Loughborough, GBR - Round 1

So today was a good day at the office. I managed to win both singles and doubles. Both matches were 6-1, 6-2.

In my singles match I ended up having to play a qualifier. Sometimes this can be good and sometimes bad. The qualifiers might be tired after playing 3 matches or they can be match tough and just come out swinging. So when playing them you are not sure what you're going to get. But in my case I think the girl was a bit tired perhaps, or I would like to think I just played better. hah. But anyway, this match I came out there really nervous, more nervous then last weeks match. This could have been because last week I had no pressure on myself because I was playing a seeded player and I had nothing to lose. So maybe this week I was supposed to win and maybe that is why I was nervous. But during the match I thought I came out not really moving the best, or swinging freely. My opponent was about 5 feet tall and moved surprisingly well for her size. But she got to a lot of shots and made me play, and it was a good first round match up for me. I went out there and tried to play the way I wanted to, which was to look for short balls to get to the net on, hit a high percentage of first serves, and to just play aggressively. I think I did it pretty well. The first set my opponent just made a lot of mistakes and I was holding my serve well. The second set was a bit closer then what the score was but I ended up playing more aggressively towards the end of the set and she started to miss passing shots, and rushing. I was surprised though with her serve because it was difficult to return. With her height the trajectory of her serve was very low over the net, and I ended up hitting returns below my knees. So I was struggling a bit with the return games. However, I did get to break a number of times somehow and hold my serve to take the match. But tomorrow definitely needs to be better. I need to not worry so much of the winning and losing and just play and have fun. I think today I was too wound up in the win and lose that I didn't get to swing freely. For me when I think of that my game drops, I don't move as well, my decision making is bad, and I am just not relaxed. So tomorrow the goal is to just go out there and play my game, have fun, and play aggressively. If I can do that then it's a win no matter what the end result is. But I play the 6th seed and I think it is going to be a good match. I'm excited to finally play in the 2nd round Wahoo!!

In doubles we won pretty easily. Our opponents just made a lot of mistakes in the match and that was it. This week I am playing with Australian Chantelle Rigozzi and tomorrow we are scheduled to play the 4th seed or Moore and Stephenson both from Great Britain. This is the pairing that me and Eva Wacanno almost lost to in the semifinals (down 9-6 in the 3rd set tiebreaker). So it should be interesting. Again, I'm looking forward to the challenge. I'll let you all know what happens. Until then...