Week 28 - WTA Premier ($740K) - Stanford, USA Hard

steven · Tennis legend

RE: Week 28 - WTA Premier ($740K) - Stanford, USA Hard

philwrig · Hall of fame

Shhh wrote:
SF: Marina Erakovic (NZL) & Heather Watson d. (3) Natalie Grandin & Vladimira Uhlirova (RSA/CZE) 7-5 6-7(6) 10-7

wow!

At about 4.45am I woke up and I thought I'll just check how Hev's getting on, 2 hours later I was still up vaguely awake and she had won.

Few details of how the match was played out:

First set saw Hevina (Hev and Marina) get an early double break to go 3-0 up before being broken back at 3-0 and then again serving for the set at 5-4, they resonded by breaking again and then serving it out at the second time of asking.

2nd set saw Grandova get a break halfway through, before being broke serving for the set, they would then be broken again giving Hevina a chance to serve out the match. That game went to deuce and a deciding point which of course was a MP, they lost it so it went into a TB. They went 6-0 down in the TB before somehow hauling it back to 6-6 before losing the next 2 points.

The deciding match TB was very tight with neither team able to get a lead of more than 2 points at any time. Hevina were down 2-0, and 7-6 with a mini break and also at best were 5-3 up and 6-5 with the mini break. They then won the last 4 points from 7-6 mini break down to take it 10-7.

philwrig · Hall of fame

By the way, does anyone know ( steven possibly the most likely) when we last had a GB girl in the final of a Premier doubles event ?

Josh · Challenger level

Is a Premier tournament the equivalent of an ATP 500 event? What is the difference between a 'standard' Premier event and a Premier 5 event?

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

steven, thank you for your confirmation.

steven · Tennis legend

Josh wrote:
Is a Premier tournament the equivalent of an ATP 500 event? What is the difference between a 'standard' Premier event and a Premier 5 event?

Top 10 players have to commit to play in 4 of the 5 Premier 5 tournaments each year as well as all 4 Premier Mandatory tournaments.

So I would say WTA Premier Mandatory & Premier 5s are rougly equivalent to ATP Masters Series events, other WTA Premier tournaments are roughly equivalent to ATP 500s and WTA Internationals to ATP 250s.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Josh wrote:
Is a Premier tournament the equivalent of an ATP 500 event? What is the difference between a 'standard' Premier event and a Premier 5 event?

Good question , and that's probably a reasonable comparison . You get 470 ranking points for the winner compared to 500.

Not sure other than double the ranking points for the winner.

More information here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WTA_Premier_tournaments

steven · Tennis legend

philwrig wrote:
By the way, does anyone know ( steven possibly the most likely) when we last had a GB girl in the final of a Premier doubles event ?

Given that Premiers have not been around for long, I think it's safe to say it's the first time ever.

philwrig · Hall of fame

steven wrote:
philwrig wrote:
By the way, does anyone know ( steven possibly the most likely) when we last had a GB girl in the final of a Premier doubles event ?
Given that Premiers have not been around for long, I think it's safe to say it's the first time ever.

I thought that might be the case, what about any tour level final ?

steven · Tennis legend

philwrig wrote:
steven wrote:
philwrig wrote:
By the way, does anyone know ( steven possibly the most likely) when we last had a GB girl in the final of a Premier doubles event ?
Given that Premiers have not been around for long, I think it's safe to say it's the first time ever.
I thought that might be the case, what about any tour level final ?

Claire Curran reached the 2006 Canberra WTA Tier IV Final with Liga Dekmeijere - that's the last one I can find by checking the most likely suspects.

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

I thought the same for a moment. Had a set point, but eventually double faulted the break away, and Serena took the set 7-5.
Serena looks interested all of a sudden - like an angry bumble bee in that outfit!

I don't think Heather will have too long to wait now.

-- Edited by insomniacfolder on Sunday 15th of July 2012 09:05:49 PM

philwrig · Hall of fame

Thank you very much, I was quite sure Sarah Boz hadn't so its quite along time !

DavidC · Tennis legend

Even longer to an equivalent WTA grade final (Jo Durie with Catherine Suire in the 1993 Paris indoor) or to a British win in a WTA final (Clare Wood/Belinda Borneo Wellington 1992) I think (possible that I have missed one in skimming a book with WTA doubles finals in date order)

philwrig · Hall of fame

steven wrote:
philwrig wrote:
steven wrote:
philwrig wrote:
By the way, does anyone know ( steven possibly the most likely) when we last had a GB girl in the final of a Premier doubles event ?
Given that Premiers have not been around for long, I think it's safe to say it's the first time ever.
I thought that might be the case, what about any tour level final ?
Claire Curran reached the 2006 Canberra WTA Tier IV Final with Liga Dekmeijere - that's the last one I can find by checking the most likely suspects.

I hope you don't mind but I have pinched this stat for twitter.

philwrig · Hall of fame

DavidC wrote:
Even longer to an equivalent WTA grade final (Jo Durie with Catherine Suire in the 1993 Paris indoor) or to a British win in a WTA final (Clare Wood/Belinda Borneo Wellington 1992) I think (possible that I have missed one in skimming a book with WTA doubles finals in date order)

Quite remarkable really but unlike the guys, we haven't had too many female doubles specialists so as per usual we have to go back to the Jo Durie days !