Elena Baltacha put to bed her Wimbledon demons by powerfully dispatching Petra Martic 6-2, 6-2 in the first round on Monday.
The victory was made sweeter by the fact that this was the opponent the Scot had her dreams crushed by three months earlier when she lost to the Croat under the watchful gaze of the British public in the first round at Wimbledon.
That defeat came with it a wave of negativity towards her as it added to what was a thoroughly depressing day for British tennis, with all apart from Andy Murray losing in the opening round.
There is no nicer way of saying it but Baltacha did well and truly bottle it that day, having been two points away from winning before collapsing with nerves. It has to be said she wasn’t the only Brit to suffer with Anne Keothavong also going down when in a winning position.
However awash all this the British No.1 showed true grit to take down the opponent and reverse the memories which she stated had taken her a while to get over.
“I took that loss quite hard and there were a lot of things to get over after that match but it was one of those things that would make me or break me, admitted the Scot, "I always try to think things happen for a reason, however hurtful, and after Wimbledon really tested me mentally and emotionally. There were a couple of demons there and after today I think I've flicked the demons off my shoulder.”
Baltacha, who is currently ranked 57 in the world and is on the fridges of getting into the top 50 for the first time, has been in fine form all year and a strong performance here will demonstrate her rapid progression.
The 27-year-old has reached the second round of the competition last year, when she showed tremendous fight to come through qualifying to even reach the main draw. Now with the satisfaction of her ranking guaranteeing her a place it is now all about stamping her authority.
If she is to better her previous best at Flushing Meadows she will have to produce a similar performance to defeat this year’s Wimbledon semi finalist Petra Kvitova in the next round.
And if Baltacha wins that then she could send not just a message back to Britain but to the world if she was takes down the reigning US Open champion Kim Clijsters in the third round.
All wrong for Keothavong
Meanwhile, the British No.3 Keothavong could not summon the type of performance her fellow Brit produced as she was defeated 2-6, 6-1, 6-1 to China’s Yung-Jan Chan yesterday.
She admitted that she has been struggling not just mentally but physically at the moment after falling from inside the top world’s 50 to 142 largely down to a bizarre knee injury suffered at the end of last year.
The 26 year old speaking after the loss said: “Who knows what's going to happen after this? I'm going to need time to reassess and decide what I want to do.”
Keothavong has also suffered a number of mental breakdowns especially at Wimbledon and with her confidence now at a significant low point a break not necessarily retirement might be a good option for her.
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