Week 28 - WTA ($220K) - Palermo, Italy Clay

Peter too · Tennis legend

Week 28 - WTA ($220K) - Palermo, Italy Clay

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

Abit of good luck at last!

Peter too · Tennis legend

Helen40 wrote:
Abit of good luck at last!

Unfortunately not all that lucky, Laura is likely to play Roberta Vinci 2 23 in R2.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

Bother, still not a bad as drawing a Schiavone in round 1 though.

wales1994 · County player

Why is she going to play on clay? :S When the Stanford entry list is so low...

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

I was wondering what Laura's plans would be after Wimbledon. I expect she would rather not be playing a clay court event, but being involved in wimbledon up till Thursday, the Stanford tournament was probably too far away.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

I guess she would have needed to have been there for Saturday for qualies, which is what sheh was originally down for.

philwrig · Hall of fame

tony_orient wrote:
I was wondering what Laura's plans would be after Wimbledon. I expect she would rather not be playing a clay court event, but being involved in wimbledon up till Thursday, the Stanford tournament was probably too far away.

I also suspect it was the prospect of travelling across the Atlantic and back again, before embarking on another trip back there straight afterwards.

She had a good spell on the clay before Wimby so why not.

Finally Claire Curran her coach has two small children so maybe that was a factor as well.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Am I correct in thinking that US Open entry is based on rankings as of next Monday?

If so, this places extra importance on to this event for Laura. Two wins would almost guarantee direct entry into the US Open, one win would put her right on the borderline.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Very good point Tony, yes you are right.
One win here entirely possible would make it very close.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Laura plays Valentyna Ivakhnenko, 2nd on Court 7 tomorrow. Centre and Court 2 are streamed, but probably not Court 7

philwrig · Hall of fame

I saw Ivakhnenko play in her qualifying match, not bad but certainly Laura is the clear favourite if she's mentally tuned in for this match.

Peter too · Tennis legend

R1: ROBSON, Laura (GBR) 113 v IVAKHNENKO, Valentyna (UKR) Q 240

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

Robbo up second on court 7, play there starts at 16.00 CET, so guess Robbo should be on at around 16.00 BST.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Laura's match starting soon. She should have the beating of her opponent but it will all depend on how well Laura adjusts to playing on Clay from Grass, especially against an opponent who is well prepared having won three qualifying matches.