No go.  4-6 in the third.

Not the start I was hoping for, instead going 3-1 down again (but she won the last three from 3-1 down)

Step it up girl - be a hurricane

An excellent week for Heather but from what it sounds like she was unable to raise her game today to the level required to really compete with a top 16 opponent (I didn't see the game myself as I am at work)

I mentioned during Heather's last defeat (against mcHale) her points won behind first serve and it does seem to be the standout stat again:

Points won on first serve - Heather 53%, Kaia 81%
Points won on second serve - Heather 54%, Kaia 57%

Heather should have learnt something from today - she hasn't yet had much experience against the top players. Certainly Bally has started competing a lot better against top 20 opponents now she is used to playing them a bit more frequently.

I did see the vast majority of the match. Heather played more good tennis than she had managed in the first round, and KK made a few horrible errors but Heather struggled to make any impact on the return and finally rather wasted a couple of bps late on. Far too many soft errors, rally balls landing two inches wide, forehands landing near the service line put away by KK, aggressive first groundstrokes after the serve that landed yards long. In truth, the pace on KK's shots (especially the serve) had Heather struggling and she couldn't cope whenever KK unleashed an aggressive groundstroke. The good aspect was a far greater range of shots - decent angles at times, drop shots, a good smash, drive volley. Heather did well when she moved KK around the court but for every well thought out point, there would be a couple of rather brain dead exchanges that simply played to KK's strengths. First serve percentage far too low. Overall promising for the future but some way short of what she needed to be competitive today.

Heather looks like she's got enough to be solid top 50 within a year or two. But she's got to add a lot more sophistication to her game if she wants to be top 20. Sam Smith said that she asked Anne K how Heather was doing, and that Anne told her that Heather was hitting the ball aggressively in practice but in matches she was holding back and playing safe.

It would be sensible for Heather to practice with Andy a few times to learn the finesse aspect of the game. Even if it took her 3 or 4 years to transform the concepts into something she could actually deploy during tense matches, it would still be a great help to her as there are always going to be plenty of opponents that are taller and more powerful than she is.

-- Edited by kundalini on Thursday 26th of May 2011 05:35:46 PM