Day 5, Part 3 Tennis: Eastbourne

A STUDIO: Welcome to Devonshire bark.

You left us an hour ago with Heather Watson really on the ropes in the

semifinal against Caroline Wozniacki, but she landed a barrage

of blows in the second set and now we are in the third, live, on serve,

on a knife edge, really. This game could go anyway. Let's go to Gigi

Salmon and Sam Smith. COMMENTATOR: This is the business

end of the deciding set in the Eastbourne semifinal.

Watson has been more aggressive at the end of the second set, to take

it into this decider. Facing a player with 25 singles titles, one

of them here, world number six. She is playing one of the best match

players on the tour, someone who does not fear these situations. She

thrives when it is close and she has to battle.

Her father and coach and hitting partner of Wozniacki watching on.

The first meeting between them on grass, but the third overall. The

previous two coming last year. The head-to-head is level.

Fairly consistently first serve today. Heather's serving has been a

feature of her success this week, and in this match.

Great ball striking from both players, but Watson brings up a game

point. Look where she is, toes write-up on

the baseline. That has been a factor in the first set. A couple of metres

behind, it has improved dramatically in the past hour.

What a shot from Heather Watson. Wozniacki will go for the challenge.

And it was right to challenge. The crowd settles back down. We find

ourselves at deuce. How important is the technology? This is why we have

it, for pivotal movements. -- moments. Great to see Heather really

going for it, getting on the front foot and looking to make it happen.

A nice 1- to punch from Watson off the serve.

And that is the game. One hour and 53 minutes on court. Nothing to

split these two. Caroline Wozniacki coming into this

contest had spent half the time on court than Watson had. She had been

despatching her opponent until she met the world number two, Simona

Halep, in the last round. Interesting, new balls here. Some

players like them. Neither of these two have changed their brackets,

which you would see on the men's tour. And I wonder how secure

Heather feels in continuing to be aggressive with these new balls.

Wozniacki is also serving as good as she has been in this match. In the

high 70s. Constantly taking something off the first serve,

because she is managing an abdominal injury and she does not want to be

fallout, to a full extension. As a result, the first serve

percentage has gone up. Wozniacki took a medical time-out of

the court after the seventh game of the second set to treat that injury.

Had the trainer on a couple of times since, to apply tape to the area.

That was a confident and comfortable hold for Caroline Wozniacki, winner

here in 2009 and in her fourth Eastbourne semifinal will stop

putting her within one game to returning to the final. I'm sure

Heather, in her mind will be, just hold serve, put what pressure you

can back on Caroline Wozniacki. She is the one under pressure in this

deciding set. Although she broke first, she was immediately broken

back and since then Caroline has only lost four points in the last

three service games. She has found a comfortable place with the injury

and her serving rhythm. Heather, in the past couple of service games,

she has had to battle through. And the hold to love from Caroline

Wozniacki, puts pressure on Heather. We are on serve, but I feel momentum

with Wozniacki, and she is as tough as they come in these situations.

She has done a lot of wedding this year. 34 match wins on the main

tour, Heather has nine. It is in these conversations at the end of

these matches, where that stat matters. By contrast, Watson had won

only five top-level matches this year before this tournament. That

was the difference between them coming into this.

The pressure on Heather Watson as dark clouds gather above Centre

Court. We have avoided them so for. Watson with it all to do.

The coaching team of Caroline Wozniacki watch on.

It did not miss by much. Wozniacki going for the challenge. She is

pretty good with the technology, Caroline, two from two in this

match. Heather zero from three. There we go, she is three from

three. That is the shot of the match, it was extraordinary. It just

puts a little pressure on Watson here.

Great play from Heather Watson. Once again she drew the short ball, she

came in, she attacked. Before the score is confirmed we

will have a challenge to get through.

UMPIRE: Miss Watson is challenging the call.

Heather Watson confident the ball did miss. She has not been

successful, as Sam said, with her challengers. But there we go.

Success for Watson with Hawk-Eye. Write to take it on but she did not

quite moved her feet to make room for the swing. I think it was a

better second serve than she was thinking might happen, but good to

see the intent and that will certainly be logged by Wozniacki if

she has another second serve in this game.

