Today, Monday, I played my first round match against Chris French, who has been out with a knee injury (ACL) for several years, but is a former world champion who beat me in our only previous encounter.
Today I won partly because she’s not played a tournament singles match since 2018, and cramped up in the second set. The first set Chris won but it took over an hour for a 62 set and most games went to deuce several times. We had lots of long points since we have somewhat similar games and a “do not miss” mindset. The second set I got to net more and Chris missed a bit more. She said at 4-2 her calves started cramping. I won the second 62 and after the ensuing 10 minute break she had a medical timeout, and tried to play the third set but retired 0-30 down.
I play Laura De Vittori, the second seed, in the next round. Laura made it to the tournament just in the nick of time to play her singles match today. That will be a quarterfinal match. The rest of the seeds advanced in straight sets. We don’t play till Wednesday.
This tournament is really well run…our match was on time…actually we started 30 minutes early since we were there and a court was available. When a match is called players are given a basket with two towels, two bananas, and two 1.5 liter bottles of water (with more available if needed). (Pro tip: ask for cold water if you don’t want warm/room temp water). The courts at the Beach Club Font de sa Cala are groomed for you between matches (and before third sets).
Tomorrow is an off day, I’m going to practice some and enjoy the nice weather and atmosphere of Font de sa Cala!
