Hamilton 10K

johnnylad · Tennis legend

Hamilton 10K

Sheddie · administrator

johnnylad wrote:

Anna Smith bt Brycki 6-7(1) 6-4 6-4

QF opponent is 3rd seed Shan-Shan Song of China.

Song is ranked 451 and has progreesed fairly easily to the QF's despite a second set blip in her first round match with a qualifier.

Hopefully she can pull out another blip and SMith will beat her!

Anna's first quarter-final of the year

Song is the obviously favourite but it's still a very winnable match for Anna, she's only 78 places lower and she's a potential top 300 player in the future at least imo.

Song made the semis in Wellington last week. I think that a semi-final here might take Anna into the top 500.

afe · Social player

Anna is in the order of play for Saturday so obviously won - no scores posted on the NZ site though. great win!

johnnylad · Tennis legend

(8) Anna SMITH GBR d. (3) Shan-Shan SONG CHN 67 41 ret Song

Sheddie · administrator

Anna got a bit jammy there but it looks like she was well on course to level the match when Song retired.

I reckon that she'll move into the top 500 for the first time as a result of this week's results.

In the semis this morning, she plays 2nd seed Ye-Ra Lee of Korea. Lee is ranked 445 and has yet to drop a set in the tournament. She has lost just 10 games in getting to the semis, so she will be a tough opponent.

Sheddie · administrator

Anna Smith has reached the final

SF: A Smith (GB)(8) bt Ye-Ra Lee (Kor)(3) 6-2, 6-4

A fantastic performance against a player ranked 80 places higher at 454. I thought Anna had real potential when I watched her in Sutton, was highly impressed with her game. It hadn't showed in her results up until this tournament, hopefully this will be the start of a great 2007 for her, I think she can break the top 300 this season.

This week's results will move Anna up 40 places to a career high of 494. If she wins the final she'll be up to 477

Sheddie · administrator

Final: A Smith (GB)(8) v E Sema (Jap)

In the final Anna plays Japanese 18 year old Erika Sema. Sema is ranked over 200 places lower at 775 but her results over the past couple of weeks show that she's clearly a lot better than that. She outplayed Anna 6-4, 6-1 in rd1 of last week's Wellington 10K. This week she's benefitted from her half of the draw opening up, she defeated the 7th seed in straights and beat Hong Kong's Ling Zhang in a close 3 set quarter-final (Zhang had beaten the top seed) before defeating a New Zealand wildcard 6-3, 6-2 in the semis.

Salmon · Tennis legend

Wow! Great show after the disappointing performance of last week.

Sheddie · administrator

Final: E Sema (Jap) bt A Smith (GB)(8) 6-3, 7-5

Anna unable to get revenge for the loss in Wellington but still a great week for her. Onto Perth now with confidence high ! Up to a career high of 494 now, first time she's been in the top 500.