Podgorica U18 ITF Grade 5, Day 6

Saturday 1^st June 2013

There was disappointment in the singles today but a superb performance in the doubles final from both Holly and Georgie put smiles on everyone’s faces and ended the trip on a very positive result.

We woke up to very heavy rain this morning and after breakfast Georgie decided she’d rather wait at the hotel for a while than go to the club which was definitely the right call. In the end we got a taxi and 9.30am just as the rain was starting to ease but when we arrived at the club every court was completely submerged in water!

The referee made an early decision that if the rain stopped we would play the singles semi-finals but if it didn’t then the doubles final would be on the indoor court at 4pm. With no practice courts available indoors until 1pm we killed time by preparing for the matches, watching the French Open, eating (I’m sure Alex is trying to set a new record for most Paninis eaten in one day!) and playing cards for some interesting forfeits!!

At 12.30pm Holly and Georgie warmed up before getting on the fast indoor hard court to hit at 1pm. At 1.15pm the referee came in to say that the newer courts 5 & 6 were dry and ready for play so the Georgie got changed and then took to the court at just before 1.30pm to face number 1 seed Tereza Mihalikova from Slovakia.

As you develop as an international junior the level at which you play matches becomes more consistent and the amount of ‘bad days’ you have become less. Then when you move into professional tennis hopefully these ‘bad days’ become very few and far between. Unfortunately today Georgie had a ‘BAD DAY!’

From the start of the match Georgie struggled with finding not only a level to compete with her opponent but also a consistency. She would play one good point but could not back it up with another and so could not string enough points together to win games. At *0-5 Georgie held serve to get a game on the board but Tereza went on to take the opening set 6-1 with stats of 8 winners / 7 unforced errors compared to Georgie’s of 6 winners and 17 unforced errors.

 

 

The second set was much the same as the first with Georgie just not being able to set the points up without breaking down early. There was a rain delay with Georgie serving at *0-4 which gave me and Georgie a chance to go straight onto the indoor court to try and find some rhythm and loosen up her shots. Unfortunately it didn’t have the affect we were hoping for and when they returned to the court 30 minutes later Georgie lost the next 7 points in a row to go down 6-1, 6-0.

The performance was very unlike Georgie but we had to put it behind us quickly and move on to get prepared for the doubles final.

Holly and Georgie went on to the indoor court at 6.30pm for the doubles final against top seeds Tereza Mihalikova from Slovakia and Kseniia Bekker from Russia. We talked before the match about reproducing the level that they had found in the semi-finals and being brave enough to do it when it really counted in the final . . . and they did just that!

The level that both girls found from the start of the match was very high and after breaking in the first game after a sudden death deuce point they went on to take a *3-0 lead. Georgie was then broken and their opponents held to close the gap but it didn’t stop Holly or Georgie from continuing to play to a very high level. Holly held serve and then two games followed that both went to sudden death deuce; one on Tereza’s serve and then one on Georgie’s serve with us coming out on top in both games to take the set 6-2.

Our girls started the second set very confidently and again broke in the first game but couldn’t hold onto it and Holly was broken straight back – 1-1 and looking tight! From there Holly and Georgie raised their levels to take 4 out of the next 5 games and be in complete control of the match. At *5-2 Georgie was broken to love but the girls stayed calm and at 5-3*, 40-15 they had three match points. Both of their opponents played all of them very well to hold serve and so now it was up to Holly to serve out the match. Despite Holly having match points in the doubles final in Nairobi in February and losing the experience hopefully helped her today as she served well when it mattered on sudden death deuce! Holly made a great first serve which Georgie crossed on and buried the volley – game, set and match!

The girls were really pleased with the win and I was very proud of how well they performed under pressure against two tough competitors.

To view the video of the match point please see the Facebook page: www.facebook.com/itctennis1

After the match we had the prize giving and here‘s Holly and Georgie with their trophies.

We headed back for dinner at 9pm and there was no way Holly or Georgie were going to turn down the chance to have Pizza!

We’ve got a rest day tomorrow and then it’s back to England on Monday. It’ been a long two weeks due to the very poor weather but there have been some very good performances and it was fantastic to finish the trip with a title.

Next stop Bermuda at the end of the month!