Only read if a big horror fan

Emma starts with a df 0-15, good T unreturned 15-15, ace out wide 30-15, df - went for T serve 30-30, Alexandrova return winner off decent wide 1st 30-40, ace out wide 40-40, good wide 2nd unreturned A-, unreturned wide 1st 1-0*

R f cc error just wide 15-0, unreturned 2nd (just) 30-0, good deep return off a 1st 30-15, Alexandrova good b winner after 1st 40-15, good T 1-1

Poor f dtl error wide from Emma 0-15, unreturned 1st 15-15, df 15-30, ace T 30-30, ace T 40-30, super Alexandrova return winner off a 1st 40-40, good Alexandrova return winner off a 2nd 40-A, Emma weak approach but Alexandrova lob error long 40-40, df 40-A, ace out wide 40-40, Alexandrova b error after a rare rally A-, Alexandrova f cc error net 2-1*

Alexandrova b error net 0-15, Alexandrova f winner 15-15, Alexandrova b cc error net 15-30, good wide 1st 30-30, good T 40-30, Alexandrova b error net after 2nd 40-40, Alexandrova poor volley error wide in control 40-A, super deep return off a 2nd from Raducanu for the break *3-1

Good wide 2nd unreturned 15-0, df 15-15, Emma's 1st serve not wide enough - Alexandrova brutal return winner 15-30, good wide 1st 30-30, Raducanu f error long - Alexandrova deep f 30-40, another deep f from Alexandrova that Raducanu can't cope with, for the break 3-2*

Emma passive, not hitting the ball cleanly, balls landing short time after time, no penetration on her shots.

Alexandrova agg f cc - R f net 15-0, decent Raducanu return off a 2nd - Alexandrova rushed f error long 15-15, df 15-30, good Raducanu return off a 2nd 15-40, Emma agg f dtl for the break *4-2

Alexandrova b dtl winner 0-15, good wide 1st 15-15, Alexandrova dominant finishing with f winner 15-30, ace out wide 30-30, deep return causes Emma f error long 30-40, df for the break 4-3*

4 unreturned 1st serves for love hold 4-4

Emma down 0-40 after 2 dfs, saves 2 bps with unreturned 1st serves then another df for the break 4-5*

Deep return off a 1st 0-15, poor f error wide after a 1st 0-30, good b dtl winner from Alexandrova 15-30, agg f cc from Emma 15-40, df for the break 5-5

2nd serve gets punished 0-15, Raducanu b winner after good wide 1st 15-15, weak f after 1st from Emma allows Alexandrova f winner 15-30, good b pass winner from Alexandrova, good deep return off a 1st for the break 5-6*

Emma f winner 0-15, poor f error after 1st 0-30, Raducanu agg return off a 1st forces Alexandrova f error long 0-40, Alexandrova drop winner after good wide 1st 15-40, super return winner from Raducanu off a 2nd for the break 6-6

unreturned 1st 1-0, Alexandrova agg f 1-1, Alexandrova f dtl error net *2-1, poor 1st serve from Emma - Alexandrova b cc winner *2-2, Raducanu volley winner after good play 3-2*, poor f error net after 1st 4-2* unreturned 1st *4-3, Alexandrova deep return off a 2nd 4-4, unreturned 2nd 5-4*, poor b error net after 1st from Alexandrova 6-4* Emma punishes a 2nd for the set 7-4

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Emma looking as though she hasn't played for a very long time. No confidence on 2nd serve. 9 dfs. Even when she had the opportunity to attack, she typically hit passive rubbish down the middle of the court, landing short most of the time. 2nd serve return one of the few elements of the Raducanu game that is actually working. 6 aces also encouraging. Astonishing that Alexandrova let her win the set as the rallies were embarrassingly one-sided.

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Deep return off a 2nd from Emma 0-15, unreturned 1st 15-15, Alexandrova b cc error net 15-30, decent Raducanu return off a 2nd contributes to Alexandrova b error wide 15-40, ace out wide 30-40, agg f cc from Alexandrova - Emma f dtl long 40-40, Raducanu super f pass winner clips edge of line 40-A, good play from Emma finishing with agg f dtl, for the break *1-0

Emma has control but b error net 0-15, good wide 1st 15-15, Raducanu passive f after 1st but Alexandrova f error net 30-15, poor return error net off a 2nd 40-15, Alexandrova lob error long 2-0*

good b dtl winner from Emma 0-15, good b winner after 1st from Alexandrova 15-15, good play sets up Alexandrova b dtl winner 30-15, super f winner from Alexandrova 40-15, Alexandrova dominates again, finishing with b drive volley winner *2-1

good wide 1st 15-0, super return winner off a 2nd 15-15, ace out wide 30-15, Alexandrova volley winner 30-30, awful return error off a 2nd 40-30, Alexandrova b cc error wide 3-1*

lucky net cord winner from Emma 0-15, Raducanu f error long 15-15, poor return error from Emma off a 2nd 30-15, Alexandrova b error wide after 2nd 30-30, good T 1st 40-30, Emma's 2nd serve return isn't wide enough, allowing Alexandrova b winner *3-2

faster 2nd unreturned 15-0, Alexandrova b error net 30-0, Alexandrova f cc winner after deep return off a 1st 30-15, df 30-30, df 30-40, Alexandrova dominates but poor volley error net 40-40, Alexandrova takes aim at 2nd but can't land it in court A-, Raducanu f error long 40-40, df 40-A, Alexandrova b error just long after rally 40-40, awful f error from Alexandrova A-, A dominates another 2nd serve point 40-40, ace out wide A-, Alexandrova f error long after Raducanu b slice 4-2*

