GLOBAL CHICK’S BIRMINGHAM, ENGLISH GRASS COURT TENNIS DAILY DIARY

Written by: Staff on 18th June 2015

GLOBAL CHICK'S BIRMINGHAM, ENGLISH GRASS COURT TENNIS DAILY DIARY |

Photo by Lovey.

On a far nicer day than yesterday in the Midlands, after the shock of some of the tournament’s biggest draws packed their bags and either headed off to the sea-side or back to the Big Smoke, we focused our attentions on top seed Simona Halep.

She has really impressed us this year. Her demeanour on and off the court seems more confident, and even when she admits to having performed badly, reacting to some of the pressure on her little shoulders from two outstanding years in a row, she does it pragmatically, refusing to wring her hands in unproductive dismay.

But there was nice touches too, like her doubles partner Heather Watson sneaking up to the top of the Centre Court stand to watch her play her match, and it was fun to watch the pair of them, even if the first set was the kind that normally has us running to hide under the cushions.

You see, we are talking established singles players being hopelessly outplayed in the first site by admittedly solid doubles players (Anabel Medina Garrigues and Arantxa Parra Santonja).

Photo by Lovey.

From 1-6 down, the pair managed to settle down, and break the Spaniards twice to bring about a match tie-break that will have kept the public holding their breath as the scratch duo edged forward with three match points. They wasted just the one, as they advance.

Halep had to ruefully admit it had been quite perturbing having two targets to aim for over the other side of the net.

“It was difficult at the beginning because, [it] was my first match on grass, doubles on grass. It’s not easy. The ball was coming very fast and I didn’t know where to hit because I saw both of them there.”

But in real terms it all comes down to her singles now, as she explained: “I have no expectation from me this grass season, so I just want to go on court and play what I know. On clay I had pressure and I couldn’t handle it. I played bad and I couldn’t feel like relaxed on court. So that was the bad thing.

“So I just took some days off home and I said that I have to relax my mind and just going on court to play.”

Other notables to watch in Friday’s quarter-finals will be Carla Suarez Navarro, whose year has been most impressive, and she is certainly no slouch on grass, and ace-of-the-moment (yes, pun intended) Sabine Lisicki. She of course comes alive with the grass, and is joined by Angelique Kerber. She got the better of Jelena Jankovic, a former champion here.

Still, you have to think that the organisers will be hoping that Halep can make the magic happen here, and if she continues to enjoy working out which targets she can hit in the doubles as well, she could just do it.

The Aegon Classic quarter-finals will start play at 11am BST.

AEGON CLASSIC BIRMINGHAM – BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND

$ 731,000.00

JUNE 15 – 21, 2015

RESULTS – JUNE 18, 2015

Women’s

Singles – Third Round

[1] S. Halep (ROU) d [Q] K. Koukalova (CZE) 61 63

[3] C. Suárez Navarro (ESP) d [13] S. Kuznetsova (RUS) 63 64

[4] A. Kerber (GER) d [15] [WC] J. Jankovic (SRB) 64 62

[6] K. Pliskova (CZE) d Z. Diyas (KAZ) 62 62

[8] S. Lisicki (GER) d M. Rybarikova (SVK) 76(7) 64

K. Mladenovic (FRA) d [10] B. Strycova (CZE) 76(4) 62

K. Siniakova (CZE) d C. Mchale (USA) 64 60

D. Hantuchova (SVK) d [Q] M. Larcher de Brito (POR) 64 75

Second Round

[6] K. Pliskova (CZE) d [WC] J. Konta (GBR) 36 63 64

Women’s

Doubles – Quarterfinals

[4] G. Muguruza (ESP) / C. Suárez Navarro (ESP) d A. Kudryavtseva (RUS) / A. Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 64 46 10-7

First Round

Y. Chan (TPE) / J. Zheng (CHN) d [1] C. Dellacqua (AUS) / S. Mirza (IND) 64 62

[2] T. Babos (HUN) / K. Mladenovic (FRA) d H. Chan (TPE) / A. Klepac (SLO) 75 46 10-6

[3] R. Kops-Jones (USA) / A. Spears (USA) d J. Goerges (GER) / A. Groenefeld (GER) 64 63

[WC] S. Halep (ROU) / H. Watson (GBR) d A. Medina Garrigues (ESP) / A. Parra Santonja (ESP) 16 63 10-7

A. Hlavackova (CZE) / L. Hradecka (CZE) d [WC] J. Rae (GBR) / A. Smith (GBR) 64 61

ORDER OF PLAY – FRIDAY, JUNE 19, 2015

ANN JONES CENTRE COURT start 11:00 am

[3] C. Suárez Navarro (ESP) vs [6] K. Pliskova (CZE)

[1] S. Halep (ROU) vs K. Mladenovic (FRA)

K. Siniakova (CZE) vs [4] A. Kerber (GER)

[8] S. Lisicki (GER) vs D. Hantuchova (SVK)

COURT 1 start 1:00 pm

A. Hlavackova (CZE) / L. Hradecka (CZE) vs [3] R. Kops-Jones (USA) / A. Spears (USA)

Not Before 2:00 pm

TBA After rest – M. Krajicek (NED) / B. Strycova (CZE) vs [2] T. Babos (HUN) / K. Mladenovic (FRA)

Not Before 4:30 pm

TBA After rest – Y. Chan (TPE) / J. Zheng (CHN) vs [WC] S. Halep (ROU) / H. Watson (GBR)

Photo by Lovey.

Topics: Birmingham, global chick, Grass tennis, Sports, Tennis News, Wta

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10sBalls_com says:

June 18, 2015 at 11:39 am

GLOBAL CHICK’S #BIRMINGHAM, ENGLISH GRASS COURT #TENNIS DAILY DIARY- http://t.co/OzGWjeVOys @WTA #wta #grasstennis
LoverBirmingham says:

June 18, 2015 at 12:04 pm

RT @10sBalls_com: GLOBAL CHICK’S #BIRMINGHAM, ENGLISH GRASS COURT #TENNIS DAILY DIARY- http://t.co/OzGWjeVOys @WTA #wta #grasstennis