Sunday 15th January 2012
It was a disappointing day in terms of results today but a very positive day in terms of performance and how much Mia has improved in since her last international event in December.
Due to the strange way this tournament organising practise for the players (they determine the time and who you hit with!) we had to warm up earlier that we would have preferred to but Mia still had a good session from 9.00-9.30am. She then had some time to relax and prepare for her match before she went on just before 11.30am.
We didn’t know anything about Nina Van Oost before Mia went on but it was obvious from the start that she was a strong girl and a solid player from the back of the court. Mia started a little nervously but stayed with her opponent for the first 4 games of the match until she was broken in a long 10 point game at 2-2. Her level was good and mentally I could tell she was working a lot harder than she has in the past but after being broken she struggled to get the break back and ended up losing the first set 6-3.
Mia in action today vs Van Oost
In the second set Mia continued her great serving level but her inconsistency from the back of the court on the big points cost her another brake at almost the same stage as in the first set. Trailing 1-3* she kept fighting hard and making life difficult for her Belgium opponent but she still struggled to get the break back. Mia held her serve well at *3-5 and then produced some of her best tennis to finally break her opponent at get the scores level for the first time since 2-2 in the first set. She then had game points at *5-5 but despite being broken she again fought hard and played a tough game to break back and take the set to a tie-break. By this stage Mia was playing some of the best tennis I’ve seen from her and the early errors that were apparent in the first set were now only coming if the point developed past 8 or 9 shots. Mia controlled the tie-break from the start leading 4-2* and then 6-4* but could convert on either of her 2 set points and ended up losing the breaker 8-6. She was very disappointed with the result, especially as the match was over 2 and a half hours long but in my opinion it was one of the top 3 matches I’ve ever seen her play and these are the kind of matches she needs to toughen her up to get to the level she wants to be at within the next 12 months.
Because of the busy schedule today we then had a long break where we went through the match, had some lunch and watched some of the other main draw matches before Mia was back on court with Alex Herd for their doubles. They were taking on the Canadian paring of Katarina Kopcalic and Vanessa Wong and from the start Mia and Alex looked very flat. They must have both been disappointed with their earlier singles matches but it was a good opportunity to get a win on the board again a good doubles pair. Unfortunately neither Mia nor Alex managed to hold their serve in 8 attempts and even when leading 2-1 with a break in the second they struggled to take their chances resulting in going down 6-2, 6-2. Losing is one thing but losing and not improving is very disappointing especially when you’re testing yourself against some of the best players in the world.
By the time the girls had finished and Mia had stretched and showered it was around 7.30pm so she used her hospitality voucher to have dinner at the centre while I went across the road to Harvester for a very cheap and fast chicken, mash and peas – great value for a fiver!!
There’s no play for Mia tomorrow as consolation starts on Tuesday and, due to all the court being booked for practice we’ll be warming up at the hotel at 6.20am so we can go straight on court to hit when the doors open at the centre at 7am. The best way to get over a couple of tough losses is to get straight back on court the next day and work hard and that’s exactly what we’re planning to do!
