steven wrote:

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It looks like Kazakhstan isn't the only former Soviet Republic beginning with K to have appropriated the odd Russian player!

-- Edited by steven at 09:53, 2008-11-13

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What are you basing this on? Ksenia has always been from Kyrgyzstan as far as I'm aware? I notice she was born in Russia, but I assumed that she moved away when she was young.

-- Edited by jamatthews at 19:37, 2008-11-13

SF: SOUTH, Melanie (GBR) 1 116 beat PALKINA, Ksenia (KGZ) 4 224 6-4 6-4

F: SOUTH, Melanie (GBR) 1 116 v LU, Jing-Jing (CHN) 8 245

Very consistent of Mel to reach 4 consecutive finals. One more win here may well suffice for the Australian Open main draw (as well as a third 25k singles title in the year), depending on the results of players around her and the number of players withdrawing from the AO

Extract from the Thaindian News:

"The 116th ranked British broke Palkina in the fourth game in the first set. In the second set South broke Palkina in the second game to race to a 3-0 lead. Palkina tried to claw her way back into the match but South was in control.

South, however, was broken in the ninth game but broke back immediately in the next game to win the match."

The win-loss record for this year is interesting:-
Anne 52-28
Mel 51-29
Elena 26-21
Katie 24-32
Georgie 32-20
Naomi C 19-16
Amanda 23-24
Sarah 24-19
Anna S 27-28
Anna F 13-20
Naomi B 18-18
Emily 22-13
Jade 15-12
Laura 4-4

Anne and Mel have been the most successful players this year, have played far more matches than anyone else and have chosen a mix of tournaments that enabled them to win about 65% of the matches they played. Katie has played a lot of tournaments but because she has chosen a rather ambitious set of events she has actually played a lot less matches than either Anne or Mel. Elena and Naomi C have been limited in the number of matches they can play due to various problems. Georgie has also reached new highs this year and has also won over 60% of her matches. It could be that a 60%-70% target is optimal.

nail-biting wait this morning...

Did she win?

djlovesyou wrote:

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Katie and Bally do seem to play a lot of 50k+ events.

The way Mel goes around seem to be a much more efficient way of doing things, picking out these 25k events and picking up the bigger points.

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We'll see how efficient it is this time next year, after she's transitioned from these really weak events to life on the main tour.

As for the final she lost 3 and 1.

Mel does now need to move up a level. She's more than proved herself at 25k. Would like to see her tacklemore 50k's and 75k's. She needs the bigger challengers to prepare for the main tour if she is to stay there like Anne K is doing right now. Still it has been an excellent run of events for her and puts her within touching distance of the top 100. Be fantastic if we could end the season with 2 girls in top 100 and both DA's for Aus Open.