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Post by Shireblogger on Mar 9, 2015 16:33:26 GMT 1
Once again a GB support player steps up when it really counts, and plays out of his skin. Kudos to James Ward, who should, at the very least, be rewarded with a guaranteed Wimbledon wild card for the next 4 years (should he need one).
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Tom
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Post by Tom on Mar 10, 2015 11:33:24 GMT 1
Every chance they could bring in a temporary grass court somewhere like Australia have in the past. Celtic Park was even mentioned yesterday... France will be tough but winnable with home advantage. A possible semi-final would be against Australia or Kazakhstan - both winnable. The draw's really open this year with no Spain, plus Switzerland (minus Federer and Wawrinka) and Czech Republic going out over the weekend. Quarter-finals: Great Britain v France Australia v Kazakhstan Serbia v Argentina or Brazil (suspended yesterday at 2-2 after the fourth rubber went 6 and a half hours) Belgium v Canada I thought the suggestion of using Celtic Park was a flippant comment. I'll believe it when it happens. The problem of building a grass court somewhere, especially in Scotland, is that it will have to be at a venue that can adjust in the event of bad weather, whether that's indoor courts on-site (like Nottingham for example, not that that's big enough) or a roof that can be closed. Summer Davis Cup ties should be played on grass where possible imo. Had it not been ruled out Wimbledon would have been ideal but when was the last time it hosted a Davis Cup tie? It's probably never going to be at a suitable time for it to be played there. My gut feeling is that it will be held indoors somewhere in England.
For the last two or three years I've thought that with a home draw GB with Murray and our strength in doubles are capable of beating half the teams in the World Group. It was interesting to read a couple of years ago I think that there have been teams GB beat along the way in the Euro-Africa Zone that had higher ranked No 2 singles players than half the teams in the World Group that year. It shows how well we did to get into the World Group. But the USA tie showed how we've improved, we wouldn't have won a tie like that in 2013 even if Murray was playing. Ward is in the best physical shape of his life, the work he did with Murray in Miami in the off-season really is paying off. It's a shame he doesn't play more best of 5 set matches, think he's only lost 2 matches in a 5th and deciding set in his whole career!
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Tom
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Post by Tom on Mar 12, 2015 9:58:45 GMT 1
Indian Wells first round
Heather Watson WR 43 (career high 38 in Jan) beat Goerges WR 62 (career high 15 in 2012) 6-4 5-7 6-3 Made harder work of it than she should have done. She served for the match at 5-3 in the second set, also had a match point somewhere along the way.
Jo Konta and James Ward both lost in final round of qualifying.
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Tom
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Post by Tom on Mar 14, 2015 10:41:51 GMT 1
R2 Heather Watson 43 (CH 38 in Jan) beat (29) Camila Giorgi 33 (CH 31 in Aug) 7-5 7-5
An impressive win, but the stats make interesting reading. 5 aces and 6 double faults from Heather compared to 5 aces and 18 double faults for Giorgi, and 53% 1st serve for Heather compared to Giorgi's 38%. Nice easy match next, Aga Radwanska who Heather has never won a set against.
Also, a shock win in the doubles for Andy Murray and Kokkinakis (young Aussie, could be a future Top 10 player), beating the 4th seeds Rojer and Tecau 6-3 7-5.
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Post by Tom on Mar 16, 2015 11:23:49 GMT 1
Indian Wells R3 Heather Watson 43 (CH 38 in Jan) beat (7) Aga Radwanska 8 (CH 2 in 2012) 6-4 6-4
Her first ever win against a Top 10 player. I followed the scoreboard on a pretty regular basis as well as reading updates of the match. On top of the stunning score line she also served well at the end of the first set and served brilliantly in the latter part of the 2nd set. 7 aces and 3 double faults, 1st serve % at 55 were her stats for the match. Had forgotten that Radwanska is now coached by Navratilova, and also didn't realise until after the match had finished there was commentary on 5 Live Sports Extra. Could have listened to the second set so may do that for the next round.