Yes, that is when she just armpit. She did not load onto the right leg,

she did not get the hit back -- she armed it.

There is the frustration from Heather Watson. She felt she should

have done better. It means Caroline Wozniacki is again within one game

of booking a place in the final. Sam, as much as you can teach the

technical, you can sit down and work on the mental side of things, when

you are out there, the nerves hit. You mentioned the tension in a

couple of shots from Heather. It does not matter how much you talk

about it, I imagine you cannot replicate being out on the court in

those situations. As Billie Jean King has said many times, poor

technique breaks down under pressure and it is well-known in the locker

room, Heather's forehand can be good when she is confident and committed

to it that you want to go there in the big moments because she tends to

fear it and not commit to the shot and often make a mistake. She was

just starting to get to Wozniacki at 30-30 and then missed two forehands.

You cannot do that, Caroline is one of the best in the world. If Heather

can address that and the second serve, which has looked better in

the matchup, the ranking will take care of itself. With the live

rankings, should Heather Watson's run at Eastbourne and here she will

remain 102. If she won the title, she would go to 69. 470 points up

for grabs. Carolina Pliskova, she has defended her find points from

last year. He will she face? -- who will she face?

It is the difference for Watson between waiting for something to

happen and making it happen. She kind of walks that line carefully,

sometimes too carefully, in so many of her matches.

A good change up again from Watson. I have not seen the drop shot for a

while from Heather Watson. I have been watching Caroline since

she was 15, winning junior Wimbledon, and I have to say, her

work ethic, her desire to scramble for every ball, I do not think I

have ever seen her give up on a single ball on court in all those

years. Match points, Caroline Wozniacki,

two of them for the Dane and world number six.

There it is. Heather Watson's great run at Eastbourne is over and it is

the world number six winner here in 2009. Her father and hitting partner

get on their feet. A lovely embrace from the players at the net by

Caroline Wozniacki goes through to the final, it has taken two hours

and nine minutes. A huge smile as he would expect on the face of the

Dane, because she is through against Heather Watson.

Great reception for Heather Watson from the crowd and she applauds them

herself. What a week at Eastbourne, in as a wild card, 126 in the

rankings. As we see the father of Caroline Wozniacki making his way

around the court. Her hitting partner was formerly with Serena

Williams. There was a slight abdominal problem with Caroline

Wozniacki, so we will have to keep an eye out for that. For the first

time since 2009, and she fell in the semifinal 2013, 14 and 15, but back

in the final since 2009. On that occasion she won. She will look for

singles title number 26. What a perfect way to set up going into

Wimbledon. The sun is still shining. We have avoided the rain. And here

is Caroline Wozniacki speaking with Annabel Croft.

Well played, a terrific contest, over two hours. What made the

difference in the final set? It could have gone both ways, honestly.

Heather and I have played two times before and both of them were tough

matches. I knew it would be difficult. I got lucky today. It did

not look like luck. You pulled out terrific tennis. What did she do

that was so tricky and what did you do particularly well? She is a great

player, she mixes up the pace and serves well and on the grass she

really knows how tactically to play it. A lot of credit to her. You

played a lot of tennis yesterday. You are probably suffering

physically today. You had treatment. How are you feeling physically? We

played seven sets in a day and a half, it is a lot. I am happy to be

through to the final and it is great to be hair. It is your fourth final

this year and second at Eastbourne and you will face Karolina Pliskova.

You have a good record against her but your first meeting on the grass.

What match do you expect? She will be more rested. She did not play

today. I will go out and do my best. I have been grinding all week and

fighting and I feel I have played well so I hope I can continue. We

look forward to you in the final. Caroline Wozniacki!

STUDIO: Having laid waste to the best Eastern Europe can throw at

her, including Cibulkova, Strycova of the Czech Republic, the Great

Dane that is Caroline Wozniacki beat her. Heather will be encouraged,

despite the obvious disappointment of the moment, will be in courage by

the upswing in her performance. We began by saying we had two British

players in the semifinals at Eastbourne for the first time ever.

