|
Deserving Anna Excels at British
Nationals
 Anna Fitzpatrick reached the Final
of the U18 British Junior
Championships in Bournemouth on
Saturday. Full of confidence and
mentally tough Anna brushed aside
four opponents on her way to the
last round. In the Final she faced
Anna Smith whom she had played and
beaten at Ilkley on grass earlier in
the summer. This time on a slow
clay surface which was more suited
to her rival it wasn’t to be Anna’s
day as despite displaying a gallant
effort she bowed out 7-6 (4), 7-6
(4).
Secure about her game plan before
she stepped onto the court Anna
found it hard to execute in the
first set. This was due to the
amount of first serves she was
missing which prevented the
seventeen year old from serve and
volleying effectively – one of the
core elements of her game. Due to
a low percentage of first serves she
had to drop the pace to three
quarters of the normal speed – this
resulted in Smith being able to
return more effectively and forced
Anna to stay back on the baseline.
Still, Anna made the best of the
situation and the set reached a
tiebreak. A few unforced errors
when she could ill afford them
resulted in the breaker going to
Smith 7-4.
As she had done in the Final at
Ilkley Smith continued to mix her
shots up, throwing in a variety of
back hand slices as well as a few
shorter angles – but on the slower
surface this had a bigger impact on
Anna who was unable to attain the
kind of rhythm she would have
liked. Again the set climaxed in a
tiebreak and again Anna was defeated
7-4.
Despite the honour of reaching the
Final of the British Nationals Anna
was disheartened with her play:
“I’m disappointed because I
didn’t play as well as I could but I
am more disappointed that I wasn’t
able to execute my game plan to the
required amount. Looking forward,
though, I have realised that I need
to continue concentrating on my game
plan even when I’m not serving high
percentage first serves.”
Yet Anna’s results over the last few
weeks show what a promising talent
she is and with over thirty weeks of
tournaments ahead of her come
September she can’t fail to improve
substantially.
|