Marina finds her feet on clay court
MARINA Erakovic will head into the French Open high on confidence following a good buildup on clay.
The world No 40 may have lost to Japan’s Ayumi Morita in the first round of the Strasbourg WTA tournament last week, but Morita always does well against the New Zealander and, aside from that 6-1 6-3 defeat, Erakovic continues to be in the form of her life.
‘‘I feel pretty good,’’ Erakovic told Sunday News from France.
‘‘I had a tough match against Ayumi, who is someone I’ve struggled against in the past.
‘‘It was one of those days where I couldn’t quite get it going but it’s not something I’m going to dwell on. It was just one of those matches you sometimes have.
‘‘Otherwise, I’m playing pretty well. I’ve had a few practice sessions and I feel like I’m hitting the ball really good.’’
In the tournament before Strasbourg, Erakovic defeated world No 13 Sabine Lisicki from Germany. It was her biggest scalps since she beat now No 1 Victoria Azarenka last July. Erakovic says while she was pleased to get the win against Lisicki, it wasn’t because she is a player with such a high ranking.
‘‘To be honest, I didn’t know what her ranking was when I won that match. It was more to do with the fact that I’d played her a couple of times in the past and had lost, but this time I won,’’ she said.
‘‘The match itself wasn’t that great, neither of us played good tennis, but I fought really hard and managed to grind my way out of it.
In the first round Erakovic plays 93rd-ranked Spaniard Lourdes Dominguez Lino.