By Ros Satar
So the cheering (and maybe the crying) has died down, and the tour picks up pace again with WTA tournaments and Davis Cup ties on the menu, it’s time to set out the report card as to where Brits got to in the first Slam of the year.
Qualifying Rounds
- Q1: Anne Keothavong (WS) – Rank 141
- Q2: Johanna Konta (WS) – Ranked 153
- Q3: James Ward (MS) – Ranked 247
Round 1 (Singles)
- Jamie Baker – Ranked 246 (MS)
Round 1 (Doubles)
- Treat Conrad Huey (PHI) (Ranked 36)/Dominic Inglot (Ranked 39)
- Colin Fleming (Ranked 26)/Jamie Murray (Ranked 78)
- Jamie Delgado (Ranked 60)/Ken Skupski (Ranked 51)
- Laura Robson (Ranked 282)/Timea Babos (HUN) (Ranked 78)
- Heather Watson (Ranked 50)/Marina Erakovic (NZL) (Ranked 58)
Round 2 (Doubles)
- Jonathan Marray (Ranked 18)/Andre Sa (BRA) (Ranked 57)
Round 3 (Singles)
- Laura Robson (Ranked 53)
- Heather Watson (Ranked 50)
Final
- Andy Murray (Ranked 3)
A great start to the year for Jamie Baker, fighting hard through the rounds to get a place in the main draw.
Johanna Konta outperformed Anne Keothavong in ranking terms, but sadly neither made it to the final round of qualifying.
Laura Robson’s victory over the 8th seed Petra Kvitova was the highlight of the main-draw Brit women, although Heather Watson showed how much grit she has, toughing out a hard fought R1.
The challenge will be on for these two to get themselves into the top 32 and earn seedings for the majors.
It should be no surprise that the top-two ranked British men (Colin Fleming – 26, Jonny Marray -18) will be teaming up since Fleming’s regular partner Ross Hutchins is battling Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
However, it was disappointing that none of the teams made it through the early rounds.
And finally, of course Andy Murray was defeated by world number one and defending champion Novak Djokovic.
Murray beat Roger Federer for the first time in a Slam, and reached his third consecutive Slam final.
The expectation is that after some time off, Murray will start the US swing, prior to preparation for the next Slam – The French Open at the end of May.