Week 2 - Australian Open Qualifying

johnnylad · Tennis legend

RE: Week 2 - Australian Open Qualifying

RBBOT · Futures qualifying

philwrig wrote:

This draw looks if it could be quite tough with a number of potentially under ranked players taking part. Oh and there is also a certain Wickmayer.

It certainly looks tougher than the men's draw, even if you ignore underranked women. The last man in was ranked #347 excluding the 9 aussie wildcards.

If they also give the remaining womens wildcards to locals, the last woman in on rank would be #216. There are 58 men in qualifying with a lower rank than that.

indiana · Tennis legend

Well if the men were getting 40 ranking points for turning up and winning one match I'm sure many more would be on the plane smile

RBBOT · Futures qualifying

True.

Also this doesn't sound like ideal preparation for those playing today:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8453744.stm

-- Edited by RBBOT on Wednesday 13th of January 2010 01:17:45 AM

philwrig · Hall of fame

Cav plays Panova but Wickmayer would await in round 2
Mel plays Perry
Laura plays Ferguson

steven · Tennis legend

Sadly, the GB women seem to have got the flip-side of the men's good qualifying draws - Mel has drawn the no. 3 seed (though at one point last year, she was of course been ranked higher than Perry is now), Cav is due to meet Wickmayer before the fqr (which means even a LL place is pretty much out of the question) and only Laura has a palatable draw.

QR1: Naomi Cavaday WR 204 v Alexandra Panova (RUS) WR 142 - 3rd on C8 @ c. 02.00 GMT

Seeds in this section: (q1) Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) WR 16 and (q22) Lourdes Dominguez Lino (ESP) WR 135

QR1: Mel South WR 190 v (q3) Shenay Perry (USA) WR 108 - 1st on C3 @ 23.00 GMT

Other seed in this section: (q20) Vesna Manasieva (RUS) WR 131

QR1: (wc) Laura Robson 406 WR v Sophie Ferguson (AUS) WR 148 - 2nd on C6 @ c. 00.30 GMT

Seeds in this section: (q18) Michaela Krajicek (NED) WR 129 and (q7) Angelique Kerber (GER) WR 115

indiana · Tennis legend

Getting Wickmayer in Grand Slam qualifying is simply not fair

And I had nearly said that when I first saw she was in qualifying and before seeing her land in Naomi's section.

OK, I guess it's because she administratively wasn't in the game when the entry list was made up due to her suspension but it was lifted a few weeks ago now so was there no way she could have been put into the maindraw where she belongs rather than in qualifying to no doubt totally stifle other folks' hopes ?!

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

I think Laura will win, Mel and Cav will struggle.

Annoying that they got such crappy draws. Hopefully Bally and Katies MD are better

jb288 · Satellite level

The Wickmayer thing is a joke, completely unfair on her too! Surely it was entirely obvious that she would be playing the AO and that it would fall just as the suspension ended, so a spot could've quite easily been reserved? Still, it's the first win that all these girls really need, as 40 points is big bucks to all of them - I really hope Mel can qualify, and Cav can push Wickmayer hard, but ultimately points are what's needed for these 3 and 1 win will do a lot of good.

RedCabbage · Club Coach

What a shame. In the very likely event that Wickmayer qualifies the only people to suffer from this will be those she met in the qualifying.

Tennis36 · Masters Series Champion

RedCabbage wrote:

What a shame. In the very likely event that Wickmayer qualifies the only people to suffer from this will be those she met in the qualifying.

and the fact she won't be seeded in the main draw?

philwrig · Hall of fame

If Mel can win her match I fancy her to qualify. Perry didn't have a great prep. tournament but still Mel will have to be near to her best to win this. The draw then opens up quite nicely.
Cav should just focus on tonights match and show us she is better than her form of late. If she can she can win this and then give a good account of herself against Wickmayer to elevate her confidence levels.
As for Laura who knows clearly capable of qualifying but also might lose tonight. Everybody is expecting her to qualify and so the pressure is on her to win.

I would also love to know if Wickmayer is the highest ranked player man or woman ever to be included in a qualifying tournament at a grand slam tournament.

DavidC · Tennis legend

Tricky draws but all have realistic hope of progress if they play well. Neither Perry nor Panova has shown much lately - indeed Panova was double-bagelled by Steph Dubois (who is good, but not that good) last week. Laura lost to Ferguson last year, but should be okay if she can cope with the pressure of expectation mentioned.

The Wickmayer situation also intrigues me - I cannot recall a player in Grand Slam qualifying who would be seeded in the main draw. I can think of 4 options for the organisers:

1) Do nothing, and treat her as any other qualifier. If they do this there will be strong protest, and possibly legal action, from any top 16 seed who is drawn to face her in rounds 1 or 2 since any top 16 player will feel they have earned protection from having to face another top player early on.

2) Delay the draw until qualifying is completed - but that will probably not be practical.

3) Announce the seeds for the main draw including Wickmayer provisionally at no.16, and treat her as a 'withdrawal' if she doesn't qualify (ie bump up a lower seed to her position and replace that seed with a 33rd seed)

4) Alter the draw in the reverse manner to a withdrawal if she qualifies (ie replace the 16th seed with Wickmayer, and cascade down, or simply replace the 32nd seed who moves to one of the qualifier positions). This is messy and probably won't happen.

None of the options are wonderful, so it will be fun to see which option is adopted, and the repercussions.

indiana · Tennis legend

Seems to me would have been kind of easier to have got Wickmayer into the main draw in the first place and then seeded her as normal. Flippin heck, even without withdrawals, there was still a WC on offer until very late.

No doubt some rules are rules folk have won the day, instead of them adapting to the sitiuation and considering the consequences on others. I would have been very surprised if many folk had much of a problem with her being put into the main draw.

Oh, c'mom Miss Yurika Sema ( JPN, WR 149 ), stop crying, you are getting a splendid opportunity to play against a top 20 player and Grand Slam semi-finalist. What do you mean you'ed prefer a decent shot at 40 points for starters and possibly more ??

steven · Tennis legend

I too think a very big hole has been dug here but sadly I'm pretty sure there's no leeway in the rules that would enable Wickmayer to be seeded in the main draw. In any case, she's probably not the unseeded Belgian that the seeds will most be hoping to avoid in R1 - that'll be Justine Henin!