I didn’t get to catch much of the French Open today because I had three matches…but did catch Thiem’s third (and final) match point and the first five games of the women’s final..(congrats to Ash Barty!).
I played Sabine Schmitz today and it was a pretty good match, even at the beginning as Sabine is an attacking player who mixed up drop shots and approach shots effectively. As the match went on I countered better and won 62 61, but we had some good points and the range of my lobs (according to Sabine) was spot on (the lines).
After having a drink with Sabine I got ready for our 2:30 doubles match in women’s 50s. We won our first match 64 61 against a Dutch duo. It was no-ad scoring which always comes as a shock to me even though if’s quite common in Europe to play this format.
We agreed to play the final an hour later against Lucie Schwab and Valdone Povilioniene. Schwab is a very good player, a former world champion and once they got warmed up won a lot of points crossing and drop volleying. We had a chance in the first set but lost the 4-3 game, Valdone relaxed then and we lost 64 62. It was a fun match though, good points.
Top: Ellen, Lucie and Carolyn; bottom left, Sabine and me after the match; bottom right, me with the wine and trophy.
After doubles Valdone had to rush off to play mixed while Lucie, Ellen and I went to have a drink (ok, fizzy water for me), and had our photos taken.
Tomorrow I have a day off, practice on Monday and then start the next tournament on Tuesday where I will probably play Gundi Wieland first round.