Mombasa U18 ITF Grade 5 (week 1), Day 3

Sunday 25th November 2012

It was a great start to our trip today as Holly won her match in qualifying to secure her place in the main draw of an ITF for the first time.

We were all up on time for breakfast this morning at 8am and then made our way over to the club to warm up at 9am. As it was match day for Holly she determined who she hit with, how long she hit for and exactly what she did in the session. Even at 9.30am it was very hot on court and both Holly and Mia were feeling a little drained from the start. The most important thing for Holly was just to make sure she hit a few balls to loosen up but after a couple of breaks and once the electrolytes in her water had kicked in she managed to have a good 30 minutes on court and by 10am she was feeling much better.

Matches in qualifying events in ITFs in Africa can often be quite weak especially in the first round so it was important that Holly kept an eye on the boy’s match scheduled before hers so that she would know when to warm up for her own match. At 6-0, 3-0 we went off to warm up and go through our plan for the match and by just after 11am Holly went on court for her match.

Holly was up against 17 year old Shanna Krimatschow from Germany and after the warm up we knew it was going to be a close match. The first four games went with serve but then Holly settled down and found her rhythm more from the back of the court resulting in breaking Shanna’s serve to lead *3-2. By this stage the temperature had risen and the balls were flying a little more so it was really important for Holly to keep a good shape on the ball and look to hit big targets on the court. When she did that she was in full control of the points but unfortunately she was a little erratic at *3-2 which cost her the next game. She responded very professionally to losing her serve to break straight back to maintain the lead and then she went on to serve out the set at *5-4 with some great tennis especially from *30-40 down in that game.

After a quick toilet break Holly took to the court for the second set and from the start really upped her level – she was returning serve much better and finding a more patient and consistent level during the rally which the German struggled to deal with. As she did in the first set Holly broke at 2-2* but this time she never looked back; she broke again at 4-2* and played a great service game at *5-2 ending with an ace out wide to take the match 6-4, 6-2. It was a good performance from Holly but most importantly it was really good to come through a match against a good opponent as she’s now better prepared for the main draw tomorrow.

Once Holly was finished we had a quick debrief before she went off to cool down, stretch out and shower while I got a quick bite to eat and then I was off in a Tuk Tuk with Mason to go over to the other club for his practice set with Jonas from Denmark. The other club has 2 courts which are slightly quicker than at the Mombasa Club but it was just great to get a full court to play on and also get a full set in. Mason played well to take a 4-1 lead and then at that stage he started to work on different areas of his game which resulted in Jonas finding his way back into the set. In the end Jonas took the set 7-5 but the most important thing was that Mason produced some good tennis, developed different areas of his game and got over an hour of good quality point play in. Mason now has at least 1 day more of preparation as he’ll get a bye in the 48 boy’s main draw so another practice set tomorrow will ensure he’s well prepared for this first match.

Next up was Mia practice session with Shannon Wong Hon Chan from Mauritius and they too decided to play a set after they had a good warm up. Mia started well and took a 3-1 lead as Shannon just couldn’t deal with the pace and penetration of Mia’s strike. Mia then had a slight slip up and lost her serve in the next game but then went on to win the following 3 games in a row to take the set 6-2. It was a solid performance overall and again some very valuable point play before her tournament starts tomorrow.

We then moved over to the cricket pitch to cool down and stretch out before heading back to the hotel at 6pm to shower and get ready for dinner.

Once again we joined up with Dave and his team for dinner which was great fun – everyone had a great time but it was all too much for Sunita who actually fell asleep at the head of the table (must have been Holly’s conversation!!)

After dinner we went back to the hotel where I sat down with Holly for a full debrief of her match and then at around 9.30pm the guys headed off for a good night’s sleep..

Schedule for tomorrow:

Oleksandra Shkorupeyeva (UKR) (1347) vs (5) Mia Smith (GBR) (729) – 3rd match after 9am

Alena Mashtakova (RUS) (1267) vs (q) Holly Hutchinson (GBR) (UNR) – 4th match after 9am