Podgorica U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 2

Tuesday 28^th May 2013

It was a mixed day of emotions today as we ended up winning 3 out of 5 matches but only 1 of the 3 players managed to qualify for the main draw.

It was an early start for Holly Horsfall, Katty, Alex and I as we needed to have breakfast at 6.45am so that we could get to the club for 7.30am to warm up before our 8am practice. I trained with Alex and the two girls hit together for the 30 minute pre-match warm-up. After the session they all completed their pre-match sheets and then it was game time!

Alex was first up to face the very tall and strong 8^th seed Ognjen Sunjevaric from Serbia at 9am. Just as they were about to start Georgie and Holly Hutchinson arrived to add their support to the team but Alex struggled at the start and was broken in the 1^st game. The Serbian’s height and strength meant that Alex found it difficult to break him down and he soon found himself 1-4* down. Alex was playing well up until this stage but wasn’t quite getting enough on the ball to force his opponent to miss, but in the next game he upped his level and broke the Serbian for the first time. Unfortunately Ognjen then raised his game to take the next two games and the first set 6-2 with stats of 10 winners and only 6 unforced errors.

In the second set Alex struggled at the start; instead of sticking to his original game plan and trying to do it better he became a little too passive which resulted in the Serbian taking a 4-0 lead. Alex’s attitude then changed and with it so did his performance. The next few games were the best he played in the match but by this stage his opponent was full of confidence and went on to win 6-2, 6-2.

There wasn’t much of a break between matches as Katty took to the court at 11am to play Andjela Laban from Montenegro. I was impressed with how Katty had played in her opening match yesterday and she continued that form into today’s match with some very aggressive tennis. After breaking and holding in the first two games Katty went on to take the first set 6-0 and was in full control of every rally.

The second set was equally as good and even when her opponent’s dad turned up and started making line calls for his daughter, Katty stayed focussed and went on to take the match 6-0, 6-0.

Holly Horsfall followed Katty’s match on court 3 at 12pm and she was up against tricky Croatian Gorana Kadjevic. Holly’s level has been getting better and better as the trip has gone on and if she had played this match a week ago the scoreline might have been different. Holly took a commanding 3-1* lead with some precise hitting from the back but then she threw in two poor service games at *3-2 and *4-3 to let her opponent back in. At 5-5* with her opponent serving at 40-0 up, Holly played some very solid tennis and took one point at a time which lead to her coming back and breaking. Holly then continued the momentum that she had gained from that game to hold and take the first set 7-5.

The second set was more one-sided; Holly raised her game from the start and cut out a lot of the unforced errors that hurt her in the first set which led to her taking a *4-1 lead. Holly was then broken in the next game but that didn’t distract her as she broke and held to take the match 7-5, 6-2.

From Holly’s match I went straight on court with Katty to hit some serves and then spent some time with Holly Hutchinson and Georgie who were practicing on court 6.

I then had a short break to get some lunch before Katty went back on court at around 3.30pm to take on qualifying number 2 seed Lejla Colic from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Katty started well and the first 3 games went with serve before the rain came down. After a brief delay the girls were back on the court and Katty took control by breaking her opponent in the next game. The next 3 games all went against serve as Katty was struggling with her first serve consistency but at *5-3 she made 5 out of 5 first serves to hold and take the set.

Just as Katty was finishing the first set, Holly Horsfall went on for her last round of qualifying match against Doris Aleksovska from Macedonia. I moved positions to watch both matches and this was the view I had:

It wasn’t easy to keep one eye on each match but I had the support of the other players in the team to help me. Holly struggled at the start of her opening set and went 0-2 down before she worked out what she needed to do! She won the next 5 games in a row with some strong tennis against a tricky lefty and then closed out the set 6-3.

Unfortunately Katty on the next court was having more difficulties in her match; she broke Lejla in the opening game of the set but again struggled with her serve and was broken straight back. The set then went with serve until *3-4 when Katty was broken but she responded well to break straight back. However, when Katty lost the next game on her own serve to level the match at one set all there was a big change in mindset from both players. Katty’s head dropped as she felt she couldn’t win a game on her own serve even though up until this point the girls had broken each other the same amount of times. The change in attitude of both players resulted in Katty losing the next 6 games in a row to eventually go down 3-6, 6-4, 6-0.

Holly Horsfall was looking strong throughout her second set as she found great width on both sides, especially on her forehand cross court which she’d been working hard on all trip. Holly took a 4-2 lead and then after a few close games she went on to take the match 6-3, 6-4 to secure her qualifying place in a main draw of an ITF for the first time.

There was mixed emotions in the team after the matches; joy for Holly but disappointment for Alex and Katty but by the time we got to dinner and played some cards everyone was in a better mood!

Schedule for tomorrow:

(8) Holly Hutchinson (GBR) (827) vs Ivana Tasevska (MKD) (1342) – 3^rd match after 8am

(Q) Holly Horsfall (GBR) (1904) vs Ena Camdzic (BIH) (1098) – 4^th match after 8am

(4) Georgina Axon (GBR) (379) vs (LL) Doris Aleksovska (MKD) (2065) – 5^th match after 8am