We do not have a representative in the final because Heather has lost

an Jo Konta announced because of the fall sustained yesterday, she felt

it was best not to take part in her semifinal. Those are the pictures of

her in her press conference earlier. She looks in good spirits and is

walking quite well, but the injury she sustained, and that was one

almighty fall at pace, to her thoracic spine. A lot of people

saying that Eastbourne is a big deal, but Wimbledon is a big deal on

a grander scale. So if you are not fit to play today do not risk your

hopes at Wimbledon in a couple of days, because she hopes to become

the first British champion at Wimbledon in 40 years.

How are you feeling? You have an injury and have withdrawn from the

match today. I had a nasty fall yesterday and we were doing the best

to recover well today but it was not quick enough. I am still saw through

my thoracic spine so looking to recover well and taking one day at a

time. Last night you felt OK apart from the shock and you were checked

for concussion. Did you have a bad night's sleek? I did not sleep too

well. I am not diagnosed a concussion yet but we are monitoring

my symptoms. What prevented me playing today was my pain through my

thoracic spine. It is your home tournament, the fans love you here,

so presumably a disappointing decision? We kept it until the last

minute to really give myself the best chance of playing today. It is

the best decision for my health, and that is the most important thing. A

couple of days from Wimbledon, which is part of the precaution, but do

you feel you will be OK? The decision is purely based on where my

health is right now. It is a big tournament next week for all of us.

It is something I have to disregard when it comes to my health, which

has to come first and I am doing everything I can to be ready for

Wimbledon. I am taking it a day at a time and whatever is best for my

health. This is what the campaign would be

in an ideal world for Jo Konta. She plays on Monday in her first round

match say she has 24 hours less to recover than if she were playing on

Tuesday. But that is a hard route. Vekic. Petra Kvitova, given

everything that has happened to her, she seems like a player reborn and

twice a champion here. Angelique Kerber, it would be a rematch of the

match here yesterday. Sam Smith, that is a nice easy route to the

final! Hsieh Su-wei, lost two at the French Open and Vekic at Nottingham,

but I bank on some of the names will not be there. Because of the erratic

nature of the draw. The erratic nature of women's tennis will come

to the fore. A wise call not to play today? I was in commentary and she

took all the impact on her back. I think she might have tweaked her

ankle. It was one of the worst falls I have seen in a long time and I was

surprise she got up from it. There has to be bruising and the fact she

plays on Monday, and look at the opponent she was playing, Karolina

Pliskova. No point going out against her, even at 80%. It was a shame for

the tournament. I woke up this morning thinking two Brits in the

semis, a good day, but a smart move. I do not know whether she will have

scans. Probably worth checking because you do not know if you have

a stress fracture. I would imagine bruising, which will take days to

come out. Is the key thing to do nothing tomorrow and hit on Sunday?

I think the physios, when you are a top player you have an advantage

because you are not queueing up for the WTA therapists, who do an

amazing job, but there are only so many. She can have treatment all

day. She will have everything she needs, everything they have now. I

do not think it will be sit around. They will want to get the body

moving and they will do all the right things to get her ready for

Monday. The thing is she is playing at the top of her game and yesterday

with the win over Ostapenko and the win over Angelique Kerber, that is

the best day she has had in her tennis career in terms of results.

Get the body sorted and she is ready to go.

What about Heather? I feel frustrated because it is all there

with Heather. She was up against one of the best match players in the

game but she was a break up in the final set and turn things around

from the opener, where she was too passive. In the end, the forehand

let her down slightly. The plus side is she has lots of confidence, she

is playing as well as ever as she can start to feel good about tennis

and go into Wimbledon with this behind her.

We have spoken many times about her allowing other players to dominate

her, but today, there were times when she was energised and positive

and aggressive, and that transforms the dynamic of any game she plays

in? Well, the first set, she looked 126 in the world, second set, she

looked top 20, which is I think is where she should be at the moment.

