So I duly did as I was told (well she was cooking all my Mauritian faves) and... GOT ‘EM! I came charging down the stairs and she looked up and said “you came down like you used to thump down the stairs when you were 5... I knew you got them by the sound” Awwwww
I was so discombobulated I clicked on the first collection option available of collecting at the Box office... weird! Normally you get to print out the tickets??
Or so I thought – when we got to the Ticket Collection thingummy – they said that for the Semis and the finals ALL Ticketmaster tickets would have to be collected in person. That coupled with the checking the other day against a list for the first time – they’re taking ticket fraud seriously – compare and contrast the plethora of touts at Roland Garros – there are still one or two at Southfields but nothing compared to what it was like in Paris.
Our challenge today was going to be to get back in time to try for a single ticket for the men’s Semi’s to see Andy... we stood a chance – sure we were going to miss some dubs (and as it turned out we’d have missed the spectacle that was “veterans” Hingis and Kournikova – but mum was going to be heading back on the Friday morning, and she was definitely getting all tennissed out by now!
So – lunch (noodles) for two and a we headed up to the gods – where it was decidedly chilly!
So – first look at Pironkova – and I will add her to the “fearless” category – there was absolutely NO sign of Centre Court nerves or Semi final nerves.
From the start they had strong holds – rallies hitting deep, and especially a strong hold by Vera in the face of some blistering passing shots by Pironkova. She’s fast and strong at the net and injects a fair degree of pace – enough to get her to a break point – and a lucky netcord gave her the break at 4-2. She can hit fast both from the baseline and on the run – and consolidated her break quite easily.
This was going to be an interesting test for Vera – she held her nerve and actually stepped up her quality of play to hold at 3-5 leaving Pronk to serve it out – no such chokathon displays – served it out and went a set ahead.
I was curious to see how Vera would cope – and she came out strong. Held to love and where in the first set she seemed to be wrong-footed/on the back foot dealing with the cannonballs coming from the other end – she started to inject some pace herself. Pronk just wasn’t giving her ANY rhythm on her shots but Vera was holding her own in this set with another hold to love. She created a good few chances to break in the 4th and there was great net play from them both – they mirrored an exchange between them with Pironkova had gotten the better of her.
Vera had to keep the nerves in check to stay ahead with serve and she managed to break to go up 4-2. She consolidated... JUST! All the while Pronk was just going at her hammer and tongs – leaving Vera to actually have to serve out the set.
Everyone was all geared up for a storming decider – and again Vera started it strongly with a break. Things started to unravel a bit for Pronk – she took a slip and also had a bit of a dodgy call which put Vera in the driving seat. Pronk started to have trouble holding her serve – but struggled through but range was going and UEs were beginning to come thick and fast now – we often say it about JJ but I think in the third, Vera’s experience really started to serve her well.
She took another break in the 5th to go up 4-1 with some amazing rallies and shotmaking and held on to go 5-1.
Pronk mustered up a bit of guts to hold and gawd help us Bepa was going to have to serve it out for a place in the Final – I was tweeting to Keira123 that she was strangely calm and that it was like the universe was upside down. She reckoned Bepa had been calmer than any of us! She was so gracious in her interview and I thin Pironkova really acquitted herself well... she was attacking all the time, not giving Bepa any time on her shots... coming in to the net – retrieving well ... thumping hard... it was a great match...
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