Melanie South could seal her place in the Australian Open with a good performance here. In qualifying all 5 girls have made a good start, but Emily Webley-Smith and Natasha Khan have to face off in the next round.:
Congratulations to Emily on qualifying, and a winnable match against the player Natasha beat in Pune. Jade C continues to disappoint. Hope Natasha hasn't picked up a serious problem. Look out for the second seed Ayumi Morita who is a competitor to Mel for AO main draw entry.
(1)Melanie South (GBR) v Jing-Jing Lu (CHN) Noppawan Lertcheewakarn (THA) v Julia Parasyuk (RUS) Angelika Roesch (GER) v Elora Dabija (ROU) (6)Liana-Gabriela Ungur (ROU) v Leonie Mekel (NED)
(5)Sunitha Rao (IND) v Alexis Prousis (USA) (Q)Florence Haring (FRA) v (Q)Emily Webley-Smith (GBR) (wc)Sanaa Bhambri (IND) v Isha Lakhani (IND) (2)Ayumi Morita (JPN) v Laura Siegemund (GER)
Wobbly really seems to be on a roll at the moment, which is great to see - hopefully this good end to the year is banishing the memories of the horrors of the start of they year ... and of course the lack of points to defend means she should be able to make further good progress early in 2009
Edit: today's win will take her back into the GB top 10 ahead of Anna Fitz.
Thank goodness Mel managed to reverse the result of last week's Final - makes you wonder if she'd eaten something dodgy the night before! I doubt anyone here needs reminding, but Mel's next opponent is not only the junior no. 3, she's the player Laura beat in the Wimby Juniors Final.
-- Edited by steven at 12:00, 2008-11-18
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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
Em continues to impress Bychkova's loss in Odense means there is another player who Mel can overtake with a run to the semis here and improve her chances of an AO main draw place.