Her coach came on in the first set and had to say, come on come get up

the court. Heather. It is very frustrating, because she hits the

ball really hard in practice, but she seems to leave it in the locker

room because she cannot override the need to be, oh, so careful. Here's

the draw for the British players are -- for the British players. There is

a huge financial incentive for the players to be in the first-round,

but also, gives them an opportunity, especially if they are in reasonable

grass court form, to get through a couple of rounds of. The big news

today is centring on Andy Murray. Depending on what paper you read

this morning, either everything was fine, which Ivan Lendl was saying,

or, people were saying, his participation in Wimbledon was

endowed. Judy Murray on the radio this morning was hedging her bed is

a bit. But we have got some pictures of Andy Murray hitting at Aorangi

Park at Wimbledon today. I suppose, it is one of these classic things,

Ivan Lendl on the right, you can read into these pictures what you

want. There he is hitting a few forehands. But I think we also have

some pictures of him creaking a bit. He gets up from his chair here, and

he's not looking 100%. I suppose it's one of those situations for

Andy, this matters to him so much the last thing he will want to do is

to not take part in Wimbledon. He is playing a qualifier in the first

round, from Kazakhstan, ranked 134 in the world, a 20-year-old,

actually a lucky loser, because he lost in five sets of qualifying. And

he will not want to go into a match like that, against somebody who is

grass court fit, and not be able to play his best. Because whatever you

may say, he will be a good player. And if he gets through that,

Fognini, there is a long history of matches between him and Andy. Round

four would be tough. And then, Wawrinka, Nadal, Federer, and Jo

Konta thought she had it hard! What do you think? One thing I would have

to say, he has a genius of a physio in his camp, called Mark bender. And

he will be getting the best possible advice about what to do and the

treatments will be quite unorthodox, I'm sure. If they can get him fit,

they will. There is no way Andy will not want to play. Even if he's 80%,

I think he will try and go out of there. I was going to ask you, what

is the percentage figure? You can't really put it on. Andy at 80% could

still probably be told players on what is his best surface. You've got

all of hullabaloo which goes around Andy at Wimbledon as the defending

champion. As great as he is, it's a lot for any human being to cope

with, what he's going through right now. Something he's not really

experienced before. Yes, he's had a few nasty injuries and, but not

really so close to a major event. Certainly he's never do dealt with

this situation before. Meanwhile, the world number 855 - do you know

who it is? He's the lowest ranked qualifier to get through to the main

draw of Wimbledon since 1998. Well done, Hill. He had the most

fantastic week at Roehampton this week, and he got an interesting

reward. Look at that face. His reward is going to be a first-round

match against the British number two, Kyle Edmund. He spoke to Selena

Hinchcliffe after what must have been the best day of his tennis

life. We are with the only British player standing, Alexander ward,

congratulations - what does that mean to you? Yeah, it means a hell

of a lot. I've been struggling quite a bit this year with my form, even

coming into the pre-olivine play-offs, just scoop up some

momentum and it is amazing to qualify. Worded that self-belief

come from? I don't know, really. Just match by match, started to play

better. And the same here, really. I started off pretty poor in the first

round and step-by-step, got better and better. Put it into context for

us what this means to you, in financial terms, reaching the

Wimbledon main draw and how it will help you with all of your expenses

and everything? Massively, it can keep you playing, basically. I was

out injured for six months last year, and I was struggling with the

cash, as I am now. So, the financial gain is huge. You can't quite get

over it, can you? No. It's strange, because I had never won goal in

qualifying here before, so it's a bit of a dream, to be honest. When

you go through those gates on Monday, who will you be looking

forward to seeing in the locker room? Hopefully not too many guys,

but we will see! I would like to play one of the big names, that

would be amazing, on a big court. On centre? Of course, why not. Happy

interview, and just a repeat, I think he will like playing Kyle

Edmund, I'm not sure if that is on Monday or Tuesday. Anyway, good luck

to Alex Waller. Somebody else to say good luck to is Cameron Norrie, who

was playing here this week. He lost to Gael Monfils in the second round.

He's sort of the new kid on the block in British men's tennis and he

has been given a wild card for Wimbledon next week. He came up to

tell us all about himself. I was born in South Africa and I moved to

New Zealand when I was about three. Grew up in New Zealand, both my

parents were squash liars and just played tennis in the driveway with

them, with sawn off squash rackets. And then I moved to London when I

was 16, by myself, my parents still live in... Specifically for tennis?

