Robin Anderson hit two aces in her opening game against Lulu Sun in Calgary this afternoon, but she lost the first three of the other points through unforced errors before being forced to overhit a cross-court backhand and lose her serve. Sun started with a beautiful inside-out forehand winner and didn’t look back. Anderson started her second game with another ace, and she got on the board when the only point she lost was to a beautiful inside-out forehand winner from Sun to end the first good rally of the match. Two overhit forehands dropped Sun back to deuce in the next game, but she won the game when forcing Anderson into return errors on the next two points.
Sun then hit a beautiful cross-court forehand passing shot to win a short rally when Anderson served, but it was the only point she won. She followed that with another comfortable hold before hitting a beautiful inside-out forehand winner off Anderson, but the American went on to hold serve after a deuce. Sun held comfortably again before Anderson hit back to back aces and a beautiful inside-out forehand winner on the way to taking the next game, but that still left Sun serving for the set. Her first shot went into the roof, and a double fault gave Anderson two chances to break back. Sun saved the first with a fabulous inside-out forehand winner, but another double fault levelled the scores.
It didn’t look like that situation would last very long when Anderson went down 0-40 in the next game, Sun winning the first of those points with a fabulous backhand winner down the line to end another good rally. Anderson got safely to deuce when she finished a great short rally with another inside-out forehand winner, but Sun hit a much better one to land on the baseline and give her the advantage. A cross-court forehand into the tramlines from Anderson conceded the game, and Sun had a second chance to serve out the set. There weren’t any mistakes from her this time, ending with three unreturnable serves, and the set was all over after 41 minutes.
The second set started with two holds to love, and it should have been three. Sun’s return of the first point in the third game landed so far over the baseline it was almost onto Anderson’s foot, and yet it wasn’t called out. Not surprisingly, Anderson’s forced response had gone back into the net, but the umpire wouldn’t change his call. Unlike the men’s Challenger matches at the same venue, the women only have centre and sideline judges. Sun hit a fabulous overhead volley in the next game, but she gave away a break point with a backhand into the tramlines, and conceded the game when she overhit a backhand to end a great rally. Two easy holds followed, Sun needing just four serves as she finished her game in a minute and three seconds.
They each lost a good rally with a forehand into the net at the start of Anderson’s game, the highlight being a fabulous backhand return down the right sideline by the left-handed Sun. An overhit forehand from Anderson conceded a break point, but she saved that with a great serve that saw Sun’s return go into the net. Anderson followed that with a beautiful cross-court backhand winner before forcing Sun to hit a backhand into the net. Sun now needed to hold to keep the set alive, but an overhit backhand gave Anderson a chance to finish it off. Another beautiful inside-out forehand winner from Sun snuffed out that chance, but she misjudged a backhand after the third deuce when the ball had touched the net cord on the way to her, and dumped a forehand into the net to end a great rally on the following point. The game was the longest of the match, at just under seven and a half minutes, and the set had taken 31.
Sun started the third set the same way she had the first, by breaking Anderson’s serve, but again it was more a case of self-destruction. Sun won the next game, despite two double faults, finishing with a fabulous forehand winner down the line. Anderson then had to save a break point after overhitting a forehand, and did so by ending a great rally after 15 shots with her own stunning forehand down the line. Sun was then forced into an error to give away the advantage, but hit a poor backhand volley way over the baseline to lose a great rally, and the game.
Anderson and Sun each hit a great cross-court forehand winner in the next game as Sun held again, with Anderson starting her next game by hitting a fabulous inside-out backhand winner into the corner. She lost the next three points, though, before hitting another lovely cross-court forehand, but she lost the game with a double fault. Three unreturnable serves in a row finished Sun’s next game, with Anderson holding comfortably to keep the match going. She did appear to be robbed of an ace along the way when the centre line judge called the ball wide, but it looked to me to have comfortably hit the line and, in any case, she won the great rally on her second serve.
Sun thumped another mishit into the roof in the next game, but two unreturnable serves gave her a first match point. She not only double faulted to go to deuce, but did it again to lose the game after hitting a backhand over the baseline to give Anderson the advantage. The American then held comfortably again, winning another great rally when she forced Sun into a backhand error, but that still left Sun with her second chance to serve out the match.
She smashed away a beautiful inside-out volley to end another good rally and get a second match point, and they saved the best rally for last. It was a fantastic exchange which went for 16 shots, and it was a pity that it ended with an unforced error when Anderson hit her final backhand over the baseline. The match had lasted for an hour and 57 minutes, the final score being 7-5, 2-6, 6-4. In the second round on Friday morning Sun will play Slovakian qualifier Martina Okalova.