Two really tough losses for Baby E today. First and most importantly, she wasted 2 match points against Domi but was able to fight back from a break down in the third to force a tie-break, which she then lost 7-5. Then, about 45 minutes later, Baby E and Tranny hit the court and actually gave the #1 doubles team a run for their money, taking the second set 64 before dropping the stupid tie-breaker 10-7.
Can someone tell me why doubles just doesn't go to a third set? The fact that it's No-Ad scoring PLUS no third set seems to make the results so damn arbitrary.
All this is to say these two losses sting because they are matches she had every right to win. I didn't see the singles match but from what I can tell she was lights out in the first set, then Domi took a medical timeout for a kink in her neck, and then Ana's game fell apart in the second set after she had a chance to convert a break and failed.
But credit to both Ana and Domi for a seemingly hard fought and competitive third set. Ana had two match points when Domi was serving at 5-4 but failed to convert. Then on Ana's serve, Domi broke and was serving for the match. But Ana came back and broke and they served it out to force the tie-breaker which was very tightly contested.
So a tough loss indeed and no doubt this doesn't help her confidence. But there are some positives to be taken from this. First, it seems to me that she's physically all healed up now and she's match fit. You can't contest a third set with Cibulkova 76(5) unless you're fit. Second, she played a very good first set and her forehand was cracking. Third, she fought and she fought hard in the third and was able to keep it tight and close (much like she fought with Zheng in Beijing, keeping pressure on her throughout the set). So those are all positives.
Moving on to Zurich, which will be AI's last second to last tournament before the YECs. If she can put together three good wins in Zurich I think she'll be feeling good about herself going into the YECs. Otherwise, Doha could be a bloodbath.
