4th July 9 pm - Match update from Fuzhou

I lost a close match today in the 2nd round qualies in Fuzhou. I lost to Jin 4-6,6-0,3-6 with the match lasting 2.5 hrs.
I was surely better prepared for the heat as compared to the last match. My opponent was not the stereo type Chinese player. This girl could slice, come to the net and had a lot of variety. She started the set well,was making me move around with her slice. I was able to raise my game in the 2nd set mainly because I decided to hit the serves harder. I did put up a good fight int he 3rd when I was down 1-3, but could not outlast her and my resolve started to break at 4-3 in the final set. Overall,I felt that my game was on par with these girls and though I never wanted to talk about the "H" word, unfortunately, it did come down to that. The heat did play a huge role and I will need to be in better physical shape to beat the 16-17 year olds in their turf.

Among the 40-50 Chinese girls here, almost 98% of them are huge potential for the next few years. And these are the unranked bunch who are waiting to make it to the next rung. There are already more than a handful of them between 200 and 600 in the world. China will become the next tennis superpower in the women in the next 5 years. I think India and even the USA can take a lot of cues from the Chinese Tennis Federation.