Hourigan shows fighting qualities despite defeat
New Zealand’s Paige Hourigan showed plenty of potential in her 6-3 6-4 defeat to Bibiane Schoofs in the first round of qualifying at the ASB Classic.
Hourigan, who will soon finish a four-year stint at Georgia Tech in America and head out on the circuit, warranted her status as being one of New Zealand’s top prospects and put in a performance considerably better than last year when she lost 6-2 6-2 to Arina Rodionova, of Australia.
The 20-year-old’s doubles partner in Auckland, fellow Kiwi Erin Routliffe, also put up a strong display against American Jamie Loeb before falling 4-6 6-1 6-3.
After a lengthy battle, Hourigan managed to hold serve in the first game of the match.
She looked to impose herself with an aggressive game, which is the way she played in Auckland when last here a year ago.
Unfortunately, she did blast some shots too long or made unforced errors and although Dutchwoman Schoofs is only ranked 211 in the world, she soon realised that playing consistent tennis would get the job done.
Hourigan settled down and fought back from 4-1 down in the opening set to get the score to 4-3, but the next two games went Schoofs’ way to take the set.
The second set was close, but Schoofs got a break in the eighth game, giving her the opportunity to serve for the match.
On her first match point Hourigan hit a wonderful high forehand volley at full stretch for the winner and eventually the Kiwi got the break back.
But in the next game Hourigan got herself into a hole – down 15-40, she put a backhand into the middle of the net to concede the match.
‘‘I feel like I competed well and tried to get back into it,’’ Hourigan said afterwards.
‘‘There were a couple of points where it could have switched and I missed a few key forehands.
‘‘But other than that, I felt I was OK. I could have made a few more first serves and it could have been a bit better, but that’s OK.’’
Hourigan admitted she was nervous at the beginning of the match and went for too many big shots. But when she got into her groove, there was little between the two players.
‘‘I was a bit nervous,’’ Hourigan said. ‘‘I felt like I needed to move my feet more. When I got my feet going and tried to not to go for too much, I settled down and then it was fine and I got myself into it.
Meanwhile, it was a missed opportunity for Routliffe as she led by a break midway through the deciding set against Loeb only for the American to come over the top.
The 22-year-old was left to rue a poor serve but says she will take plenty from the experience.
‘‘In tennis you have to lose a lot of matches before you win them and I’ll try and take this match, look at what I did well and what I can work on,’’ Routliffe said. ‘‘My serve let me down a little bit and I think she played a good return game. But if I had served a little better it could have gone my way.’’
Routliffe is now looking forward to teaming up with Hourigan in the doubles, where the pair will take part in the main draw after receiving a wildcard.
Elsewhere, New Zealand’s Joanna Carswell didn’t last long against Arantxa Rus, of the Netherlands, losing 6-1 6-0 in 52 minutes.