Week 18 - ITF ($50K) - Fukuoka, Japan - Carpet

philwrig · Hall of fame

RE: Week 18 - ITF ($50K) - Fukuoka, Japan - Carpet

RBBOT · Futures qualifying

Maybe Naomi should go back to 25Ks - whoever does the draws at the 50/75/100K tournaments must really really not like her! If she makes it past the 7th seed, it will very probably be last week's winner Pliskova in the 2nd round.

sd51rby · Lower Club Player

Apparently Naomi won, 1-6 7-5 7-6 smile

Mel won too no idea of the score

sd51rby · Lower Club Player

Jade must have lost as Mel says she plays her doubles partner tomorrow

SMC1809 · All-time great

Excellent win for NB, particularly after that first set.

SMC1809 · All-time great

And her reward is likely to be a match against Pliskova, the winner at Gifu last week!

steven · Tennis legend

Pliskova lost to Ellen Barry (NZL) WR 600

wolf · Tennis legend

R1
Melanie SOUTH (GBR) defeated Akari INOUE (JPN) 6-3 6-0
Ksenia LYKINA (RUS) (5) defeated Jade CURTIS (GBR) 6-1 6-3
Naomi BROADY (GBR) defeated Tomoko YONEMURA (JPN) (7) 1-6 7-5 7-6(2)

R2
Melanie SOUTH (GBR) Vs Ksenia LYKINA (RUS) (5)
Naomi BROADY (GBR) Vs Ellen BARRY (NZL)

philwrig · Hall of fame

Great chance for Naomi to pick up a few more points and get close to the all important top 250 by 07/06. Great fightback and shows her resolve after losing two tight ones previously.

Good win for Mel as well with the scoreline a promising one.

Jade to be expected I'm afraid.

JT · Junior player

Great win from Naomi, she's lost a few tight ones in the last few weeks so good to turn that one around.

Well done Mel, if she can find the confidence tomorrow against Lykina then I think she'll take that one.

Tough one for Jade but she got another couple of events out there so hopefully some better draws and better results soon.

SMC1809 · All-time great

From Mel:

" had a bad day lost singles and doubles. so windy today in fukuoka."

Shhh · Challenger level

Ksenia LYKINA (RUS) (5) defeated Melanie SOUTH (GBR) 7-5 6-1

Ellen BARRY (NZL) defeated Naomi BROADY (GBR) 7-6(5) 6-0

philwrig · Hall of fame

Not good.

PockyTastic · Futures level

Clearly Mel is disappointed. Rightly so as a few years back this would have been a match she would have won. However lets take a positive from Fukuoka for Mel. She got a win in a 50K over an opponent that she was expected to beat. I know this doesn't seem like a massive deal but earlier in this Asian tour I wouldn't have been surprised if the encounter had ended in defeat. It would appear that Mel isn't quite back to her best, but I imagine that windy conditions would have been problematic for her, even when she was ranked 100 places higher.

As for Naomi, her loss isn't as bad as it looks. Barry has been racked by injury, and has a career of 253, so clearly has some talent. She also knocked out Karolina Pliskova, which is no mean feat...

Onwards to Kurume and hopefully a few more wins.