Great to see her being a DA and with a good draw considering the high quality field.

Considering Katies great form, the fact Dubois lost to Mel on hard despite Mels appauling form this year and the fact Dubios sucks on clay, you have to fancy Katie's chances....

The 2nd round would likely be vs Razzano, who played amazing in Dubai but sucked in Miami and Indian Wells and is, again, pretty crappy on clay.

If you want to be really brave  and look further ahead, it would be Zvonareva in the 3rd round, but she is suffering from a groin injury so its unclear if she will be playing at all

In conclusion...Katie needs to put her good form to some use here and get some points. Best of luck to her

-- Edited by murray_2k9 on Sunday 12th of April 2009 01:56:40 PM

Here's an extract from Katie's latest blog on the LTA site:

"The WTA event in Charleston was not on my original schedule, but I'd opted to stay on the entry list, as I had an outside chance of moving into the main draw. I felt that an opportunity to play in such a big event was too good to miss. One spot out of the main draw and aware that Serena Williams had pretty much competed on one leg the previous week, I had a realistic chance of moving in.

In view of maybe heading across the Atlantic, I dug out my clay court shoes from the depths of my wardrobe on Friday and took to the clay at the NTC. In typically British fashion, it poured with rain for the entire session but at least I got to hit on the clay it was better than nothing!

Sure enough, Serena withdrew on Friday afternoon, so I set about frantically making travel arrangements to Charleston. After a 4.50am alarm and a phone call from Mum on Saturday morning to check I wasn't oversleeping (as I've done previously), I arrived safely in Charleston in the early evening, but wasn't happy to find out that Hull City had lost!

Since I've been here I've just been trying to adapt to the conditions as well as I can. It's been five years since I last played on green clay, but it's great to be back in the sun after spending almost three months indoors. My pasty skin is certainly appreciating it!

Having competed on indoor hard last week, I perhaps haven't had the best preparation, but I've been playing well and I'm feeling confident, so I'm just going to give it my best shot. Hopefully, I can do some damage on the court this week, rather than on my clothes!"

The last comment refers to her 'success' at ruining two tops whilst ironing on some AEGON patches

So far going with service though Katie had to save a break point in the last game.

Katie 2-1*

Breaks on her 3rd BP : Katie *3-1

Katie holds for 5-2