Six-year wait for Australian Open win ends for Moore
By Marc McGowan 8 hours 47 minutes ago
Western Australia's Jessica Moore won her first match on Thursday at the Australian Open since 2009.
West Australian Jessica Moore’s come-from-behind victory over fellow wildcard Fiona Ferro on Thursday doubled the host nation’s representation in Australian Open second-round qualifying.
Moore, who reached round two at her home grand slam as a teenager in 2008 and 2009, looked in strife when Ferro – after winning the first set – twice pulled back a break to draw level in the second set.
But Moore, a relative veteran these days at 24, responded to force a deciding set, which she largely dominated in securing a 1-6 7-5 6-2 triumph.
She kick-started her final-set charge with an outstanding crosscourt backhand return winner to break Ferro in the opening game and added two further breaks to seal her passage.
It was Moore’s first singles or doubles win at the Australian Open in six years.
“It’s frickin’ awesome,” Moore said.
“It’s been a long time and I finally allowed myself to play some good tennis – or better tennis, at least, in the last two sets – so I’m really happy with myself and my team for being so patient.
“I’m really looking forward to tomorrow and, hopefully, starting from the first game this time.”
Moore credited a more aggressive approach for turning the match around after letting the free-swinging, rangy French teenager dictate early.
“I was standing so far behind the baseline and she is a bit of a claycourter and I probably allowed her to push me back and didn’t step up when I needed to,” she said of Ferro.
“But I felt like I did that better halfway through the second set and I started serving a bit better, but credit to her – she’s young and I’m sure we will see a lot more of her.
“I felt like my experience helped me in the last set. She was kind of rushing things ... so I just had to slow her down a bit and I knew I was going to get those errors out of her.”
Moore said she loved being back at Melbourne Park, the scene of some of her greatest on-court deeds, which helped her reach a career-high WTA ranking of 132 in the 2008 season.
She was also relishing the home-crowd support, even if a few French fans proved quite competitive with their Australian counterparts in the dying stages.
“I have awesome memories here. I have played on some big courts and had a lot of support,” Moore said.
“I’m just so thrilled to be back, to be honest. I’m really thankful for getting the wildcard into this week and giving myself a chance to win today.
“I want to remember the prior memories, but I want to have some new ones and better ones, with where I’m at, at the moment, because I feel like I have some good tennis to come.”
Moore spent eight months away from the sport in mid-2011 to see how the other half lived and has taken time to gain her tennis footing again.
She enjoyed a breakthrough at Bendigo in November, when she advanced to her first $50,000 singles quarter-final in six years.
That steered Moore back inside the top 350 and she started this week at No.330, which is as high as she has been since her comeback.
“I have been able to play well, but not as consistently as I would like,” she said.
“I want to keep my body healthy and put myself in a position where I can get the results week in, week out.
“I’m really looking forward to playing some higher tournaments and travelling a bit more this year ... (and) just putting myself out there and giving myself the best chance possible to improve my ranking.”
Moore and Anastasia Rodionova were the only Australian women to progress, with teenagers Naiktha Bains, Maddison Inglis, Kimberly Birrell, Olivia Tjandramulia, Priscilla Hon and Sara Tomic losing.
Moore next faces Alexa Glatch, an American trying to resurrect a once-promising career after injury, while Rodionova locks horns with 11th seed Shahar Peer.