Hourigan, Robson exit in the first round
It wasn’t a day that didn’t live up to the expectations of Kiwi Paige Hourigan, but she should take plenty from her first round exit from qualifying at the ASB Classic.
The 19-year-old from Turakina did put up some resistance in her 6-2 6-2 loss to Arina Rodionova in the final match on Centre Court.
She tried to bring her aggressive game to the Australian ranked 995 places higher than her in the world rankings. But Rodionova was just too consistent yesterday and played a good defensive game.
‘‘She was hitting all the lines and playing really well,’’ Hourigan said afterwards.
‘‘I struggled to neutralise the ball because she was hitting it so well.
‘‘I tried my hardest, my first serve wasn’t going as well as I wanted it to, but it was a good opportunity.’’
Hourigan was on the same court a few weeks before this match, in the final of the New Zealand championships, which she lost to Jade Lewis.
She’ll head back to Georgia Tech College for the next year and a half, but during this trip to Auckland she’s demonstrated that she’s a real battler, with a big heart.
‘‘It’s been good to come home and play some tennis,’’ she said.
‘‘The ASB Classic wildcard was definitely what I wanted, but this wasn’t the result I came out here looking for, I didn’t really play my best.
Britain’s Laura Robson had hoped to start the year off on a good note with a win on Centre Court in an earlier match.
The former world No 27 is
She was hitting all the lines and playing really well. I struggled to neutralise the ball because she was hitting it so well. I tried my hardest, my first serve wasn’t going as well as I wanted it to, but it was a good opportunity. Paige Hourigan
languishing at 222 in the world rankings as she makes slow progress from a year and a half out of the game because of a wrist injury.
She played Tereza Martincova from the Czech Republic in the first round of qualifying and after a shaky first set, which she lost 6-3, found some rhythm to battle back from a break down to take the second 7-5. In the third she had four match points but couldn’t nail any of them and ended up losing 10-8 in the third set tiebreak after two and a half hours of tennis.
Not surprisingly, she left the court devastated.
Following that match Auckland born, Canada raised Erin Routliffe played in a match of equal length, going down to Dalila Jakupovic from the Czech Republic 6-3 6-7 6-3.
The lanky Routliffe is currently at the University of Alabama but will finish up later this year and hit the circuit full time.
There have been suggestions that she could switch allegiances back to New Zealand and she has had meetings with Tennis NZ’s high performance director Simon Rea over the past couple of weeks.
Given the low stocks New Zealand has with women tennis players, she could become a prized asset for the country’s Fed Cup team.