Also Dom Inglot and Mergea won their first round doubles match 6-3 6-2 against Robredo and Troicki.
Laura Robson was meant to be making her return in qualifying at the Miami Open next week but has pulled out. Her comeback has been delayed for months now but I really thought she would be playing this time.
The Davis Cup quarter-final against France will be on grass, with Queen's the most likely venue. The capacity is 7500-8000, so similar to the Emirates Arena they used for the USA tie.
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Post by Tom on Mar 18, 2015 9:00:02 GMT 1
Indian Wells R4 Heather Watson 43 (CH 38 in Jan) lost to (12) Carla Suarez Navarro 13 career high 7-6 (7-5) 3-6 6-1
Heather served for the opening set at 5-4.
Dom Inglot and Mergea won their second round doubles 6-3 6-4 against Cabal & Farah.
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Post by Tom on Mar 19, 2015 14:16:44 GMT 1
Inglot and Mergea lost in the quarter-finals to Matkowski and Zimonjic 4-6 6-3 10-3.
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Post by Tom on Mar 26, 2015 14:06:53 GMT 1
Miami Masters this week
R1 Heather Watson 41 career high 38 in Jan beat (Q) Rodina 96 career high 74 Feb 2011 3-6 6-1 7-5
(WC) Kyle Edmund 144 at career high lost to (Q) Haase 98 career high 33 July 2012 6-2 6-2
Good battling win for Heather from a set down. She next plays Kerber, which on the face of it looks a winnable match.
Watched Kyle's match which was really disappointing. Maybe I underestimated Haase but I thought that match was winnable. He just didn't serve well enough though. If he'd played as well as he did in the opening game of the 2nd set when he held to love and also served an ace (his only one of the match) and the last game of the match when he saved 3 match points and forced a couple of break points he may have had a chance. He was given a wildcard last year too, losing to Benneateau, and I thought he played better then.
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Post by Tom on Mar 29, 2015 11:11:06 GMT 1
R2
Heather Watson 41 (CH 38 Jan) lost to (13) Angelique Kerber 15 (CH 5 in 2012) 7-5 3-6 6-4
A match played over 2 days after rain suspended play. The first set played on Friday, the second set yesterday.
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Post by rubcale on Apr 4, 2015 10:47:40 GMT 1
Although in terms of reaching the latter stages of events AndyM has been doing well I haven't been that convinced about his form as he has been having luck with his draws and playing lower-ranked players and in the early rounds at Miami he has not been convincing losing sets to them.
So the match against Berdych would give a good indication I thought since although he has won their two most important meetings Berdych has had the better of him.
In the event winning 6-4 6-4 was probably the best Murray has played in a long while. Going to be interesting to see how far he can push Djokovich in the final. At the time he imploded ion the A/O final he was getting the upper hand but at their last meeting he was woeful. Definitely needs a good start.
Disappointing on Heather Watson. So unpredictable. Although she beat Radwanska it should be noted that after threatening to challenge for #1 she has been on a downward curve.
Heather has struggled in matches she should have won handily but if she wants to challenge at the very top level she really needs to win against a player like Angelique Kerber. Yes she pushed her close but as usually happens with the Brits they can't get across the finishing line.
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Post by Tom on Apr 6, 2015 12:22:44 GMT 1
Murray lost to Djokovic in the Miami final 7-6 (7-3) 4-6 6-0
Despite what the score line suggests his best performance was actually in the first set. If he'd won that then.....
Disappointing performance overall. Clearly shouldn't have watched the final having not watched Murray at all in the tournament prior to it! Memories of 2012 WTA Guangzhou when the only match of Laura Robson's I watched that week was the final itself... which she duly lost, and also 2012 US Open come to think of it when the only match of hers I saw was the defeat to Stosur in the 4th round.
As for Heather, didn't watch that Radwanska match but from what I read whilst Radwanska was below par and didn't play like the Top 10 player she is, Heather played to Top 20 level, which I think is worth being excited about. Agree about the inconsistency though, rather unusual for her. In the past she's normally been fine with beating players she's expected to beat but struggled against the Top 10/20 players. This year really with the exception of Hobart it's been the opposite.