Alexandrova f error long 0-15, Alexandrova agg b cc 15-15, super return winner off a 2nd 15-30, decent pass from Emma but Alexandrova volley winner 30-30, Alexandrova f dtl winner 40-30, Alexandrova b dtl winner after R passive *4-3

Alexandrova f error just long 15-0, df 15-15, awful f error net after 1st 15-30, Emma agg f cc 30-30, unreturned 1st 40-30, poor f dtl error long from Emma 40-40, Raducanu f error after 2nd 40-A, another 2nd serve - Alexandrova drop winner for the break 4-4

poor f error long from Alexandrova 0-15, good return from Emma but Alexandrova super agg f after 1st 15-15, df 15-30, awful f error long from Raducanu 30-30, good b dtl winner from Emma 30-40, horrible defensive f sent up in the air lands long - unbelievable error from Emma 40-40, df 40-A, good agg f dtl from Emma for the break *5-4

agg f cc from Emma 15-0, another 2nd serve this time poor return error 30-0, Alexandrova b cc winner after rally 2nd serve 30-15, good f cc slice from Alexandrova causes Emma f long on very difficult shot 30-30 Alexandrova f drive volley winner 2nd serve point 30-40, df finishes a hopeless service game from Emma 5-5

Raducanu b dtl winner after good play 0-15, Raducanu f cc error long 15-15 unreturned 1st 30-15, good f dtl winner from Alexandrova 40-15, awful b cc error wide from Emma *5-6

Passive 1st serve - Alexandrova return winner 0-15, good wide 2nd unreturned 15-15, Raducanu has chance but doesn't do enough, fortunately Alexandrova b error wide 30-15, poor f error long after 1st 30-30, good agg f dtl 40-30, Alexandrova f winner 40-40, super return winner off a 2nd 40-A, unreturned wide 1st 40-40, decent wide 2nd A-, good wide 1st unreturned 6-6

brilliant f dtl winner from Emma *1-0, weak 1st serve but Alexandrova f error wide *2-0, good T 1st 3-0*, Alexandrova b error net - Emma had earlier chance 4-0*, super play from Raducanu f cc winner *5-0, ace out wide *6-0, df 6-1*, good f dtl winner from Alexandrova 6-2*, good deep return from Raducanu to end the contest 7-2

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Dreadful performance from Emma. Clearly the lack of match practice will be a factor but does that really explain timid, passive tennis ? In the first set she had 6 aces (all in first 4 service games) but rarely went for big serves in the 2nd set. A few of the 15 dfs were aggressive 2nd serves but the vast majority were utter garbage, as were many 2nd serves that landed in the box then got destroyed by Alexandrova. 1st groundstroke after her serve was as passive as I can recall witnessing. At least she tried to be aggressive returning 2nd serves, with a fair amount of success, even though not at her peak.

Completely unrecognisable from the young woman who won the US Open playing glorious attacking tennis. Very fortunate to play an opponent who made costly errors at crucial moments. From a strategic perspective, this type of tennis is completely brain dead as Emma isn't a good defensive player and 3 of the slams are played on surfaces that favour attacking tennis. Did they learn nothing from the Lulu Sun match, or the Kenin match, or any of the other defeats in which Emma let her opponent do what they want ?

Neil Gee wrote:

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I take it we shouldn't get too excited then about Emma beating a seeded player in straight sets?

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 Ah, did you not read earlier that this was a match that Emma should expect to win if she was to expect good things?!

In all the circumstances it's at least a pretty decent win on the face of it.

Anyway, this is definitely a match that I want to try and see a replay of to make much more sense of it in my own mind.

indiana wrote:

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Neil Gee wrote:

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I take it we shouldn't get too excited then about Emma beating a seeded player in straight sets?

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 Ah, did you not read earlier that this was a match that Emma should expect to win if she was to expect good things?!

In all the circumstances it's at least a pretty decent win on the face of it.

Anyway, this is definitely a match that I want to try and see a replay of to make much more sense of it in my own mind.

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 Well done Emma and think that May have been me that said that?! But I stand by it - as self evident; lose and clearly she wouldnt have gone onto great things! But seriously, it seems it was tough, she got through it and won and now she can try and build on it. Well done. 

On Kia Arena the Italian men's singles battle between Arnaldi and Musetti is locked at 1 set all, 4 games all, at 8.03 am GMT.

Katie is next on but it's going to be quite a time yet.

Oh well that is a bonus. Not reading a lot into this performance by Emma. As has been shown in the first few days of the AO, lack of adequate preparation due to injury or choice has consequences. I am just wondering if she needs a new pair per of eyes in her coaching team?