Qualifying Draw

(1)DOMACHOWSKA, Marta POL - LARCHERDE BRITO, Michelle POR
BARTE, Hilary USA (WC) - GRANDIN, Natalie RSA
SAVCHUK, Olga UKR - STOOP, Georgie GBR (WC)
YELSEY, Anne USA - PUCHKOVA, Olga RUS (8)

(2)NICULESCU, Monica ROU - TATISHVILI, Anna GEO
FUJIWARA, Rika JPN - CZINK, Melinda HUN
STEVENSON, Alexandra USA - BLACK, Cara ZIM (WC)
KUSTOVA, Darya BLR - YUAN, Meng CHN (7)

(3)KEOTHAVONG, Anne GBR - PODKOLZINA, Alexandra USA
POUTCHEK, Tatiana BLR - ADAMCZAK, Monique AUS
ALVES, Maria Fernanda BRA - COIN, Julie FRA
TORRES SANDOVAL, Melissa MEX - DITTY, Julie USA(6)

(4)WOZNIAK, Aleksandra CAN - HAYNES, Angela USA
LOGAR, Theresa USA (WC) - MORITA, Ayumi JPN
BALTACHA, Elena GBR - SPEARS, Abigail USA
JIDKOVA, Alina RUS - STOSUR, Samantha AUS (5)

Anne's opponent Podklzina is ranked 398 and has only been as high as 386. She was born in 1985 so she isn't a dangerous and underranked junior and she has never won a title on ITF Circuit. Still complacency could lead to an embarrassing defeat.

Bally plays Spears who is a known quantity to British players after the grass season. Spears is currently ranked 176, but as we all know she was a top 100 player back in 2005 (reaching a high of 66).

Stoop (I repeat Seagull's question, how?) plays Savchuk who is a very talented player (from what I saw of her match against Mauresmo at the French). She may be ranked 122, but she was as high as 79 just 2 months ago. It will be a tough encounter for Georgie.

Good luck!

Last time I checked, Anne was also 6 places out of the Montreal MD, when was the last time a Brit got into the MD of a Tier I?

Two things confuse me.

1) How did Stoop get this?

2) Why is Katie playing touneys on clay, which she's not very good on, instead of this?

Greenleaf wrote:

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2) Why is Katie playing touneys on clay, which she's not very good on, instead of this?

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She was able to gain direct entry to Palermo (and Biella ) with her pre-Wimbledon ranking but would have been forced to play qualifying here. Her record on clay is comparable with hard courts, in terms of calibre of opponents beaten in the last year. Also having Jens Gerlach as coach (coached Myskina to Roland Garros title) may be a factor.

Katie has entered Los Angeles next week as MDO, and was 4 out last I knew, followed by Montreal/Vancouver so will be heading out to North America shortly.

 

Interesting period now for Anne K. Really hope she can do well to cement her place in the top 100. Let's hope that playing higher ranked opponents more often now can be of benefit. It would be a shame to see her drop back.