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Post by Tom on Apr 6, 2015 20:15:11 GMT 1
Speaking of Heather...
Playing on the clay in Charleston she was the 16th seed WR 41 (career high 38 in Jan) up against 18 year old Donna Vekic 108 (career high 62 in July 2013) - lost 6-3 4-6 7-5 and was a break up in the final set.
Quite shocking.
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Post by Panda on Apr 6, 2015 20:48:48 GMT 1
Heather so silly...
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Post by rubcale on Apr 7, 2015 11:58:43 GMT 1
Speaking of Heather...
Playing on the clay in Charleston she was the 16th seed WR 41 (career high 38 in Jan) up against 18 year old Donna Vekic 108 (career high 62 in July 2013) - lost 6-3 4-6 7-5 and was a break up in the final set.
Quite shocking. But isn't this typical?
Not sure that AndyM wouldn't have been better to lose the second set of his final against Djokovich 7-5 rather than going on to get whitewashed in the final set.
This is the second time recently Djoko has bagelled him and it can't do much for your confidence.
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Tom
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Post by Tom on Apr 8, 2015 12:49:04 GMT 1
Speaking of Heather...
Playing on the clay in Charleston she was the 16th seed WR 41 (career high 38 in Jan) up against 18 year old Donna Vekic 108 (career high 62 in July 2013) - lost 6-3 4-6 7-5 and was a break up in the final set.
Quite shocking. But isn't this typical?
Well, I didn't see anyone giving Vekic much chance, she's a shadow of the player she was, and is now no longer based over here or coached by David Felgate (she's now in the States). Shame, was looking forward to seeing if she sounded any more English at the Wimbledon ball later in the year...She may have ruled out switching countries last year but she sounded more anglicised than the year before.
Typical this year no, off the top of my head I can't think of a worse result for Heather in 2015, but admittedly over the last 10 months you may have a point, Birmingham on grass and US Open onwards springing to mind, becoming a bit of a worry. I think she's putting too much pressure on herself, and Laura Robson's absence is definitely a factor in that. She admitted in the second half of last year that the lack of competition was harming her. This was a golden opportunity, a rare week in the first half of the year when it seems she wasn't defending any points from last year. It's going to be tough to see her getting a French Open seeding now, and if she doesn't I don't her see being seeded at the other slams this year.
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Post by Tom on Apr 8, 2015 12:57:41 GMT 1
On a brighter note, in his first tournament as a Brit 25 year old Aljaz Bedene having come through qualifying in an ATP clay event in Casablanca (no surprise, he was the top seed) then won his first round match in the main draw yesterday.
(Q) Bedene WR 99 (career high 71 Feb 2013) beat Gonzalez WR 94 (career high 58 Jul 2009) 6-3 3-6 6-3.
Surely the best R1 draw he could have got, that was definitely winnable, but glad he took advantage.
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Post by Tom on Apr 10, 2015 9:00:03 GMT 1
2nd round in Casablanca
Bedene beat another qualifier de Greef WR 241 (career high 211 June 2013) 6-2 6-3 and plays third seed Jiri Vesely in the quarter-finals this morning.
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Post by Tom on Apr 10, 2015 17:58:27 GMT 1
Bedene lost 6-1 6-4 to Vesely WR 49 (career high 39 in Jan).
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Post by rubcale on May 6, 2015 11:50:59 GMT 1
Laura Robson yet again postpones her return from injury and will not enter French Open.
Probably a wise decision considering the strains of playing on clay but the whole situation does not look at all good.
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Post by Tom on May 6, 2015 12:22:33 GMT 1
Laura Robson yet again postpones her return from injury and will not enter French Open. Probably a wise decision considering the strains of playing on clay but the whole situation does not look at all good. Not sure what to make of it. If she's not back for the grass court season then that is the time to really worry.
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