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Topsy Turvey Tennis
Playing in the quarter finals of the
Tropicana British Tour at
Nottingham, Anna Fitzpatrick
suffered a tough loss against friend
and close rival Naomi Broady.
Losing 6-7 (5) 6-3 3-6 it was a
close match throughout with both
players showing signs of nerves at
the beginning.
With an aggressive game plan Anna
started off serve and volleying but
it wasn’t having the desired
effect. Strong, consistent returns
to the feet from Broady caused her
to feel pressurized at the net.
Unable to hit freely the Sheffield
born player also had difficulty
approaching the net during baseline
rallies and incapable of carrying
out her game plan felt the set start
to slip from her grasp.
Yet despite this Anna kept Broady in
her sights and forced the set to a
tiebreak. Going 3-0 down she kept a
cool head and got it back to 4-4 but
wasn’t able to go up a further level
and eventually lost the tiebreak
7-5.
Relaxing into the second set Anna
approached the net achieving greater
results. Causing Broady to make
errors Anna raised her game up a
gear. A higher percentage of first
serves combined with the fact she
was able to read Broady’s serve far
better meant she broke her
opponent’s serve twice and held onto
her own convincingly to win the
second set 6-3.
The main turning point of the match
was in the first game of the third
set. Giving away some cheap points
due to errors Anna let Broady back
in the match and fed her
confidence. Losing her serve she
was unable to break back and Broady
took a 2-0 lead. From then on,
however, both players displayed
solid tennis.
At 4-2 down the match was moved
indoors due to rain. Another tough
service game from Broady proved too
much for Anna though and she
eventually succumbed 6-3.
Despite a gallant effort from the
MCTA player Anna felt let down by
her play at crucial moments:
“I was disappointed with how I
started the match and especially the
first game of the third set. For
the rest of the match I was playing
good, solid tennis and my attitude
was not bad on the whole, but I
still reacted a couple of times when
I should have stayed quiet.”
The Monte Carlo Tennis Academy
officially opens it doors on
September 4th. To see
the touring schedule for this year
and future tournaments Anna will be
playing in please click
here.
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