Anna Fitzpatrick got through to the final round of qualifying of the Grade 1 Eddie Herr Junior Championships before bowing out in three sets to Taylor Ormond from Canada.  Just one round away from securing her place in the main draw, Anna is hopeful she might still qualify for a lucky loser place.

At the Nick Bollettieri Sports Academy in Bradenton Florida it took Anna three sets before emerging as victor in the first round of qualifying.  Pitched against American Alexandra Angelescu, Anna breezed through the first set taking it 6-1 due to a combination of aggressive play and a flurry of errors from her opponent.

A lapse in the second set brought on by Anna failing to dominate as she had done in the first, allowed Angelescu to regain her confidence and win the second set 6-4.  Tied at one set all Anna had her work cut out.  By now her opponent had established a rhythm and Anna desperately needed to swing the momentum back into her favour.  Starting to move through the ball again as she had done at the beginning of the match Anna finally won, defeating Angelescu 6-4 in the third. 

The second round was far more straight forward with Anna beating Itsuka Kurihara from the USA 6-3 6-1.  However, despite the comfortable win Anna knew she had to up the level of intensity if she was going to get through to the main draw.

The final round of qualifying saw Anna face Taylor Ormond and experience a real change in pace.  The Canadian hit the ball hard and flat, both on her ground strokes and serve and it took Anna the entire first set and half of the second to get used to the increased speed.

At 3-0 down in the second set Anna began to move through the ball with more ease and get to the net more often.  A couple of key volleys at the right time enable her to win the second set 6-3.

However, at 2-1 down in the final set a missed volley by Anna set the tone.  Struggling to break Ormond’s serve and missing three crucial forehands at 3-4 down, Anna eventually lost the set 6-4.

“Overall I’m disappointed because I could have won that game at 3-4 down in the third and I think that would have given me enough confidence to finish the match off.  More importantly a match like this is the kind of match that I must be comfortable in and start winning now.”