05-25-2022, 12:30 PM
(This post was last modified: 05-25-2022, 01:39 PM by ColoradoTree.)
Ewing serves to start off the third, and it's quickly 15-40. But then Ma doesn't follow through on a forehand and it sails long, and then she dumps another routine ground stroke into the net, and then Ewing controls deciding point. Ma is giving Ewing lots of extra chances, and Ewing is too good a player not to capitalize on some of them.
From being up 6-2, 4-2, Ma now trails in the match for the first time. Ewing is talented, sure, but make no mistake--Ma is doing this to herself. She had Ewing absolutely beaten, and she let her start to believe.
A Ewing mishit gives Ma new life on her serve, and she takes advantage on deciding point to make it 1-1. Can she reassert herself here and show some of that same fire from the first and early second sets?
Reader, she cannot. Some Ma errors help Ewing hold at love, and it's a 2-1 Ewing lead in the third. This is frustrating, so I'm going to ignore the match for a little while in the hopes things turn around without me.
And my absence worked! I just checked in on the score, and Ewing was serving at 4-4, 30-30. Ma then won the next two points to go up 5-4 in the third, and she'll serve for the match next. This match is only still being played because Ma failed to finish Ewing off when she had the chance. Well, she's got a chance to redeem herself here.
Aaaand Ewing breaks. Sigh. Never mind.
On what seems to be the millionth deciding point on Ewing's serve this match, she converts to go up 6-5 and Ma will serve to force a deciding tiebreaker.
She holds and it's a tiebreaker!
From being up 6-2, 4-2, Ma now trails in the match for the first time. Ewing is talented, sure, but make no mistake--Ma is doing this to herself. She had Ewing absolutely beaten, and she let her start to believe.
A Ewing mishit gives Ma new life on her serve, and she takes advantage on deciding point to make it 1-1. Can she reassert herself here and show some of that same fire from the first and early second sets?
Reader, she cannot. Some Ma errors help Ewing hold at love, and it's a 2-1 Ewing lead in the third. This is frustrating, so I'm going to ignore the match for a little while in the hopes things turn around without me.
And my absence worked! I just checked in on the score, and Ewing was serving at 4-4, 30-30. Ma then won the next two points to go up 5-4 in the third, and she'll serve for the match next. This match is only still being played because Ma failed to finish Ewing off when she had the chance. Well, she's got a chance to redeem herself here.
Aaaand Ewing breaks. Sigh. Never mind.
On what seems to be the millionth deciding point on Ewing's serve this match, she converts to go up 6-5 and Ma will serve to force a deciding tiebreaker.
She holds and it's a tiebreaker!