Yes, Mandy was completely controlling the match till 62 21 when she was break ahead in the second. Then she was broken first time in the match and she lost her confidence a bit. Justine raised her game indeed and for the moment Mandy couldn't handle it well enough. She was getting too short or hitting the ball into the net and the momentum seemed to change to Justine.
But she was fighting back, holding her serve several times and was breaking Ozga for a *54 lead. Serving for the match there was one close decision against her, a point of her was cancelled, she lost the rhythm for a moment and was broken again.
But I was so pleased to see that she could usually rely on her serve at crucial points. When the match was getting close Mandys serve was strong and solid, so this problem of the last matches she obviously has started to overcome. She dominated the tiebreaker and I was impressed that she was able not to lose focus and concentration.
Ok on the paper Ozga is not the strongest opponent but she is a solid experienced player, and in the second she showed a good counter punching so Mandy got in some trouble.
It was amazing to see how courageously Mandy was playing when she feels confident, her strategy was not so much going directly for the winner but forcing errors of her opponent by pulling throuh her shots, some winners (mostly fh, of course) were the result as well.
My impression was she is getting back in track, I never had the feeling she could lose this match and, even more important, she always was believing in herself too. Of course she has to improve in the next matches. So I hope she will find a way to handle Marias slice tomorrow. I watched Maria today, she was playing solidly, very slicey
and Mandy will have to be patient in this match but Ive no doubt she will do it well because Maria should be a good match up for Mandy.
All in all it was an exciting day for me. Imagine you're standing on a platform watching a match and suddenly Mandy is going by there :lol:
Tim Sommer finally told me that Mandy would play the Eastbourne quali if she doesnt reach the Essen final, I answered then it would be better to get comfortable with the idea that she won't play Eastbourne
Tbh I just hope to see Mandy win 4 more matches