Erakovic pushed but through
Marina Erakovic may have picked up her first win of the year at the Australian Open last night, but she said it’s the match she’s played the worst in.
Erakovic beat France’s Irena Pavlovic 7-5 7-6 last night to advance to the second round, but afterwards she said she played better in the losses to Angelique Kerber at the ASB Classic and Yanina Wickmayer in Hobart over the past two weeks.
‘‘I felt I didn’t play very well at all,’’ Erakovic said. ‘‘I felt tight and I just won because I hustled a lot and got a lot of balls back.
‘‘I tried hard to play my game and go out and hit the ball, but sometimes you’re tight, you want to do well, but the body isn’t letting you play well.
‘‘At the end of the day I’m happy I won the match, but it is tough when you want to do well and the body isn’t loose.
‘‘In Auckland I felt I played heaps better and in Hobart, but not so well today and I won, but that’s sometimes the way tennis goes.
‘‘I’m hitting the ball well, but it’s just a matter of getting those nerves behind me and going out just playing and being more relaxed.’’ There was a crowd of around 400 crammed around court 15 for her match against Pavlovic with around 390 of those people passionately supporting her.
Those who had come to watch Erakovic play had to be patient as her match did not start until 8.10pm, three hours later than had been anticipated.
‘‘I came in later in the day, warmed up around 4.30pm, it wasn’t too bad,’’ Erakovic said. ‘‘Sometimes this happens, everything can be- come a distraction if you let it, so you’ve just got to deal with things.
‘‘For me the hardest bit was getting used to the change from daylight to dark, I had to adjust and didn’t really see the ball that well.’’
There aren’t many players like Pavlovic Erakovic meets on the circuit. She holds the racquet with two hands from both sides and tries to knock the skin off the ball every time it comes over her side of the net.
It’s because of this that Erakovic was pushed so hard and wasn’t able to win either set comfortably.
‘‘I definitely have struggled with big hitters in the past,’’ Erakovic said. ‘‘But it’s something that I’ve got heaps better at.
‘‘You don’t get a lot of rhythm, you get a couple of games where you get one shot and that’s it, it’s not like you get into a groove.’’
Erakovic plays Christina Mchale tomorrow in the second round. The American caused an upset yesterday by defeating the 24th seed Lucie Safarova from the Czech Republic.
Mchale played at the ASB Classic a fortnight ago and was trounced by Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1 6-1.
Although Erakovic has never played against Mchale, she does know what to expect from her.
‘‘She’s a good up and comer from the US,’’ Erakovic said of the 19-year-old.
‘‘I think I’ve seen her train in Florida sometimes where I’m at.
‘‘It will be a good match, I saw her play a bit in Auckland and my coach Chris [Zahalka] knows her quite well.
‘‘I know she has a solid backhand, I’ve got to play my game. Usually after the first round you start to play better and hopefully that’s the case.’’