Friday 30th November 2012
It’s always tough to lose a semi-final; if you make the final and lose you’ve still experienced the Final’s Day atmosphere and maybe picked up a trophy but losing one round before that is very tough to take. Today we had Mason in the boy’s doubles semi-final and Mia in the girl’s doubles semi and our aim was to make it two finals out of two!
The players were up early this morning and we met at breakfast at 7am with the plan being to train on site from 8.30 – 9.30am to prepare ourselves as best as possible for the two semi-finals. Unfortunately when we arrived on site every court was taken so instead of waiting to see if we could jump on a couple of half courts we decided to go to the other club where we knew we’d get the whole court to ourselves.
When we got there some of the Kenyan team were already on court and we later found out that there session was from 6 – 8am – great commitment from those guys. After going through their own individual warm ups I took the team through a speed session for 10 mins and then it was on court to prepare for the matches.
Mason, Mia and Holly during the speed session this morning
Most of the session was geared towards the doubles matches so we spent a lot of time with the players drilling 2 on 1 with the player on their own working specifically on their volleys to begin with and then we turned it around so the two players were at the net working on their movement patterns as they closed the net down. Everyone seemed to enjoy the session and they all worked very hard.
At 9.45am we headed back to the Mombasa Sports Club where we had some time to relax, cool down and get some lunch before Mason and Sacha went on at around 12.15pm.
Mason and Sacha were up against top seeds Courtney Lock (RSA) and Ismael Mzai (KEN) who won the event last week so we knew that they’d have to be on their games to get the job done today. Our boys started with a poor first service game where Mason was broken but then they responded immediately with a break back to love to level the score. From then on they won the next 5 games in a row to take the 1st set 6-1 but I always had the feeling that the 2nd set was not going to be as easy as the 1st – Mason and Sacha were getting away with a lot in the 1st set including a huge amount of lobs that all came off and Courtney and Ismael missed a lot of volleys when they had the chance to finish the point.
Getting pumped after they took the 1st set
From the start of the 2nd set Mason and Sacha were under a lot of pressure; the top seeds were now moving better and not missing anywhere near as much as they had done earlier which lead to them taking the first 3 games. Mason and Sacha eventually broke back at 2-4* and went on to level the set at 4-4*. At this point I thought they were going to go all the way and take the next two games but Ismael served well to hold and Sacha couldn’t find enough 1st serves which resulted in him being broken to Deuce.
The Match Tie-break was always going to come down to the most consistent and dominant team and despite leading 4-3* Mason and Sacha eventually went down 10-4. It was a tough one to lose especially after winning the 1st set so comfortably but if I’m being honest I think the better doubles team came through in the end.
Mia and Nikita were next on the same court and it was a big opportunity to get some revenge against Oleksandra Shkorupeyeva who had beaten both of them on the way to the singles final. Mia and Nikita did exactly what Mason and Sacha did in their 1st set; they were broken in the 1st game but then dominated the next 6 to take the first set 6-1.
The Russian and the Ukrainian didn’t seem quite themselves in the 1st set but after a long toilet break they were back on court and throughout the 2nd set it was Mia and Nikita who didn’t seem right. They had stopped talking and had stopped dominating the net like they did in the 1st set which allowed their opponents to feel more comfortable on the court. Mashtakova and Shkorupeyeva did exactly what Mia and Nikita had done in the 1st set – they went 1-0 down and then won the next 6 games in a row to take the set 6-1 and level the match.
Mia lunging for a volley during the doubles semi-final
I did not have a good feeling for the Match Tie-break but Mia and Nikita started talking and encouraging each other more which raised their spirits and their level. They led the tie-break from the start and at 4-3* up they won 5 points in a row before eventually taking the set and the match 6-1, 1-6, 10-4. I was really pleased for Mia as she’s played great doubles all week and after the disappointment of a 1st round singles loss she’s now in the final of the doubles and has a chance to win the title.
While Mia was on for her doubles Holly was playing her consolation quarter-final against Sarah Sarjoo (RSA) (861) but due to watching the semi-final I didn’t get a chance to see any of it. Holly said she played well during her 4-2, 4-1 win and she was especially pleased as it was the first ITF ranked player she’s beaten.
After both matches Mia and Holly were due to play each other in the consolation semi-final but they decided that it would be better for Holly to do a lighter session tomorrow to prepare for her qualifying of the 2nd tournament on Sunday and better for Mia to rest up and put all of her focus and energy into the doubles final tomorrow. I was happy with their decision so we spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing at the hotel before going back over to the Royal Court Hotel for dinner.
On Friday evenings they have a BBQ buffet on the roof terrace of the hotel so along with the Euroelite team and the Berkhamstead boys we ate outside under the stars (and the bats!).
Schedule for tomorrow:
(1) Valentina Kulikova (RUS) & Jessica Simpson (RSA) vs (2) Nikita Dawda (KEN) & Mia Smith (GBR) – 2nd match on after 9am
