(1)Carmen Klaschka (GER) v Irina Kuzmina (LAT) Estelle Guisard (FRA) v (wc)Lena-Marie Hofmann (GER) (wc)Linda Berlinecke (GER) v Anastasia Poltoratskaya (RUS) Amanda Elliott (GBR) v (5)Teodora Mircic (SRB)
(4)Andrea Hlavackova (CZE) v (wc)Laura Siegemund (GER) Syna Kayser (GER) v Angelika Roesch (GER) Lenka Jurikova (SVK) v (wc)Sina Haas (GER) Anna Smith (GBR) v (7)Nathalie Vierin (ITA)
Mircic had a couple of good scalps at Ortisei recently (where Anne played): Karatantcheva and Fedak, but otherwise has been quiet. Vierin's best surface is clay, so Anna should have a reasonable chance on carpet - however Hlavackova (who slaughtered Amanda in Glasgow) bars the path to qualification.
Despite having pulled out Katie is mentioned on the tournament's home page (with Elena and Amanda) as part of the "English Fed Cup" squad who came over early with Jens Gerlach to train!
(7)Elena Baltacha (GBR) v Sandra Martinovic (BIH) Ekaterina Ivanova (RUS) v Margalita Chakhnashvili (GEO) (Q)Andrea Hlavackova (CZE) v (wc)Jasmin Steinherr (GER) (4)Julia Goerges (GER) v Emma Laine (FIN)
That's about as good a draw as Bally could hope for in the first 2 rounds - if she maintains the level which has seen her narrowly beaten by strong players recently then she should make the quarters at least.
Doubles MD:
(4)Boffa/Elliott (SUI/GBR) v Lyubtsova/Pervak (UKR/RUS) Malek/Petkovc (GER) v Martinovic/Schaefer (BIH/GER)
Goerges/Siegemund (GER) v (wc)Hofmann/Zaja (GER) (3)Ivanova/Jurak (RUS/CRO) v Hawkins/Klemenschits (GBR/AUT)
Anna's doubles is the only match with British interest tomorrow.
Heartbreaker for Amanda. Whats happened to her? She was in such good form but seems to have flopped post wimbledon.
I suspect that playing high tariff tournaments week in week out has taken a toll on her confidence. Whether this helps her in the long run will be seen in the next couple of years. Young players sometimes suddenly click into form after this sort of schedule, whilst others continue to flounder. Let's hope that Amanda comes in the former category. At least this time Amanda got close to a higher ranked player, unlike most of her recent matches.
Bally plays first tomorrow (11am) with set by set updates (probably) on the home website