Week 17 - ITF ($50K) - Charlottesville, VA, USA - Clay

Maza1987 · Challenger level

Week 17 - ITF ($50K) - Charlottesville, VA, USA - Clay

Maza1987 · Challenger level

ps. on a serious note. is the Eva Hrdinova laura back?

Tennis36 · Masters Series Champion

good two weeks for laura, in the second set was her real chance to win it, not sure what happened to her serve in the decider

wales1994 · County player

She hasn't lost yet???

Tennis36 · Masters Series Champion

wales1994 wrote:

She hasn't lost yet???

er lost like 10 mins ago 6-3, double break in third

murray_2k9 · Challenger qualifying

Hmm unfortunate loss, not truly fair of us to expect a win but she certainly had a decent shot at the final. Serve seemed to be a deciding factor since Laura was competitive in most of Yakimovas service games.

On to the GA event next then, the red clay! Few weeks resting and practising will do her no harm.

Do you think she has any chance of a QWC into the French? Mladenovic was awarded one into Wimbledon last year and Laura does train in France? Or, given the choice, would the powers that be award Heather instead?

philwrig · Hall of fame

From what I saw of Yakimova last week she is just a relentless slugger from the back of the court. Punishing groundstrokes without much finesse. I assume the relentless barrage slowly wore Laura down. Still a great 4 weeks so we shouldn't be too disappointed.

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, great couple of weeks. Certainly did seem a real chance for Laura of another semi and that would haver led to good chance of reaching the final, but it still looks a good performance.

Any expectation on Laura is her fault smile

since she is showing herself to be well capable of beating many players well inside the top 200 and of Yakimova's level. She's looking maybe like a WR 150 level player at the moment, although her performances may still vary a bit. And that's on green clay which is maybe slightly unexpected.

Re her actual ranking that should go up to about 256 and she she has passed Anne Smith to be GB no 6.

Maza1987 · Challenger level

indiana wrote:

Yes, great couple of weeks. Certainly did seem a real chance for Laura of another semi and that would haver led to good chance of reaching the final, but it still looks a good performance.

Any expectation on Laura is her fault since she is showing herself to be well capable of beating many players well inside the top 200 and of Yakimova's level. She's looking maybe like a WR 150 level player at the moment, although her performances may still vary a bit. And that's on green clay which is maybe slightly unexpected.

Re her actual ranking that should go up to about 256 and she she has passed Anne Smith to be GB no 6.

indiana · Tennis legend

Sorreee. That'll be Anna then smile

JT · Junior player

Great effort Laura over these last few weeks. She's really showing she can perform in the tougher events away from the spotlight as well as at the big events. Any news on where she's playing next? WC for French qualifying maybe?

Keep it up girl we're all right behind you!

murray_2k9 · Challenger qualifying

GA junior event in Italy before the French I believe.

philwrig · Hall of fame

JT wrote:

Great effort Laura over these last few weeks. She's really showing she can perform in the tougher events away from the spotlight as well as at the big events. Any news on where she's playing next? WC for French qualifying maybe?

Keep it up girl we're all right behind you!

Laura has pulled out of the Grade A junior event in Italy scheduled for the week commencing 17/05. I wondered whether they might revise her schedule given her better than expected form over the last few weeks.

A few possibilties for this change:

1. Needs more rest
2. French Open qualifying WC in the pipeline
3. Junior tennis apart from grand slams is now permanently off her schedule
4. Injury

Regarding point 2 I originally thought that this would be the least likely given she can accept only 3 wild cards this year. In addition she can only play a further 7 tournaments this year assuming she plays Aussie open next year.

SMC1809 · All-time great

Maybe she's banking on a few Merited Increases?

RBBOT · Futures qualifying

Has she entered FO doubles? Her ranking must be high enough for her to get in to at least qualifying as a merited increase, and wouldn't count against her if she didn't play singles.