Melanie South should be the top seed in a fairly weak main draw, as she starts the first of 3 tournaments in India and Japan to try and achieve the points she needs to gain direct entry to the Australian Open main draw. Jocelyn Rae withdrew from qualifying yesterday, but there is still a strong British contingent, though Emily Webley-Smith and Jade Windley are unfortunately in the same section.
Qualifying draw:
(3) Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) v Inna KUZMENKO (RUS) Sagarika PHADKE (IND) v (13) Jade WINDLEY (GBR)
(4) Jade CURTIS (GBR) v Shivika BURMAN (IND) Abhilasha AHUJA (IND) v (9) Prerana-Mythri APPINENI (IND)
(8) Natasha KHAN (GBR) v Estelle MEHTA (IND) Poojashree VENKATESHA (IND) v (11) Nungnadda WANNASUK (THA)
British interest is in quarters 1, 3 and 4. There are currently no LLs (but sudden illnesses are not exactly unknown in India!). Mel is comfortably the highest ranked player in the draw - the second seed is only just inside 200.
(1) Melanie SOUTH (GBR) v Jade WINDLEY (GBR) (WC) Ankita BHAMBRI (IND) v Varatchaya WONGTEANCHAI (THA) (Q) Hae-Sung KIM (KOR) v (WC) Alexandra KOLESNICHENKO (UZB) (Q) Shalini SAHOO (IND) v (7) Nicole THYSSEN (NED)
(5) Liana-Gabriela UNGUR (ROU) v I-Hsuan HWANG (TPE) Florence HARING (FRA) v (Q) Natasha KHAN (GBR) (Q) Patrycja SANDUSKA (POL) v (Q) Silvia DISDERI (ITA) (Q) Bojana JOVANOVSKI (SRB) v (3) Agnes SZATMARI (ROU)
(8) Jing-jing LU (CHN) v (Q) Jade CURTIS (GBR) Isha LAKHANI (IND) v Julia GLUSHKO (ISR) Suchanun VIRATPRASERT (THA) v Vivian SEGNINI (BRA) Elora DABIJA (ROU) v (2) Ye-Ra LEE (KOR)
Well done to Jade W :) but a shame for Emily :( After such a good run of form (bar the last 'result') that's a bit of a shock but still, good for Jade :)