Holy moonball.  I felt it was necessary to document what was a pretty solid contender for “worst match of 2014” featuring Lucie Safarova and Saisai Zheng.  In the end, Safarova dug in deep to secure an incredibly hard fought victory, 6-3 4-6 6-2 in two hours and 36 minutes of moonball madness.  Lucie won the first set, 6-3; the scoreline masks what was a lengthy set, full of long rallies and exhausting deuce games.  Lucie went up a set and a break to lead 6-3 *3-1, but that is when it all started to go a little pear-shaped…

Zheng started to unleash the moonball and it worked big time.  Lucie had such trouble dealing with it and was trying to smash winners, but was hitting miles long and into the net on every occasion.  As a Lucie fan, it was horrible to watch.  Zheng used the tactic smartly; she sealed the important break at 4-4 and then held with ease as Lucie’s head went at the end of the set.  One of the longest breaks in the history of tennis matches then ensued…

When the third set restarted, Zheng continued to implement the moonball strategy regularly although she could have done it even more! Slowly but surely, Lucie started to deal with it better.  She went up *4-0 with Zheng double faulting on break point.  Lucie returned the favour in the next game with a double fault of her own to surrender one of the breaks.  Zheng continued to moonball, but Safarova was working the rallies better.  On her serve, she was able to get the first strike in, bring the forehand into play and take control of at least some of the rallies.  I aged about nine years watching this match, but thankfully, Lucie came through in the end to set up an enticing third round match against Alize Cornet.

This was not a good performance from Safarova.  However what was telling was that she continued to battle and keep plugging away.  At the end of the day, a win is a win and Lucie deserves credit for staying focused in the third set.  I’ve learnt a pretty solid lesson from today… NEVER WATCH A MATCH THAT FEATURES SAISAI ZHENG.  EVER.