A good final!

It was actually an enjoyable final played by two interesting players. I was wondering how Burel would have performed against a player who was not only a big hitter, but who was able also to craft some shots and was, maybe, tactically a bit more aware than the opponents Burel played against in her two previous matches. Honestly, Clara did well; but Liang did even better, demonstrating to be a more mature player than the French (she has been on the tour for longer, anyway) and she deserved to win. The honour goes also to our Elisabetta Cocciaretto, who had two match points in the semi-finals, before surrendering to this solid player.
Liang played a smart match. She has a small and thick frame and can generate very good power from both wings. She slaps nicely the ball (the “sound” of her shots is music!!), and, especially with her forehand, she is able to hit hard and precisely. The Taipei girl excels in playing on the rhythm; she tends to close the point fast, hitting steadily down the line and crosscourt and forcing the opponent to move around “as a wiper”. Liang often misses after having hit four or five shots, but it’s not easy to force her to hit so many of them. She serves slow as she is tiny, but she is really good at finding both angles: during the first set she dominated her service games through external serves and crosscourt winning second shots. Burel took a long time to adjust and return effectively and, as she started to hit some winning returns, Liang switched to hit to the “T” or at the body of the French.
The first set, which lasted only 24 minutes due to the great rhythm imposed by Liang, was difficult for Burel: unlike her previous opponents, Liang was not missing the opportunities when returning the 120 km/h second serves of the French. Clara was thus obliged to force much more than in her previous matches and double faulted several times. And, whilst in her previous matches Burel often hit her first serve at 130 km/h, she never did so against Liang, as she soon realised that she wouldn’t get any benefit nor free points from calm serves. Plus, she had to soon realise that it was no use to try to hit high balls, to slice, or to slow down the rhythm, as Liang showed to be perfectly able to handle such situations: sometimes, it was actually the Taipei girl who made her opponent lose control by lowering her own rhythm! In a short time Liang managed to win the first set by 6-3.
But a good attribute of Burel is that, before giving up, for sure she will try something new: in the second set she managed to hold her first serve quite easily and started to dismantle her opponent tactics by being more aggressive on Liang’s first and second serves: especially, for Liang it was no more so easy to gain points through her serve-forehand scheme and Burel managed to gain an early break. Liang, though, showed again her solidity: she continued to attack her opponent’s second serve, converting any opportunities to gain easy points; even when missing, she had a defined plan to stick to. Burel, instead, is not as solid, yet: she still wasted a bit too many balls, missing badly some shots; sometimes she was stuck with her feet and became lazy (something which I noticed also in previous matches of the French); some other times she just missed too many attacking opportunities, especially when returning the opponent’s second serve. Liang managed then to put pressure again on Burel, who could not miss a first serve without being punished, and reached a 4-2 lead. The last four games were the most interesting ones, since there were a lot of great rallies: Liang had a couple of match points on 5-3, which she did not convert. On 5-4 she managed to hold and won the match, but she had to deal with a couple of break opportunities in favour of her opponent, before lifting the trophy. Unfortunately, in the last points, Burel, being forced to be very aggressive on her opponent serve, missed a couple of forehand returns, and her last opportunities vanished as such.
Liang was experienced and aware enough to find solutions to the variations imposed by the French. But Burel surprised me by playing, during the second set, differently from her previous games: many less tricky shots, not suited to this opponent, and just explosive and shiny tennis: she played most of the second set very aggressively, as she understood that her only choice, today, was to play big and to take risks, and she did this so well. Some of her mistakes derived from a more risky strategy she undertook, some others maybe from inexperience, but she showed some tennis which was pure class and thanks to her intelligence on the court, she posed some issues to Liang who, on her side, was good in solving them.
Today she lost, but the tactical awareness of Burel is magnificent: when she plays big she is highly spectacular, but she does so only if necessary. I think she just needs to play some more matches and gain some further experience as the one she just enjoyed, in order to mature a bit more and waste a bit less; if she does so (and she will, because she owns great tennis skills and a great intelligence) she can become a very good player. I hope to see her in Milan.
But, today, was Liang’s day: she was the better of the two and all praises go to her.