Fed Cup 2011

steven · Tennis legend

RE: Fed Cup 2011

philwrig · Hall of fame

There are 25 different countries represented in the world's top 50. Of those there are 20 european countries represented. This is clear evidence of the strength of depth of ladies tennis in this continent. Thus any promotion from this zone is going to take one huge effort. Not until we have 2 top 50 players contesting the singles rubbers will we put ourselves in with a favourites chance of doing that.

Josh · Challenger level

Switzerland - Denmark is unsurprisingly going to be decided by the doubles. Bacsinsky lost just the 1 game against the no.2 then Wozniacki won 6-3 6-3.

I guess the only way we can get through is somehow hope the Danes win the doubles and then try to take a set of Wozniacki tomorrow. I don't think we would qualify if we had an even win/loss set record with the Swiss because all 3 of their singles wins have been by such a large margin.

indiana · Tennis legend

Yep, Switzerland's games % is becoming practically unbeatable in a tiebreaker.

So our only real chance is getting through on the earlier sets % tiebreaker which means Denmark winning the doubles here in straights then in the GB - Denmark tie, GB winning the battle of the no 2s and the doubles, both in straights and .....

....err getting a set of Wozniacki.

If Switzerland get a set in the doubles, I reckon we're going to need to beat Wozniacki ! ( time for a minor ailment

)

And if they win the doubles, of course they've won the group and the GB vs Denmark tie will be to see who avoids going into a relegation play-off.

-- Edited by indiana on Thursday 3rd of February 2011 12:23:32 PM

steven · Tennis legend

Josh wrote:
Switzerland - Denmark is unsurprisingly going to be decided by the doubles. Bacsinsky lost just the 1 game against the no.2 then Wozniacki won 6-3 6-3.

I guess the only way we can get through is somehow hope the Danes win the doubles and then try to take a set of Wozniacki tomorrow. I don't think we would qualify if we had an even win/loss set record with the Swiss because all 3 of their singles wins have been by such a large margin.

Yes, I'm sure that's right - I think we need the Danes to win the doubles in straight sets too. At the moment, sets W/L are SUI 6-4, DEN 2-2, GBR 2-4, and even a set taken off Caro and straight sets wins in the other two matches would only take us to 7-6, which is what the Swiss would be on if DEN won the doubles against them in 3 sets.

Of course, if you think taking a set off Caro seems very unlikely and the best we realistically hope for is to avoid having to play a relegation tie, then it's better if the Swiss win the doubles.

Anyone beginning to wish our singles players had at least managed to make the scorelines in each set more respectable yesterday?

-- Edited by steven on Thursday 3rd of February 2011 12:29:54 PM

indiana · Tennis legend

Seems to be general agreement smile

wolf · Tennis legend

Switzerland have just won the doubles 6-2 6-2 to beat Denmark 2-1 so GB's promotion hopes are over for another year.

So a simple straight shoot out tomorrow to avoid a relegation play-off between us and Denmark. Starts 8am GMT.

indiana · Tennis legend

I guess we could have just waited for that but hey it's fun playing the scenarios biggrin

On the face of it we look strong favourites to me. Must must surely win the 2nd ranked singles and looks good for the doubles.

philwrig · Hall of fame

So we have two chances to avoid relegation.
The Danish doubles pairing of Caro and Grage(junior gs sf in dubs) will not be a pushover, so all to play for tomorrow.
I see that Nino is now out in Israel to monitor Bally's slight injury to her knee.
Don't see the point of risking Bally tomorrow as we will win the first singles match whoever turns out and we will lose against Caro whoever turns out.

indiana · Tennis legend

Mm, didn't know that about Grage. Think we will still win the doubles though.

Yes, would be very silly to play Bally against Denmark.

philwrig · Hall of fame

The Swiss put out Schnyder in the doubles today so they were a much stronger proposition as a consequence. Yes I would make us favourites in the doubles, but with a rookie pairing, playing the number one singles player in the world and alot on the line I would make us only marginal favourites.

-- Edited by philwrig on Thursday 3rd of February 2011 02:07:32 PM

steven · Tennis legend

Schnyder talking about her match against Anne - http://www.fedcup.com/en/news/audio/reaction-from-opening-day-in-eilat.aspx - doesn't make good listening though cry

RBBOT · Futures qualifying

If the rules on the rankings allow it, I'd send Heather in against Caroline, but I suspect they don't. Not because I think she has any better chance than Anne, but because she'll benefit more from the experience.

airsmashers · County player

LTA twitter is saying Heather is 4-0 up vs Barbat

Wasn't this supposed to be streamed somewhere?

philwrig · Hall of fame

There was, but as usual the proof is in the pudding and only Israeli people have had access to it in reality.
This is the link
http://www.sport5.co.il/HTML/articles/Article.411.93619.html