Both winnable first rounds imo

Couldn't have asked for much better.

Come on girls you both can do it now go out there and play your best! [:D]

wolf wrote:

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Of course those are two of the best draws you could have hoped for in the first round.

But the pressure will now be massively on both to win. Bally needs to win to stay in the top 100 and Katie will want to win prove she deserves to be where she is. I think this match might make or break her year, to be perfectley honest.

As a slight aside Katie needs to match Bally's performance here to become the new British number one in time for the Fed Cup. It could benefit the team as a whole if Bally is the number two in Portugal.

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I agree that it is a critical match for Katie, whose main draw grand slam record is poor, but is unlikely to get a better chance to break her duck outside the UK. Mayr has apparently succeeded in irritating a number of spectators and players, but was nevertheless able to win a couple of grand slam matches last year. The bookies make this a 50-50 match, which is perfectly reasonable.

Bally has a much superior grand slam record, especially in Australia, and is in good form so the bookies have her as slight favourite. However one worrying stat is that Parmentier has played 6 grand slams outside her home country, and reached the second round every time. Hopefully 7 is her unlucky number.

While I agree it would benefit the Fed Cup team if Bally had the option of playing number 2 singles I don't think that is going to happen even if Katie wins the Australian Open (did I just see a porcine aviator ? ) AFAICS from the 2009 rules, the Fed Cup zonal matches use rankings at the team nominations deadline (ie January 4) so Bally will play the number 1 singles.

According to their schedule they are showing Rod Laver Court, Hisense Arena, Margaret Court Arena, Show Court 2, Show Court 3 and Court 6.

Last year they did the same thing and there were links on channelsurfing for free.

Newbie here, but does anyone know if there is a live stream of the Bally match tonight? If yes where, thank you

Thanks, hopefully bally wins and the beeb will show her next match