[DeucesAreWild]

Too bad Madison couldn't get the win here, but I'm sure she'll learn from this. Hoping for a good draw at the Australian Open.
Is Madison playing another tournament before the Open is was this it? If it is it then a lot of time to get acclimated, pratice, and mentally prepare.

[HowardH]

Having seen both her Auckland matches live I thought I would make a comment or two.

Madison has a huge serve. Her first serve max was 194 today and yesterday the same. She had one at 198 today which hit the net. Her first serve is about 180-something on average, the second serve about 160 average, often clearing 170 on the second serve.

She hits the groundies really powerfully as well. Love her bh down the line. Her agility and ability to play longer rallies probably need to improve.

Kumkhum's first serve is more like 170, second serve 140-something. But Kumkhum definitely returned Madison's serve better than Madison returned Kumkhum's serve, for whatever reason. Both players were very very aggressive. Whereas yesterday Cagla Buyukakcay was mostly defending against Madison's power and trying to counter or retrieve, Kumkhum is also a first strike player, two handed off both wings which probably makes first strike necessary. Kumkhum's bh is very strong, probably stronger than her fh and I don't think Madison recognised that. I would have stopped serving all the second serves to her bh after noticing how well she handles that.

Kumkhum's return even of Madison's first serve was very impressive. Having said that I don't think Madison was having a great serving day. The problem with Kumkhum is that if you don't get the serve out of her strike zone it hardly seems to matter how fast it is. Maybe this is a two handed both sides thing. I know Bartoli is also super aggressive on return. Madison needed to focus more on placement. When she finally landed a few well placed swinging wide serves she had an easy service game- those serves were not as quick but they did a better job because they were harder to reach. I barely remember any serves which forced Kumkhum to hit a return of serve with one hand. She was hitting everything with two hands, so I don't think the placement was good enough.

I have a sneaking suspicion that if you give the ball more shape and a bit of loop Kumkhum might tend to lose a little rhythm. Since Madison was hitting everything at one pace she got totally grooved. Well, it's only my opinion. The Thai girl looked really, really good today, but I suspect that some other players will be able to take her out of her comfort zone. These two girls were probably among the most impressive in the qualifying draw, mind you. Yesterday Madison looked like the best player on all the courts.

I also suspect that some other players will return Kumkhum's serve a lot better. It's quite a decent serve but she probably shouldn't have been getting such good damage from it. Anyway, Kumkhum was playing some very good tennis out there, it's not like Madison self-destructed against a total nobody.

[18majors]

Hope Madison play either Sydney or Hobart, more WTA level matches will help her immensely.

[Chris3274]

I read somewhere that she is playing Sydney. Bad loss. Lets see how she recovers.


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[Chris3274]

Wow! Thanks for the update Howard! Hopefully Madison bounces back.


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[tenisamulo]

Originally Posted by HowardH

Having seen both her Auckland matches live I thought I would make a comment or two.

Thanks for the information! What you're saying matches the stats. Madison was winning her first serves when she got them in, but she wasn't getting enough of them in, often below 50%. Not a great serving day. Her opponent's serve stats were incredible, really, I was having a hard time believing them. I'm not suprised to learn that she was serving big, but winning 90% + of her first serves and 70% of her second serves, I think that Madison was giving her a little help. Sounds like Maddy's not quite dialed in, yet. She has more time to get it together before the AO.

[18majors]

Originally Posted by Chris3274

I read somewhere that she is playing Sydney. Bad loss. Lets see how she recovers.


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Madison will likely play Sydney quali, she is currently 2nd alt on Q-list.

[CrossCourt~Rally]

Mad Hopefully she'll play more to form next week

[Kutuzova]

Madison's Section of the Qualy Draw in Sydney below. She is going to have to be on her game.

(5)Kiki Bertens (NED) v Misaki Doi (JPN)
Eugenie Bouchard (CAN) v (wc)Storm Sanders (AUS)
Melinda Czink (HUN) v Madison Keys (USA)
Camila Giorgi (ITA) v (10)Jamie Hampton (USA)

[18majors]

Good luck, Madison.

[Trey]

Maddie won the first set 6-2 now leading 2-1 in the second set

[Trey]

3-1

[Trey]

5-1

[simonsaystennis]

Serving for the match, 6-2 5-2. Close it out Madison!

[simonsaystennis]

6-2 6-2! Routine match from Madison! First win of 2013!