Alison Van Uytvanck thrilled with consistency after Surbiton Trophy triumph
Alison Van Uytvanck was delighted that her consistent run of form culminated in beating Arina Rodionova to win the LTA’s Surbiton Trophy on Sunday, writes Oli Dickson Jefford.
Seeded second in Surbiton, Van Uytvanck twice rallied from a break down in the first set to beat her Australian opponent 7-6(3) 6-2 and start off her grass court season in fine style.
And it was her response in the first set that she was most pleased with, battling through the opener before taking control of the contest afterwards.
“I think she had a really good start today and I had to hang in there. I think was most proud of my attitude, just staying calm and trying to fight for every ball,” said the Belgian.
“I was saying to myself: ‘OK, you’re doing the best you can, you cannot do anything else.’ That’s helping me and I was happy I was able to raise my level, especially in the second set.
“My level raised throughout the week. I just love to have the low bounces, the serve is important. You have to stay aggressive, that’s what I like on grass and that’s what I had to do all week.
“Also with the variety and the slice, that’s what I also did today as well as be patient a little bit. I’m happy about that.
“I’m very happy. I had a title to defend from last year in Nottingham. I basically defended all the points so I’m really happy and I’m looking forward to continuing for four more weeks on grass. I love to play on grass so I’m very happy with the win.”
Grass is the world No.60’s favourite surface, and she now faces a quick turnaround for her next tournament – a WTA 250 event in the Netherlands.
She added: “My game suits the grass very well, the variety, the aggressive serves and returns, the slice and the drop shot, trying to be aggressive and going to the net. That’s the game that I really like to play and on a grass court it suits really well for that game.
“I’ll try to recover a bit from this. I’m playing s-Hertogenbosch next week, so not a lot of time to recover. I try to do what I did this week, try to continue this way and just have fun.”
For the latest action on the British summer grass court season, check out the LTA Website
