The first round qualifying match between Jade Otway and Chelsea Fontanel had the makings of a very good contest, but two rain interruptions didn’t help matters, and I stopped watching after the second one because I needed some sleep ahead of an appointment later in the day. Otway held serve comfortably to start the match, the only point she lost being when she was forced to hit a forehand into the tramlines to end the first good rally. Fontanel improved on that by needing only four serves in the next game, and she hit a beautiful backhand winner down the line off Otway in the third before the rain arrived.
They were off the court for 35 minutes, resuming with a good rally that Fontanel won with a beautiful backhand drop shot, but Otway went on to hold serve again. Unforced errors cost Fontanel dearly when she served again, the last of those giving Otway a break point, and the New Zealander converted it with a fabulous forehand lob onto the baseline. There were two great rallies in the next game, Otway losing both with poor forehands that she hit too far, but she also hit a fabulous inside-out forehand winner between those two errors, and finished the game with a beautiful forehand winner down the near sideline. They both held to love after that, which left Fontanel serving to stay in the set.
There was a fantastic rally on the first point, Fontanel winning it on the 19th shot with a great forehand volley down the left side of the court, but she followed that with three errors, the last being an attempted drop shot which went into the net to give Otway two set points. Another great rally came next, and I thought Otway’s smash at the end had just missed the sideline, but the line judge signalled it was in and Fontanel didn’t query the call. The set had officially taken 32 minutes, but by my reckoning the clock had been running for about four minutes after they stopped for rain. They were just four points into the second set when the rain returned, with Otway facing break points at 15-40, and that was where I stopped watching. It was lucky I did, because they didn’t resume until nearly five hours later.
Otway saved that first break point, but lost the next, and Fontanel held serve to consolidate the break. Otway broke back in the fourth game before hitting a couple of aces on the way to holding again, and got the crucial break in the eighth game. Fontanel saved two break points from 0-40, but not the third, and then couldn’t convert the break point she had in the next game before Otway served out the match after an hour and 15 minutes. The final score was 6-2, 6-3.