Saturday 25th May 2013
It was another rain interrupted day today but at least we managed to get through two matches and a good training session on the clay (plus more school work!)
I met Georgie and Holly for breakfast at 7.30am this morning and after not going to bed until well after midnight neither of them were in a very chatty mood! It didn’t help that the rain was once again pouring down so after breakfast I decided that it would be best for them both to go back to their rooms to try and sleep while I walked to the club to find out what was happening.
.jpg)
Not the view we were hoping for this morning!
Once I got there the rain really started to come down so I then had a ‘Mission Impossible’ style run back to the hotel; ducking into every open shop front and sheltering under as many balconies as I could find! Once I got back I decided to get everyone downstairs to complete more of their school work while we waited for the rain to stop.
After lunch we headed to the courts only to find out that Georgie’s singles opponent had pulled out through illness (must have been due to the midnight finish of her match last night!) so she would next have doubles, then another singles and finally the quarter-final of the doubles if they won!
With that in mind we warmed up on the hard court then moved to the clay court next door to the hard court which is actually another club on its own! We had to pay €10 for the hour but it meant that we could have a really good practice session and all four players could spend some time on the clay . . . finally!
We finished the session at 3pm and then got some food before waiting at the club until it was time for the girls to play their doubles. During the delay Alex completed with fitness training for the day while the girls kept focussed by hitting a little on the hard court. It can be difficult when team members are playing each other (especially when two are playing against one) but they all did their own thing and prepared in their doubles pairs.
At 7pm Georgie and Holly Hutchinson went on court to play Holly Horsfall and Elyse Lavender and it was the unseeded pair that found their form the fastest. After Elyse held serve, her and Holly broke Holly Hutchinson’s serve to take a 2-0 lead and despite being broken straight back they stayed positive and won the next two games to take the opening set 4-1
Georgie and Holly Hutchinson then upped their level in the 2nd set and after they both held serve they broke Holly Horsfall to take a 3-1 lead. Georgie and Holly were a lot more active in the 2nd set and they continued to apply the pressure when Georgie held serve to take the set 4-1.
The shorter 3rd set match tie-break to 7 points was always going to a tough one to call but after Elyse and Holly played a few loose points at the start they found themselves 0-3 down. They managed to then get a couple of points back on Elyse’s serve to stay within touching distance at 2-3* but Georgie and Holly played a solid next few points and eventually took the match 1-4, 4-1, 7-3.
I had a chat with all four girls at the end of the match and then as we were walking towards the main courts Katty Weymouth called me to say she was in Belgrade and that her flight to Podgorica had been cancelled!! Loads of thoughts about how I would get Katty into Montenegro suddenly started to going around my head but then she told me that she’d managed to change flights and that she’d be landing at 9pm rather than 10.30pm! I then had the dilemma that Georgie was still supposed to play a singles and another doubles but out of nowhere the heavens opened and a big storm came down – good timing!
So, having run back to the hotel in the pouring rain, I quickly changed and then got a taxi to Podgorica airport to meet Katty. When she arrived I was at the airport waiting and we then got straight back in the same taxi to go back to Bar.
It probably worked out better than Katty got the earlier flight as it meant we got back to the hotel earlier and could get to bed at a reasonable hour!
Schedule for tomorrow:
Tamara Kupkova (SVK) (839) vs (6) Georgie Axon (GBR) (378) – 3rd match after 8am
(3) Georgie Axon (GBR) & Holly Hutchinson (GBR) vs Darina Chemodanova (RUS) & Ekaterina Kunina (RUS) – 5th match after 8am
Girl’s singles semi-finals to follow and then doubles semi-finals afterwards!
