Week 1 - WTA International - Brisbane, Australia

DavidC · Tennis legend

Week 1 - WTA International - Brisbane, Australia

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

Good luck Mel.

Make it a good start to the year.

The girls had a great start last year with all of them winning 2/3 matches in their first event.

Smidster · Challenger level

Mel's Section of Draw

[1] Groenefeld vs. Kutuzova
Goerges vs. [WC] Starr
South vs. Bychkova
Coin vs. [6] Shvedova

DavidC · Tennis legend

That's a very tough section for Mel, particularly Anna-Lena Groenefeld, on her way back towards the top 20

steven · Tennis legend

Even the match against a lower-ranked opponent turned out to be too tough for Mel, I'm afraid. Life's a Bych sometimes ... ashamed

QR1: Mel South WR 110 lost to Ekaterina Bychkova (RUS) WR 117 by 3 & 4 bleh

The winning % on 2nd serve (45% for Mel v 73%) looks to have been a major factor, but the 1st set was decided by just one BP, converted by the Russian. In the 2nd set, Mel saved 2 of Bychkova's 3 BPs, including a match point, but failed to convert any of the 5 she got herself. disbelief

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

Without wishing to be overly pessimistic about Mel's chances, if you look at her results last year against players ranked 101-200 she had a 6-11 record and against those ranked in the top 100 her record was 4-9 with two of those wins coming on the grass, on which she is clearly more competitive.

So a straight sets defeat against WR 117 shouldn't come as much of a shock.

I think a sensible goal for Mel for 2009 would be to improve on that 6-11 record against players ranked 101-200.

-- Edited by kundalini at 14:01, 2009-01-02