British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

Sheddie · administrator

Week 23 - WTA500 - HSBC Championships, Queens, London

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Sheddie wrote:
Thanks Tennpar!

Shame not to see any of the Brits but on my way home now and feeling rather grateful all in all, given the forecast. Had 3 rain interruptions but still got to see three and a half matches.

Iva Jovic was very impressive beating Alex Eala in quickfire time in the blazing sunshine. Jovic has such an excellent grass court game - easy power of both wings, great movement and excellent variety when she comes forward. Could be a major dark horse at Wimbledon.
I'm a fan of Eala as well and she had a bit of a frustrating time - missed too many forehands - but my sense was that she was getting overpowered and forced to play out of her comfort zone which led to the errors.

Anisimova hasn't really caught fire yet in 2026 after her breakout 2025 but she looked good. Coped well with Siegmund's wily game and the German veteran offered fairly little apart from slices and hoping that Anisimova would miss, which she didn't do that much

Glad you had a good time - and I'm sure you got to see far more tennis than the poor buggers tomorrow will smile cry

Sheddie · administrator

True, true! The Friday ticket now looks to be the really hot one - with potentially round 2 and QF matches all on the same day.

The only disappointment was that we didn't get to see a humdinger of a three setter. Mboko-Pliskova promised to be that - it was my first time watching Mboko (TV or live) and I can understand the fuss, that girl can strike a tennis ball! Great athlete too. Not sure how much experience she has on the grass and Pliskova took full advantage in the first set. But Mboko cut out the errors in the second, served a lot better and we had a real match on our hands (definitely looked like it was heading to a decider), when she was wrong-footed and slipped.

Hope the injury isn't too bad and she can play Wimbledon, but must be doubtful. Looked like she was in a lot of pain.

Vekic-Bouzkova was also a great tussle, until the rain came again to end proceeding for the day. I have a bit of a soft spot for Donna - interviewed her way back in 2013 at Roland Garros for a New York Times feature when she was a 16 year old teenage phenom with all the expectations that she could go on to be Croatia's answer to the dynasty of Cilic, Ljubicic, Ivanisevic et al, on the women's side.

She struggled a lot with those early expectations so have enjoyed seeing her finally live up to her potential in her late 20s. Bouzkova is a very tricky opponent on the grass - returns extremely well, moves well, loves a dropshot, and while not the most powerful of players, she places the ball superbly. Vekic overcame a slow start to lead 5-2 before Bouzkova fought back to level things. Was all nicely poised when the clouds drew in again.

Will enjoy following the rest of the tournament on TV, and going a couple of times to Eastbourne in a couple of weeks!

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Interesting read, Sheddie

I watched Mboko all through qualis last year - she was my standout player there even though she lost in QR3 (and then got into the MD as a LL) - just so much talent, and class, and composure - even though she was so young - and had a lovely mum too

Do so hope she's OK but that left knee has been causing her problems before