Mexico Blog, Week 2, CoatzacoalcosThe second week of our trip was a short flight away, a place on the coast, called Coatzacoalcos. The first thing that hit us when we got off the plane was how much more humid it was here than in Toluca. We were definitely going to need plenty of fluids and plenty of changes of kit this week.

To shake the journey off we decided to go down to the club and do some fun physical stuff - which turned out to be a mammoth game of aerobie (some of the attempts at catching from Anna and Stefy were embarrassing to say the least!) During the previous week, Jason had laid down a challenge to the ‘A Team’ (Anna Fitzpatrick and Anna Hawkins), that Stefy and himself would beat them in a set. Needless to say the challenge was accepted, and after a valiant attempt, the A Team succumbed to a 6-4 defeat, much to the delight of Jason, who celebrated by doing ‘the worm’ on court!

The girls were housed together this week, with a family from the club: Carlos (Dad), Aurora (Mum), Alexis, 12, Karla, 7, and Lisset (the little legend), 4. They certainly landed on their feet as the house was massive, and even had a swimming pool with a waterfall! We would really like to thank the Arias family for making us feel so welcome in their home, for showing us around the city, and the two most important things; taking us to the theme park, and introducing us to Horchata de Coco! Wow!

Stefy was first match on Wednesday (as Tuesday was washed out by thunder storms), and played much more aggressively than she had in any of her 3 matches last week, but went down 6-4 6-2 against Rehberger of Spain. She made up for that disappointment later though, by teaming up with her Czech partner Nikola Frankova to knock out the number one seeds Piedade (POR) and Esperon (esp) 7-5 1-6 10-7.

Anna had what could have been a tough draw on paper, an Indian girl called Shikha Uberoi, who was ranked as high as 122 in the world before an injury in 2006. After an indifferent start, Anna came out a comfy winner 7-6(2) 6-2. Later that day, the A Team managed to put the disappointment of losing to Boffa and Torpey behind them, winning their first round doubles match 6-4 7-5.

In the second round Anna had to play against an American girl, Litvak, who had come through qualifying and was a very solid player. Unfortunately, after a positive start, Anna struggled to find her game and lost 6-4 6-3. However, both girls advanced to meet each other in the semis of the doubles, Stefy and Nikola easily beating wild cards, and the A Team beating the same team they’d beaten 1st round in Toluca, Verhulsdonk (NED) and Covello (CAN), by almost the same score, 6-4 5-7 10-4.

At the start of the trip, Jason had promised to wear a pink shirt - which had been given to him by Nike, by mistake - if any of the girls made a final, so with both girls playing each other, Jason would definitely be wearing it the next day (although after spending a little too long topless and without suncream during Anna’s 1st round singles match he already looked like he had his very own ‘pink shirt’ on anyway!)

The match was extremely close, with the A Team taking the first set 6-4, but Stefy and Nikola storming back to take the second 6-2. The match tiebreak went to 16-16 before the A Team finally managed to win it after numerous match points, 18-16!

The final was scheduled for 7pm on Saturday, which if it ended up being an epic like the semi final, could have been very interesting as we had a bus to catch at 10.30pm to take us to Irapuato for the next tournament! Thankfully the A Team were in control from the first point, and roared on by their host families - and their coach in the pink shirt - ran out 6-2 6-2 winners against the number 4 seeds, Irigoyen and Lepore (both ARG).

Overall, it was a better week in terms of standard of tennis and results from the girls but there was also an opportunity lost for good points in the singles. There was however, a great response from them both in the doubles, so hopefully they can continue their form into next week.