Storm Hunter realized a tough lesson when a cyclonic begin petered out into the tamest whimper at Roland Garros – however she’s adamant she’s proved sufficient by her stirring French Open shows to sign she’s greater than a mere ‘doubles specialist’.
The Queensland southpaw, who’s No.5 on the earth at doubles, by no means did like that tag, as she’s demonstrated earlier than in BJK Cup motion that she will go it alone very properly thanks.
“I don’t like it when people say I’m a doubles player, because that’s not true,” stated the 28-year-old after giving former world No.3 Elina Svitolina a run for her cash on Wednesday earlier than succumbing 2-6 6-3 6-1 of their second-round conflict.
“I don’t see myself as a doubles player or a singles player – I’m a tennis player. I have goals in both.”
And her singles targets have been given an actual enhance throughout every week when the US Open combined doubles champ gained three matches to battle into the primary draw, defeated Spanish participant Nuria Parrizas Diaz, who’s ranked 110 locations larger than her, and reached the last-64 at a slam for the primary time in her profession.
“I didn’t take my chance today, but it’s another experience and something to build on for my singles career,” stated Hunter, after pocketing nearly $160,000 for reaching the second spherical whereas taking a look at a potential bounce within the rankings from 204 to 151.
Rather than being deflated by the way in which Svitolina, who’s on the comeback path after a maternity break, progressively soaked up, modified the tempo of the match and dismantled her attacking strategy, she felt the lesson from such a top quality opponent would solely stand her in good stead for the longer term.
“No, I’m definitely not deflated. She’s a hell of a competitor. An unbelievable player,” stated Hunter, who admitted to a contact of weariness after a lot tennis just lately.
“I don’t have any injuries or anything. It’s just that I lost my legs a little bit in a few of those games and, against the best players in the world, you don’t get second chances.
“I’ll simply take plenty of confidence with my sport and my stage. I performed 5 actually good high quality matches.
“My level is really high. I competed really well in every single match. I guess I have that belief in my game and that I can play at this level, you know, beat really good players – I think that’s the biggest thing I will take out of it.”
Her Roland Garros just isn’t over but, although. She and Belgian Elise Mertens, the No.3 seeds, will start their doubles marketing campaign on Friday.
Source: www.perthnow.com.au
