ella what a wasted chance.

Watched Harriet and Millie. A few thoughts - Harriet was v consistent, she has a lovely style, her service style is very classic, but very little power - one second serve at 56mph. BUT, she is consistent and Millie...isnt. Millie has so much power and unleashed her forehand a lot, but most of the time she smacked it long and over the baseline. Harriet just had to mop up the match really. Millie really needs to work on that and try and harness the power.

Harriet had some terrible line calls against her though - she complained justifiably a few times but it was a real joke and she had my sympathy. The crowd however was largely with Harriet; maybe as she was a more well known name.

Enjoyed the match but Millie was never going to win it

Oh one thing - the car park was packed. The event was well attended for a Tuesday - centre court was probably half full but Id have said there were maybe 2000, 2500 there in total in the grounds - maybe half on centre court.

Turned out the £20 ground pass gave total access - no centre court only tickets - which was great and better value than I expected, the food village was also much improved and lots of hospitality options. Its certainly got the feel of a decent event and Id say the best of the British challenger events now.

And the scenery over to Ilkley Moor is just stunning.

Talking of Moor. We sat for lunch on a table next to Tara and a British girl I didnt know. I told Hope Taras recent history. One thing that did strike me is that Tara, and I know this is very un PC, had really put a lot of weight on. It felt like too much to me and not at all athletic or muscle based size.

Im sorry if I cant say that but Im observing a tennis player who is an athlete - and did similarly comment in the mens that JoMo struggles with movement due to his height.

Great reports Jon!

I remember covering Tara back at Wimbledon 2016, the year she won a round in singles. She played Kuznetsova in the second round and was just a set away from making the third round - for a long while the match was in the balance, and I remember thinking she had a great game, good mover and packed a lot of punch despite her relative lack of stature.

Always thought it was strange how that match effectively represented the dying embers of her singles career - I wondered whether there was more behind that, given that she was still just 24 and ranked in the top 150 at the time.