Week 19 - ITF ($50K) - Kurume, Japan Carpet

steven · Tennis legend

RE: Week 19 - ITF ($50K) - Kurume, Japan Carpet

steven · Tennis legend

So we're left with just Mel, who takes on Jade's conqueror in R2:

L16: Mel South WR 215 v Ayaka Maekawa (JPN) WR 383

DUSTY DICK · Club Coach

Shame that for Naomi but not thrashed. Still making good progress.

indiana · Tennis legend

I'd have been pretty worried if Naomi had been thrashed here !

Pliskova is clearly on the up and has had some decent runs this year and beaten a couple of top 200 players . but I would always have expected this to be a competitive match and Naomi at her best maybe to have won it.

I still do think though Naomi is playing generally pretty well and as has been said has had a few tough draws.

Hopefully she can start picking up some more points again, particularly in the grass season and get into the top 250 before too long. Unfortunately that looks as if it may be too late for a Wimbledon WC though there is still some chance.

Good that Mel got the win and she must have a very good chance now of reaching at least the quarter finals.

philwrig · Hall of fame

In my opinion Naomi has taken a step back over her last two matches. She should have beaten Barry and also the less good Pliskova twin. Maybe she has been out on the road for too long and is ready for a recharge back home. It may also be due to the pressure caused by needing to reach the top 250 by 7/6. Luckily she has the green green grass to look forward to in a couple of weeks time.

On a separate issue how fruitful are these long trips out to the far east in terms of ranking points. Would they not have been better off playing the very very week challengers in Australia if they wanted to travel this far. The alternative would have been to play on the red clay in Europe but for some reason most of our girls seem to be allergic to the surface. Cav has shown it is possible to do some damage on this stuff.

SMC1809 · All-time great

Mel won 6-3 6-3 smile

SMC1809 · All-time great

Next she plays that pesky Pliskova.

indiana · Tennis legend

Good to see Mel get the win even if expected, next one though could go either way.

RBBOT · Futures qualifying

Next she plays that pesky Pliskova.
I think you'll find they are doing a good job of splitting the peskiness between them.

SMC1809 · All-time great

Mel must've lost as both pesky Plisko's are on tomorrow's oop.

Mel lost 6-3 6-4. cry

-- Edited by SMC1809 on Friday 14th of May 2010 08:30:49 AM

JT · Junior player

I've been away all week and only just seen the results - great effort there Mel, Erakovic is tough, especially on fast surfaces. Glad to see Mel stringing and couple of matches together.

Interesting decisions now for Mel, I'd take Birmingham q's and Wimbledon q's and get some points on the board to get her ranking and confidence back up. She's good on grass and shouldn't worry about going through qualies in any event.

steven · Tennis legend

I agree that in WTA in particular, it makes sense to go through qualifying instead of taking a WC if there's a good chance you'll make it through, but I imagine players find it hard to pass up the guaranteed payday of a main draw WC.