South’s match was scheduled to be amongst the last matches to be played on what had been a humid day in New York. She made light of the heavy evening conditions and a stumbling start to beat beat Renata Voracova 6-3, 7-5.
"It was tough because I haven't played a match in a while and though I'd played practice sets and felt prepared, those are very different to playing an actual match,” said South, who found herself ranked just below the cut-off for many of the American hard-court warm-up WTA Tour events that lead into the US Open. “The first eight points seemed to go by in about five seconds but once I settled down I was fine. It was very windy out there and that made it difficult so I did well to cope with the conditions. Things like playing late and them changing courts can be difficult but you have to expect that, and I just used up the time chatting to my friends on Skype until it was time to get ready. Overall I think it was good, though I started badly. I got tight in a few places but I played the big points well and that's what got me the win." |
