[FormerlyKnownAs]

At least she won but it couldn,t have been a fun match too watch.

Not going to the basketball or twittering didn,t help much.

I hope she can get her self together a bit better for the next one.

[JadeFox]

This is what I call pulling a win out of your ass. Hopefully she can improve in her next match.

[Bingain]

I kind of had expected a hard fight. In theory or on paper, Caro is supposed to be able to play S&V and pull off a comfortable win. Yet she had to struggle. OTOH, this may be good, because she had to work hard for a supposedly easy win. This may have driven her into turbo-mode. Hope she can pull off. But, damn, why Kirilenko? I like 'em both.

[FormerlyKnownAs]

Even though Caroline's season start isn't so good, we Mustn't Panic

[Protoss]

So any comments from Caro on the match or any more details on what was going on?

What did they say during the radio broadcast of the match?

Thanks.

[C. W. Fields]

Caro squeaks by and li Na is out so Caro won't risk meeting her again. But Kirilenko first. Caro is 3-0 against her without losing a set, their only HC match being here at IW two years ago with Caro winning 2 & 0. Normally this shouldn't be a match to worry about, but with Caro's current form you really don't know what to expect. Kirilenko started out the year pretty well with QFs at Auckland and AO but then she suffered a left adductor strain and played only one match all of February, losing big in 1R at Dubai against a qualifier. Her first match here seemed a bit more convincing than Caro's though, beating Razzano in straight sets.

[Spiritof42]

I guess the main positive thing about the match (apart from the fact that she won, of course ) is that Caroline managed to dig herself out of trouble in rather empathic fashion, winning 6 games in a row in the 2nd set (from 0-2) and 5 in a row in the finat set (from 1-4).

She was clearly not playing at her best, but this has been a rather crazy day (Henin losing to Dulko, Sharapova almost losing to Dushevina in straight sets, world #10 Li blowing a bunch of match points and losing to a qualifier, Dementieva needing three sets to beat Govortsova...). I don't know what the conditions were during the day, but considering how much most of the top players struggled, I'm just glad she made it through. She never gave up, and I admire that.

Looking forward to a Caro vs. Maria K. rematch

[pattty]

Wow, it must have been hard fight and no fun to watch but glad she is in 3rd round!

[Protoss]

Hmmm...I just saw this quote from Caro from wednesday: "I'm hitting all my shots well".

Caro said that Piotr said at 1-4 3rd set (I think the quote was referring to then) "If you don't start playing more aggressively or do something different, you're not going to win this match. You don't have anything to lose now". Why wasn't Caro more agressive in the 1st place? King isn't some big hitting, agressive player so Caro really shouldn't find herself in the position of being too defensive.

[BuTtErFrEnA]

good win (thanks for playing the fool tf )

i think playing and winning ugly is a prescription for being a top player....it's not desired to be playing badly, but you've got to know how to win when nothing on court is going your way on your side....it sounds weird but sometimes those matches do more for you than winning easy

hopefully caro picks up her play however, inasmuch as she learns to win ugly, it's not going to cut it against other top players...so build some confidence as you go along caro peak in the later rds

[Protoss]

Originally Posted by BuTtErFrEnA

good win (thanks for playing the fool tf )

i think playing and winning ugly is a prescription for being a top player....it's not desired to be playing badly, but you've got to know how to win when nothing on court is going your way on your side....it sounds weird but sometimes those matches do more for you than winning easy

hopefully caro picks up her play however, inasmuch as she learns to win ugly, it's not going to cut it against other top players...so build some confidence as you go along caro peak in the later rds

Sooner or later you're not gonna be able to escape though.

Peaking in the later rounds seems like a bad idea at this point seeing as Caro can't get to the later rounds.

[Jorn]

Caroline said Vania King did play very well, Caro had to fight for every point. She don't lost hope 1-4 down, but tryed to fight back! We will see tomorrow if MashaK show up in AO form, so it will be more tough for Caro to win...

[Protoss]

Originally Posted by Jorn

Caroline said Vania King did play very well, Caro had to fight for every point. She don't lost hope 1-4 down, but tryed to fight back! We will see tomorrow if MashaK show up in AO form, so it will be more tough for Caro to win...

So someone who's ranked outside the top 50 playing well is almost too much for Caro to handle? It's one thing to struggle the top players playing well but quite another against a much lower ranked player.

Caro says that her opponent played well after a lot of her matches. Sometimes it seems her assessment of her opponent's level of play is pretty inaccurate.

If King did play well, did Caro allow her to? Caro is frequently too passive and not putting pressure on her opponent. King's overall results for the year don't suggest the kind of form that should be close to beating a top 10/top 15 player.

[Protoss]

Here's a short clip from the match against King that I saw on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLtive83SLs

[stangtennis]

Originally Posted by Jorn

Caroline said Vania King did play very well, Caro had to fight for every point.

Has there ever been any match where Caroline has not said that about her opponent?