(According to TF)

QR1: (13)Anna Smith (GBR) beat (wc)Yuliya Artsiomava (BLR) 61 64

QR2: (13)Anna Smith (GBR) v (7)Ana Vrljic (CRO)

R1: (8) Maret Ani (EST) v Naomi Cavaday (GBR).

Ani is the seeded player, although as of this week, Naomi is the higher ranked player.

-- Edited by SMC1809 on Monday 1st of March 2010 04:49:33 PM

philwrig wrote:

---

I had a feeling Anna's early season form might be on the wane.

---

Why ?   When did you get this feeling ?   I saw nothing to warrant this prophet of doom stuff.

Anna won 8 of her first 10 matches of the year  ( her two defeats being to the WR s 267 and 331 in GB 10K semis and quarters  )

Then 2 losses : 
Semi in 25K in Sutton to WR 158 HLAVAKOVA ( CZE )  2 - 6  7 - 5  6 - 1
Qualiifying in 25K in Stockholm  to WR 282  MRDEZA  ( CRO )   4 - 6  6 - 3  7 - 5

So, up to and including Stockholm I don't see any dip, yes she loses 2 in a row, but in 3 sets to two higher ranked players. Also bear in mind she flew into Stockholm with little practice time after reaching the semis in Sutton.  Basically, I really don't know why you had a feeling her form was on the wane.

Anyway, let's look at this tournament now :
QR1 ;  Beats  WR 1054 comfortably ( as she should )  6 -1  6 - 4
QR2 :  Loses to WR  300 ( VRLJIC )   4 - 6  6 - 1  6 - 0

So again she has lost in 3 sets to a higher ranked player than herself, she has yet to lose to a lower ranked player than herself this year.

I admit the last 2 sets are slightly disturbing but sometimes things just go like that, and even if there are no extenuating circumstances I wouldn't yet be getting too concerned over two sets, especially to a player in form like Vrjjic.

I just looked at  Vrljic's activity and see her last tournament was a 50K in Germany where in qualifying and the main draw she successively beat the WRs  751, 240, 237 and 186 in straight sets before losing 6 -2 6 -1 to Johanna Larsson of Sweden ( WR 154 ) in the last 16.  So she would seem to come into this tournament in very good form.

Anne started the year with with two 10K tournaments, quite a few wins but generally quite low ranked opponents, but still an encouraging start. She has moved on to 25Ks with generally rather higher ranked players. I saw no tail off, looking at scores, before this tournament and especially bearing in mind  Vrljic's form am not really concerned now.  Even without that form, it is just one match and 2 very one-sided sets after winning the first set against the WR 300.

Apart from her very first round win against Kucova ( WR 134 ) in Sutton,  and previous quarter final defeat to Kremer ( WR 331 ) in Wrexham,  Anna has beaten all players she has faced outside the top 300 and lost to those ranked 300 or better so far this year.

Sorry to go on at such length, but I just thought it a rather off the cuff comment with no real foundation. 

Anna has had a pretty encouraging start to the year all round and played almost throughout to my mind at a pretty consistent level.  Hopefully, she can continue and indeed progress further.

Over and out 

-- Edited by indiana on Wednesday 3rd of March 2010 03:36:10 AM

I suppose I was hoping Anna would consistently play at a level near the top 250-200 area. That may have been too high an expectation and lets face way above her long time average. But I feel she was doing that for a consistent period of time. I noticed a slight dip after the first set against Hlavakova nothing much but losing the last two sets here one and love certainly cement a more worrying trend. We shall see but I fear a period of not so good results. Before the Slovak tournament this result would have been in line with expectations so lets hope its just a blip and she can regain her best recent form. That said and I am going to marginally contradict myself here the Croatian girl is in good form. Maybe my pessimistic side is overruling my optimistic side here.

philwrig wrote:

---

Very happy to report a great result for Cav given her recent form.

She beat Ani 6-4 7-5.

---

Why ?   In what way is it a great result  ?

Oh, sorry, actually I agree      ( though clearly a match at her best she should be able to win )  Hope she continues in good form here, though as I saw you point out before, Phil, she can sometimes wane later on in tournaments.

-- Edited by indiana on Tuesday 2nd of March 2010 12:02:00 PM

Naomi will play Romina Oprandi in R2 after she beat Amra Sadikovic 62 62.

Oprandi playing well at the moment so probably the favourite.