I tried to do my duty and stay up for the whole match last night, since this was a seminal moment in the history of British womens tennis (OK, the biggest since 1985 when Anne Hobbs won her 2nd title at Auckland). Lamentably, I didn't quite succeed. I managed to stay awake for Görges-Wozniacki and Hev-Sloane earlier in the week but the fatigue finally caught up with me. After Heather fought off about 77 break-points in her second service game, and it was beginning to look like Brengle would keep her on court for 4 hours I dropped dead on my laptop. :lol:
Still, it was a lovely present to wake up and find she'd taken the title and by a far more comfortable scoreline than I expected.
I thought Heather was nuts when she declared during the off-season that she was aiming to become world number 1 this year (
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/tennis/30326190). I thought the target she herself before last year's US Open of reaching the second week of a Grand Slam for the first time and pushing on to the top 40/top 30 was more realistic. But maybe Heather knows something we don't.
And she's now passed "Guest" in the world rankings.
After two rough years for the British womens' game when our best players have been sidelined by illness and injury, things are looking rosy again. Hev's won her 2nd title and surpassed her previous career high ranking of 39, and next month Laura will be making her return.
Will we be revisiting the "good ole days" of 2012?