Davos U14 Tennis Europe Grade 3, Day 3

Sunday 30th October 2011

Good day on two counts today; 1) Mia got a win and 2) we got a chance to explore part of the Swiss Alps.

As Mia was first on at 8.30am we were up at 6am (after setting 2 alarms and getting a wake up call to make sure the clock change didn’t catch us out!) and after a good breakfast at the hotel we were walking through the town by 6.55am. Mia completed her physical warm up on the squash court for 20 minutes and then we hit from 7.40am until 8am – each player only had 20 minutes this morning as there were 64 players who needed to hit before they played and they wouldn’t open the centre earlier than 7am!

Mia found a good level in her training and after going through her pre-match sheet and setting goals for the match she was all set to go at 8.30am. Mia was up against quite a tricky Swiss girl who, despite being a year younger, worked very hard and made life difficult for Mia in the first set. From the start of the set there were 6 breaks in a row as both girls struggled with their serves but returned well until Mia held at 3-3. From 4-3 up Mia had 30-0 in each of the next three games but Michelle dug very deep and turned each game around to take the set 6-4.

To Mia’s credit she didn’t panic or change her tactics and I think we both had the sense that she was never going to lose the match. She started the second set well taking a 4-0 lead and despite Michelle getting a couple of games on the board Mia took the set 6-2. Having now got on top and feeling a lot more comfortable on court Mia wasn’t about to let up and she raced through the 3rd set without allowing her opponent to hit a single winner taking it 6-0. As always there were a lot of positives to take from the match especially how Mia responded after losing the 1st set and also the fact that she had 3 sets on court meant that she’s now a lot more comfortable with the bouncy surface and the quick balls.

After cooling down and showering we got some lunch and went through the specifics from the match before watching all of Mia’s next round opponent’s match. The match wasn’t that interesting but the reactions of the Austrian girl’s coach and the German girl’s father were amazing – definitely NOT a positive way to support a player on court!!

We left the centre around 2pm as there weren’t any practise courts and decided to explore the town for the afternoon. It’s not often we get a chance to get out and about at tournaments and Mia had really wanted to go up one of the mountains so we headed for the mountain train. It was just a short 5 minute trip up the mountain and after exploring the top for half an hour we decided to take the walking route back to the town. The sign said 35 minutes but Mia decided she wanted a picture with every carved statue on the way down and I decided to go cross country a little so it ended up taking closer to an hour – all good fun though!!

We got back to the hotel around 4pm which gave Mia a chance to get stuck into some school work for a couple of hours before we headed out for dinner. Most of the town was closed tonight as it’s Sunday so we ended up at the same place as last night – they were a bit more generous with their water tonight – we got a jug for £3.50 – Cheers!!

On a separate note I just want to say a BIG WELL DONE to all the Brits who have done so well this week around the world:

Cardiff Men’s Futures:
Oli Golding & (fellow Kent boy) Sean Thornley – Doubles Winners

Poitiers Women’s $100k
Elena Baltacha – Singles Finalist

Barnstaple Women’s $75k:
Anne Keothavong – Singles and Doubles Winner – HUGE EFFORT!

St. Petersburg ATP 250:
Colin Fleming & Ross Hutchins – Doubles Winners

Thailand ITF Grade 2:
Katie Boulter & Katy Dunn – Doubles Finalists

Holland ITF Grade 4:
Callum Poland-Smith – Doubles Winner

That’s a great effort from everyone – keep up the good work!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(4) Lina Hohnhold (GER) (333) vs (16) Mia Smith (GBR) (624) – 2nd round after 9am