Main draw includes Katie O'Brien, Elena Baltacha, wild cards have gone to Amanda Elliot, Anna Smith, Jade Curtis.
Qualifying includes Sarah Borwell, Yasmin Clarke, Jade Windley, Amy Sargeant as well as wild cards Lisa Whybourn and Elizabeth Ullathorne. A whole host of unranked Brits are near the top of the alts list.
There is a main draw wild card missing, so someone who hasn't entered. Most of the obvious suspects have withdrawn and/or are playing abroad. Any ideas?
I'll probably be going on the Tuesday, maybe the Wednesday and also the weekend if there is some British interest.
I'm sure they'd love Laura Robson to play and are probably sitting on one wildcard in case she can be persuaded. At the moment she's a long way down the list of alternates for Clerment Ferrand 10K and would probably need to get a secured entry by making the semis of Limoges this week (not sure of the rules for ITF so this might be wrong).
What are the rules on switching events? Since she's neither in the maindraw nor in qualifying, I'm assuming there wouldn't be a problem with her accepting a wildcard for Shrewsbury but maybe that's not the case.
Well the word on the street is that Laura may be appearing in a 75K in England (and there aren't many of them so it's probably this one) depending on the state of her shoulder. It seems that Clermont Ferrand is now off the agenda.
Have to wait and see.
A more serious point is that I do think they should be giving her a fair amount of practice against decent opposition so that Wimbledon main draw next year doesn't come as a total shock. Whether she wins or loses matches at this stage doesn't matter in the slightest. A heavy loss at Wimbledon with all the media attention might be a problem; hopefully it wouldn't be but there is a slight danger.
Tennisforum (not the most reliable of sources but in this case the relevant member of tennisforum seems to be friends with the girl that Laura has been playing doubles with this week so I can't see why her second hand info shouldn't be considered valid)
TennisEurope have Laura down as one of the four wildcards. (hat tip Stephen on GBTG)
Beware of the tournament office if you're calling up for scores! Rumour has it that the phone number listed is actually that of a furniture store (that's what happened when Sheddie called up, anyway).
Really? I used the number from the wesbite last year and that worked, they were very informative as well. I'll definately be going on Tuesday at least anyway, so I will text scores to someone if they confirm they will be around...
(1)Sarah Borwell (GBR) v BYE Jade Windley (GBR) v Sian Bayliss (GBR) Ioana Ivan (ROU) v Megan Moulton-Levy (USA) (5)Elizaveta Tochilovskaya (RUS) v Martina Babakova (SVK)
(2)Claudine Schaul (LUX) v Michelle Farley (GBR) Lucy Warburton (GBR) v Linda Fritschken (GER) Samantha Vickers (GBR) v Anna Livadaru (GER) (8)Laura Haberkorn (GER) v Courtney Nagle (USA)
(3)Astrid Besser (ITA) v Amy Sargeant (GBR) Nicola George (GBR) v Lisa Whybourn (GBR) Kelly Anderson (RSA) v Laura Morrill (GBR) (6)Estelle Guisard (FRA) v Elizabeth Ullathorne (GBR)
(4)Stefania Boffa (SUI) v Vlatka Jovanovic (CRO) Ellie Hill (GBR) v Lottie Fox (GBR) Marit Nordfors (SWE) v Eden D'Oliveira (RSA) (7)Vanessa Henke (GER) v Nikki Prosser (GBR)
As Yasmin isn't in the qualifying draw I am guessing she got a wild card as Robson hasn't recovered.
-- Edited by wolf at 21:45, 2008-09-20
That seems likely though there are two other possibilities:
1) Yasmin withdrew
2) One main draw player withdrew so with no secured entries (resulting in 2 players moving into the main draw), Amanda who was 3rd out would get direct entry and her wildcard would be free for Yasmin.
Surprisingly the LTA has today's results up before the ITF site:
(1)Sarah Borwell (GBR) v BYE Jade Windley (GBR) d. Sian Bayliss (GBR) 60 61 Megan Moulton-Levy (USA) d. Ioana Ivan (ROU) 60 61 (5)Elizaveta Tochilovskaya (RUS) d. Martina Babakova (SVK) 64 64
(2)Claudine Schaul (LUX) d. Michelle Farley (GBR) 61 75 Linda Fritschken (GER) d. Lucy Warburton (GBR) 62 63 Samantha Vickers (GBR) d. Anna Livadaru (GER) 62 61 (8)Laura Haberkorn (GER) d. Courtney Nagle (USA) 76(4) 26 61
(3)Astrid Besser (ITA) d. Amy Sargeant (GBR) 63 63 Lisa Whybourn (GBR) d. Nicola George (GBR) 62 76(4) Kelly Anderson (RSA) d. Laura Morrill (GBR) 61 76(8) (6)Estelle Guisard (FRA) d. Elizabeth Ullathorne (GBR) 61 62
(4)Stefania Boffa (SUI) d. Vlatka Jovanovic (CRO) 63 60 Lottie Fox (GBR) d. Ellie Hill (GBR) 62 62 Marit Nordfors (SWE) d. Eden D'Oliveira (RSA) 62 60 (7)Vanessa Henke (GER) d. Nikki Prosser (GBR) 46 61 63
Laura Robson plays a qualifier/lucky loser, Amanda got in directly but faces Elena Baltacha, so a wildcard for Yasmin who also gets a qualifier. Seems as though 4 players pulled out late.
ARVIDSSON, S [1] v Qualifier/Lucky Loser Qualifier/Lucky Loser v Qualifier/Lucky Loser
182 CRO SPREM, Karolina v 190 ITA BRIANTI, Alberta 178 EST RUUTEL, Margit v 119 ITA VINCI, Roberta [7]
109 GER BARROIS, K [3] v 429 GER PETKOVIC, Andrea 139 GBR O'BRIEN, Katie v 253 HUN MAROSI, Katalin
145 SUI VOEGELE, Stefanie v Qualifier/Lucky Loser 315 GBR ELLIOTT, Amanda v 128 GBR BALTACHA, Elena [8]
112 GER GOERGES, Julia [5] v 129 POL RADWANSKA, Urszula WC GBR ROBSON, Laura v Qualifier/Lucky Loser
133 FRA COIN, Julie v 161 SWE LARSSON, Johanna Qualifier/Lucky Loser v 111 ISR OBZILER, Tzipi [4]
118 BEL FLIPKENS, K [6] v WC 560 GBR CURTIS, Jade 297 CZE FRANKOVA, Nikola v Qualifier/Lucky Loser
WC 633 GBR CLARKE, Yasmin v Qualifier/Lucky Loser WC 363 GBR SMITH, Anna v 96 EST ANI, Maret [2]