Week 24 - WTA Tier 3 - Birmingham

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

RE: Week 24 - WTA Tier 3 - Birmingham

PockyTastic · Futures level

R3: Melanie SOUTH (GBR) WC 154 v Aiko NAKAMURA (JPN) (17) 78

tennisbrain · Club Coach

i agree since naomi left roehampton she has had poor results.

Silver · County player

Not convinced by Naomi's result. Rao is hardly a great player and she should technically have won it given the Craybas result. I wasn't there though. I don't know what happened.

But still.

Good luck Mel tomorrow. Winnable match!

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

Reading a review of the match. Naomi was using her power and serv well in the first then started to miss as the match went on and looked a little tired. But Naomi always looks tired.

Rao got better and Naomi was playing dumb tennis. Very dissapointed with this result. Naomi is much better than this. I'll wait untill i see her at wimbledon and see what the whole grass season brings and also see what her fitness level is like. From the sounds of it and the photos Naomi needs to work really hard and gett fitter.

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

cakj1234 wrote:

Shes lost. followed tennis for years. O brien will turnout to be another that promises much but will never achieve. Will never make top 100. How can you lose matches like that, same with Elliott she should have won, regardless of its her first big tournament. If this was an American or any other European player they would have taken both matches, Britain just continue to lose these type of matches but are continually praised for nearly winning and its all experiance. Its time they gave all the young ones achance, yes Elliott, Robson, Moore etc, anyone over 20-22 years of age that havnt produced the results should take a back seat.

Katie is ranked 104 and wil climb a few placeas higher after Birmingham. She fought back from 2-5 down and then lost 7-5 in the third. it was tough loss but Shvedova is a good player.

Katie got into the tournament on her own ranking so you can;t just give her place to a young girl weirdface confused

I'm more dissapointed in Naomis loss as she is the best player out of our top 5 by a long way.

Amanda was playing her first ever WTA maindraw event. If you look at the record of most top 100 players they more than likley lost their first ever WTA match. If shes loosing matches like this in 2-3 years then ye we should be dissappinted.

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Two disappointing losses today as Naomi just fell away after a good first set (suggesting she still has problems with her fitness) while Katie lost a close match that she really should have won, given she's the higher ranked player and playing at home.

At least Mel's still in this and giving us hope of a QFinalist, so good luck to her tomorrow

DUSTY DICK · Club Coach

Naomi seems to be standing still in the rankings at the momentand it will be a shame if she slips back. On the positive side though, she's still young and if she keeps working hard and can still end the year in the top 200 then she still won't be doing too bad. It would be nice though to see her reach the top 100 asap. Many others of her age from other countries do. Really hoping for Mel to get another win tomorrow to keep the women moving steadily forward. Go Mel.

DavidC · Tennis legend

Disappointing results today but still encouraging that the total number of wins here this week is more than at any time in the last decade or so.

Tomorrow's OOP

Centre Court (from 11.00hrs)
1. A.Bondarenko vs. Rao
2. Nakamura vs. South

gazzpash · Club Coach

Is there rain in Brum? The scoreboard hasnt started yet

PockyTastic · Futures level

Yeah according to the WTA order of play it's in rain delay

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

Mervatron wrote:

I'm more dissapointed in Naomi's loss as she is the best player out of our top 5 by a long way.

That's what I thought when I saw her play 2 years ago. She had real weapons and her first strike tennis looked worthy of 50 or so in the world, assuming she could get a lot fitter and work on her weaknesses.

I wonder if the whole tennis tour lifestyle and the associated pressures have set her back.

Smidster · Challenger level

Im in Coventry and the weather here has been pretty bad today with frequent heavy showers.

Would have thought it would have been similar in Brum

PockyTastic · Futures level

Play finally seems to be about to get underway with four matches on the scoreboard (Mel vs Nakamura included)

PockyTastic · Futures level

Mel is 4-2 down in the first set.