Crowd favourite Alicia Molik has suffered a disappointing defeat at Rod Laver Arena on Tuesday night, leading 6-3, 5-2 and serving for the match before succumbing to Frenchwoman Julie Coin in three sets.
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Before an atmospheric crowd, Coin gradually gained in confidence as Molik imploded, and Coin eventually wrapped up the match 3-6 7-6(4) 6-3 in two hours and 23 minutes.
The Aussie looked in fine form in the first half of the match, serving strongly and dictating play from the back of the court. Coin struggled with both Molik’s game and her own, and looked set to crumble under a barrage of unforced errors.
But instead of closing it out, Molik became passive and tentative. The slip-up was all Coin needed to re-establish herself in the match, and after she claimed a tight second set, it was all one-way traffic.
Molik admitted that she had failed to keep her mind focused when leading in the second set.
“I just started thinking about a lot of other things. Getting off the court. Cooling down. What I would say at the end of the match. Who we were playing in doubles tomorrow. All the things that you shouldn't really be thinking about on the court,” she said.
“My mind slipped away for a couple of minutes, and that was enough to let her back in the match. I didn't even know what happened at the end of second set.
“I felt like to that point I played, you know, not even (in) first or second gear (but I was) still a set and 5-2 up. That's what I was originally going to tell you guys once I had won 6-3, 6-2, that I did have a few more gears to go. But then it slipped away from me. She gained confidence. Very rookie mistake, really, in (all) honesty.”
As the match began, it actually looked as if Coin would be the one to beat; she burst out of the blocks with an early break and hold to lead 2-0.
Molik quickly settled from that point, looking relaxed and swinging freely. Finding the range on her exquisite serve and penetrating forehand, she claimed two breaks of serve and four straight games.
Coin became increasingly error-prone, and Molik maintained her break advantage to claim the first set in 40 minutes.
It was more of the same in the second set, with Molik dictating from the baseline and keeping her French opponent off-balance. She quickly went up 5-2, but everything changed when she served for a place in the second round.
Coin quickly found herself serving for the second set after recording her own streak of four games, but the Australian played steadily in the 11th game to force the set to a tie-break.
Molik’s shot selection cost her dearly in the tie-break – an ill-advised drop shot gave Coin the mini-break to lead 5-3, and although Molik secured the next point, Coin played two solid points on serve to send the match into a third set.
The Frenchwoman dominated from that point on, cutting the unforced errors from her game that had plagued her earlier, and ran Molik all over the court with powerful drives into the corners. She went up 5-2 before an increasingly subdued Rod Laver Arena crowd.
There were glimpses of encouraging play from Molik – she held in the eighth game to force Coin to serve for the match, and saved three match points before finally being put out of her misery.
Molik said she was pleased with her fighting qualities towards the end of the match.
“I started to play fantastic in the last five minutes: being aggressive on returns. I think (I was) doing the right things when push came to shove because I really needed to, because time was running out on the clock late in the third set. But I need to keep that mentality throughout the match,” she said.
“Even when I was match points down and love-40, I still didn't have a fear of losing. (I) still felt like I could win the match. In past years I have been a lot (more) nervy and I didn't feel that today. I was anxious and unsure of myself (in the past).
“All of those things were in place today. It was weird, because obviously there was a big piece missing to the puzzle.”
Coin will meet Francesca Schiavone in the second round. The Italian also recorded a stunning comeback to beat France’s Alize Cornet 0-6 7-5 6-0.
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