For tennis, yeah. In New Zealand, there is not much tennis. Both my

parents are British, my dad is Scottish, my mum was born in Wales,

so I have quite British woods. I moved there for three years and then

I went to college, in Texas, finished at uni there, and this is

one of my first pro tournaments. It's been good and I'm enjoying it.

The big question is, given all of that, who do you want to win in the

second Lions Test on Saturday? I'm a big fan of the All Blacks, such

beasts of athletes, I've grown up, when I was younger, some of my

heroes. It's a tough one! I think the All Blacks. By the next Lions

tour, in 12 years' time, you might be leaning towards the Lions. Maybe.

How is it, in the big time of tennis? It's been real good. I'm

pretty grateful and lucky to have these wild card opportunities that

these tournaments. I think it's really good for me to play on the

big stage on Centre Court. My match today against Monfils was such a

great experience, I really enjoyed it and I played well. It was nice to

show what I have against such a great player like him. When you walk

on court with Gael Monfils, yesterday, is there a bit of you

which is thinking, this is me and him on the same court?! Yeah, just

before the match I was warming up and I was like, I'm about a play

Monfils on Centre Court. I could not really believe it. It has been a

quick turnaround, and I just went out there and tried to enjoy the

match. Did you enjoy it? It was good, yeah, I worked my way into the

match, played a couple of loose points but it is nice to know I am

right there with those guys. You have got a wild card for Wimbledon.

I know, exciting times for me. This match today was just a great

experience for me, and I gained a lot of confidence, I got my first

win on the ATP Tour on Monday, my first top 50 win, so I'm feeling a

lot more comfortable on the grass. At the back of your mind, when the

draw comes out, are you thinking, yeah, I fancy Murray in the first

round, or is it, I would like to have some random person that I could

beat? I don't really mind. I'm playing at Wimbledon, so I'm happy.

I'm just go out and play my game. If it's Andy on Centre Court, I'm

happy. Having played Gael Monfils here, he gets another Frenchmen

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, in the first round. That is going to be on a

decent show court, I would think. James Ward against Marcus Baghdatis.

And Aljaz Bedene, he's playing Ivo Karlovic. Good luck on the returns!

Final tomorrow to go where is the balance of power, Pliskova not

having had a match today, is that good for her? I don't think it

really matters. For me, it is Pliskova's to go out and take it if

she plays near the top of her game. Caroline is a wonderful player but

you would always go with the attack on grass, and Pliskova for me is the

out-and-out server and baseline attacker. I was talking to John

McGinn were last night, and he thinks that Pliskova could win

Wimbledon because of her ability to have short shots, big serves and

take the game away from her opponent? No, there is a great

player there. There's a couple of things which worry me. She was the

favourite for the Australian Open and some of the big tournaments in

America, and she came up short. Her coach said, I thought it was a great

line - somewhere inside her, a champion is sleeping, it's my job to

wake it up. If the coach can do that, then she's going to win a

Grand Slam. The final tomorrow is on BBC One. It's quite early, actually,

so if you have been following the Lions earlier on, you can have a

tea-break and then you can come back to us on BBC One at 12.15. You might

be able to spot that the covers are on, and it's almost like they knew

that semifinal had to be done and dusted, and then, only then, would

they allow the rain to come down. And it is bucketing down at the

moment. Did you bring your brolly? No. You're going to have to be nice

to me, then! I am always nice to you! With the amount of tennis, all

over the park, not just on Centre Court, everyone needs to see these

great players. I played this tournament many years ago when it

was a showcase event, everybody came here before Wimbledon. Report

describes as Wimbledon by the sea - that's what it should be like. I'm

passionate about this event, and I think we are getting back there, and

it's going to grow over the next few years, with all the changes.

Absolutely, they're spending ?44 million on all of the changes here,

so book your tickets for the next few years now! That's it for the

moment, because obviously, no more tennis for us to show because of the

injury to Jo Konta. The sun will be out tomorrow, I guarantee! See you

Saturday lunchtime - bye-bye! COMMENTATOR: Caroline Wozniacki

moves to within a set of being back in the Eastbourne final. We have

ourselves a decider in this semifinal. It is Caroline Wozniacki

who will go through to tomorrow's final.