It wasn’t anywhere near as bad as the walloping she got in Cairns two weeks ago, but Monique Barry has again been beaten by Ivana Popovic, this time in the first round of singles in Playford. Barry got the perfect start when she broke Popovic’s serve in the first game, but she lost her own straight away, despite having game points before each of the three deuces. Barry saved two more break points in the fourth game, but she couldn’t make any more progress. She was able to win only seven more points as Popovic won the next four games to complete the set after 35 minutes.
Barry looked like starting the second set the same way as the first, taking Popovic to 15-40, but she couldn’t convert either of the break points. She had another break point at 30-40 in the third game before having to save two against her in the fourth. Popovic then held comfortably in the fifth before the sixth game saw the first of four consecutive breaks of serve. Barry had been up 40-15, and also had the advantage after the first deuce, but couldn’t round it out, but she broke straight back when Popovic double faulted to lose the next game. Barry was again up 40-15 when she served next, and that was when I got home and was able to start watching. I obviously wasn’t a good luck charm, as Barry then lost four points in a row with unforced errors, but she got another break when Popovic ended the 13 shot rally on the last point of the next game by hitting a forehand into the net.
Popovic still had the lead through serving first, so Barry had to hold to stay in the match. Popovic ended a great 14 shot rally with an inside-out forehand winner, and that gave her a first match point. Barry saved that by forcing her into a forehand error before getting the advantage with a fabulous forehand down the line that Popovic could only jam into the ground. Barry’s repeat of that on the next point was even better, because Popovic didn’t get near the ball. It helped the Australian immensely when Barry gifted her three unforced errors to help her hold serve next up, and that meant Barry would be serving to stay in the match. It was all over after four unforced errors in a row, the first one and last two going into the net and the other into the tramlines. It was a disappointing end to what had been a pretty good fightback. The final score was 6-2, 7-5, and the match took an hour and 24 minutes.