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22-Jun, Quarters:
[1] Natalie Grainger (Usa) bt
[8] Runa Reta (Can)
9/1, 9/0, 9/3 (20m)
[4] Lauren Briggs (Eng) bt [5] Latasha Khan (Usa)
9/5, 9/3, 9/2 (42m)
[3] Raneem El Weleily (Egy) bt Joshna Chinappa (Ind)
9/0, 9/6, 4/9, 10/8 (27m)
[6] Manuela Manetta (Ita) bt [2] Samantha Teran (Mex)
9/4, 6/9, 9/3, 9/7 (70m) |
Focus on LA #3 |
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[4] Lauren Briggs
(Eng) bt [5] Latasha Khan (Usa)
9/5, 9/3, 9/2 (42m)
Lauren's Revenge ...
First up on quarter-finals night was the match which should, on
paper, be the closest as fourth seed Lauren Briggs took on
fifth-seeded Latasha Khan.
It was a fast-paced start, both prepared to rally, both prepared to
retrieve. The hot court and bouncy ball discouraged playing too much
at the front, and while Latasha was doing more of the attacking,
Lauren was moving particularly well, picking up pretty much
everything thrown at her.
After a couple of early errors Latasha had stopped making mistakes,
but Lauren was hunting the ball down, and by the end of the second
some forced errors started to come from Latasha’s racket.
After a tight start to the third, 11 rallies to reach one-all,
Lauren broke away again to take six points in one hand, and after a
few hand-outs at 7/2 she was soon in the semi-finals.
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 “My
movement felt fantastic tonight. As I went on court I felt a bit
flat and thought the trip to the studios might not have done me any
good, but as soon as the match started I felt fine. It’s quite warm
it sits up, but I was getting to a lot of balls tonight.
“She hits the ball with a lot of cut so it sits down, if it’s
working it makes is really hard for you, but fortunately she wasn’t
quite onto that tonight. I came out as hard and fast as I could and
tried to play my own game.
“I played her in January and lost, so I wasn’t expecting anything,
but I enjoyed it. It was a nice revenge match.”
 “I
was missing a few shots, hitting the top of the tin, so I couldn’t
afford to play short. It’s difficult against anyone when you’ve only
got half a game to work with.
“I was just a little off today, I made a few mistakes, tried to
attack but the front wall is slow giving her the chance to cut the
ball off, and maybe I should have jumped on some balls quicker, but
she played well.”
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[3] Raneem El
Weleily (Egy) bt Joshna Chinappa (Ind)
9/0, 9/6, 4/9, 10/8 (27m)
Fast and Furious ...
What a strange match. Their first meeting since the world junior
final in Herentals, it promised much, but three, four, five shot
rallies were the norm, with plenty of two-shot rallies too.
 Joshna
wasn’t there in the first, winning a single serve, and it continued
as Raneem went 5/0 up in the second. She only won it 9/6, but that
was due to her own mistakes, Joshna had still to win a point of her
own.
The Indian number one won her fair share from then on though,
striking some delightful drops, boasts and particularly volleys
where she was successfully second-guessing where Raneem would put
the ball. It was still short, sharp stuff though, we were never more
than a shot or two from a winner or a tin and no real attempt at
rallying.
Joshna took the third, and fought back well from 8/3 down in the
fourth, but having leveled two final errors sealed her fate.
91 rallies in 27 minutes, compared to 61 in 42 minutes in the
previous match. Weird …
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 “I
didn’t want to give her any angles to work with, so I tried to keep
it straight and keep the unforced errors down, which I didn’t do in
the first two games. But I’ve got to give her credit, she played
well.”
 “I’m
fit, I can play, but for some reason the rallies just didn’t go the
way I wanted them to. She didn’t play in the first two, then I made
a few errors and her shots started going in, she was everywhere.
“It wasn’t one of my better matches, I hope to play better tomorrow
…”
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[6] Manuela Manetta
(Ita) bt [2] Samantha Teran (Mex)
9/4, 6/9, 9/3, 9/7 (70m)
Manuela makes it count
The third quarter had all the hallmarks of a marathon, two
determined, fit players with no aversion to rallying. And so it
proved as the best match of the tournament so far unfolded.
We were back to the long, hard rallies of the first match, but here
both players were more willing to take it short, and more than
willing to run down whatever was necessary.
Manuela, according to past history a lover of this type of match,
was marginally in control for large parts of it, but there was
little in it. Corner to corner they both went, Samantha hitting
lower and harder, Manuela lifting and floating the ball more, and it
was the Italian who took good leads in the first, third and fourth
games which would prove enough.
At 2/5 down in the fourth Samantha seemed to grow in confidence, but
Manuela managed to hang on long enough to earn a matchball with a
sweet volley drop. A final scrambling rally ended in a stroke for
the Italian, a final fist-clench and a well-earned place in the
semi-final against Raneem. Now that will be a clash of styles …
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 “I
knew that if I wanted to win I would have to play my best, and I
did.
“I felt in control most of the time, I was holding the ‘T’ and
making her do the work. Sometimes I lose concentration and make
mistakes but that didn’t happen today.
“She likes a fast pace, so I was trying to slow it down where I
could. She really tried to increase the pace in the fourth but I
managed to slow it down enough – I just didn’t want it to go to
five.
“I lost 3/1 to her in Dayton in January, so it was good to get
revenge for that.”
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[1] Natalie
Grainger (Usa) bt [8] Runa Reta (Can)
9/1, 9/0, 9/3 (20m)
Grainger ominous ...
Well, the pressure of being top seed and overwhelming favourite
doesn’t seem to be affecting Natalie Grainger. She was just too
strong, too powerful, too accurate for Runa Reta tonight. Runa ran
gamely, made few unforced errors, but found herself chasing the ball
into the corners or stranded as it was blasted to the opposite
corner.
The second and third games were both won with crashing volley nicks,
and Grainger is looking in ominous form …
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 “I
was happy with that. I’m trying to focus on giving away as few cheap
points as I can, it always makes it easier if you do that, whoever
you’re playing. I’m just having fun, trying to play through every
shot and hit my targets.
“I haven’t played Lauren before, she’s a good athlete, has a good
all-round game, I’m looking forward to playing her.”
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WISPA at Universal Studios ... in the Gallery |
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