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2012 can be breakthrough year, says Oman’s Fatma

The 20-year-old wildcard, from Muscat, was defeated in the first round of the singles here by Israel’s Shahar Peer, 6-3, 6-1, on Monday before losing to second seeds Sania Mirza, of India, and Russia’s Elena Vesnina alongside Slovenian Andreja Klepac in the doubles with a reversed scoreline (6-1, 6-3) 24 hours later.

Al Nabhani, who is currently 557^th in the WTA rankings, was grateful to the tournament’s organisers for allowing her to play in such a high-calibre field and she expects to improve her standing in the global game from here on in with Orsini fine-tuning her play.

“I am, of course, happy that I played in the main draw,” said the talented youngster, who more than held her own in the first six games against 24-year-old Peer.

“I have to thank (tournament director) Salah Tahlak for giving me this opportunity to play in the main draw.

“I’m really sad and upset that I didn’t play very well this year here. I played much better over the last few years than this one.

“Maybe, it’s the things that have happened – and are happening – around me. It didn’t give me a good chance to perform well. The weather was also pretty windy.

“But, that’s tennis – sometimes, you’re up; sometimes, you’re down. Hopefully, it will be better next time.

“I feel I’ve improved in certain areas over the last few years, but – hopefully – it will get much better with him (Orsini).

“I’ve just worked a couple of months with him, which is not too long. But, things have been improving and I’m trying to improve my WTA ranking, so it will work this year with any luck.”

Al Nabhani’s progress in 2011 was hampered by an injury-interrupted season that made for a rather stop-start campaign.

However, she’s physically healthy and in considerably better shape now having lost “a lot of weight” over the past 12 months.