Math reports by Giovanni Vianello
Osaka b. Wolfe
A spectacular match opened the centre court program in Hobart today, even though it didn’t involve high ranked players. The match was between Jarmila Wolfe, an Australian Wild Card, and Naomi Osaka, born in 1997 from Japan and who came from the qualification draw. The match saw both players displaying nice strokes, with the Australian coming sometimes to the net and the Japanese hitting hard with her forehand. In the first set, Jarmila Wolfe conquered an early break and served for the set on 5-3, but was then broken. The set ended in a tie-break, which saw Wolfe wasting three set point from the score of 6-3 on, but she, in the end, won the set concluding the tie-break 8-6. In the second set Wolfe again went up of a break, but this time wasn’t able to serve for the set, Osaka counter-broke her before it could happen. The second set too finished in a tie-break, this time with the Asian prevailing 10-8 after saving two match points, with one of those on Wolfe’s serve. In the third set the quality of the match lowered a bit, especially with Wolfe starting to hit unforced errors in big quantity. Osaka went up of a break in two occasions, one on 2-1 and one on 3-2, with this last one being the deciding one. Wolfe fought until the end, saving three match points, two with her serve on 5-3 and one on Osaka’s serve, but eventually the younger Japanese prevailed 6-4.
Cibulkova b. Konta
In the second match on centre court, Dominika Cibulkova and Johanna Konta competed one against the other. Competition, though, is quite a big word, the two players looked like they challenged each other on who played worst. The match was filled up with unforced errors and double faults. In the first set, the Slovakian gained a 5-1 lead, but then lost 4 games in a row. The set finished in a tie-break, which saw Konta having 5 consecutive set-points on the 6-1 score, but incredibly Cibulkova eventually won the breaker 8-6 and so the set. In the second set Konta was twice leading with a break of advantage, but was both of the times caught by Cibulkova, who in the end broke definitively her opponent on 5-5 (with Konta having led 40-0). Cibulkova, after failing a first match point with a double fault, won the match at the second chance.
Bouchard b. Mattek-Sands
The most waited match of the day, Eugenie Bouchard against Bethanie Mattek-Sands, resulted in a delusion. The encounter saw the Canadian dominating from the beginning to the end, being always in advantage in terms of score. Bouchard looked today in bright form, certainly not the player who lost at last year’s Wimbledon first round. Mattek-Sands tried to do something by coming often to the net, especially with the serve and volley, but most of the times was passed by the brilliant Bouchard of today, who also dominated baseline rallies. Bouchard only had a little black-out while leading 3-0 in the first, when she lost her serve and let the American regain up to 2-3 down, but then won 9 out of the ten following games
Watson b. Pereira
The evening session match was between Heather Watson, from U.K. and Teliana Pereira, from Brasil. The match, after a battled start, saw the British easily winning over the Brasilian, whose game looks more effective on clay, given that she often uses high and top-spun balls. In the first set, Pereira broke Watson on the score of 1-1, but Watson immediately caught her opponent back. On 2-2, Watson struggled again on her serve, but this was the last time. On 3-2 in advantage of the British, Watson broke again the Brasilian, and this was the deciding game, since the player from that game on held their own serve and the first set ended 6-3. Heather Watson grew up in form in the second set, and Pereira didn’t seem to have a clue of what she was doing, so the set, about which there isn’t anything more to tell, finished 6-0.
