WeeK 39 - WTA Premier 5 ($2.16M) - Tokyo, Japan - Hard

SMC1809 · All-time great

RE: WeeK 39 - WTA Premier 5 ($2.16M) - Tokyo, Japan - Hard

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

TalkSport covered the American Election? Wow!
R5's Colin Murray show did 3 hours with barely mentioning Laura earlier, even in the sports news bulletins they missed her out - every football match in existence got rhapsodised over of course.

Josh · Challenger level

Well covered the American election to the extent of asking the Washington based journalist if he could see the White House from where he lived, which resulted in a cheer from the presenter when he was told it was only a 5 minute drive away...

All going a bit wrong now, although hopefully Heather has been following Laura's example in how to win sets despite throwing away a 4 game lead.

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

In to the decider then. Perhaps crucially, Andrea to serve first for the first time in a set.

Game 1: Another marathon, potentially pivotal, game. Andrea holds from deuce 7. Heather earned 5 BP chances from deuces 1, 2, 3, 5 & 6, but couldn't convert any of them.

The onerous job of holding in this match now switches to Heather.
*0-1

Josh · Challenger level

Heather loses an epic opening game of the final set, lasting about 15 minutes having had 5 break points.

Josh · Challenger level

Long break here at 5-2, and the odds are suspended at bet365 so would guess maybe Hlavackova has the trainer on?

Spectator · All-time great

Well done, Ms Watson! Hope she gets a kindly draw.

Maza1987 · Challenger level

Well done. Hlavackova has been playing well of late.

NotAClue · Lower Club Player

Heather drew Lisicki, with Sharapova up after that, if she wins.

Peter too · Tennis legend

R1: WATSON, Heather (GBR) Q 75 v LISICKI, Sabine (GER) 31

murray_2k9 · Challenger qualifying

As far as bad draws go...

Maza1987 · Challenger level

I believe she beat Sabine a while ago. But that was when she was ranked very lowly after her injury. These the the type of draws you will almost always get at these tournies. Hopefully heather can get stuck in.

wolf · Tennis legend

Yes, she beat Sabine in Shrewsbury 2 years ago (I was there). But, yes Sabine was coming back from injury and had just suffered the death of a family member so perhaps not in the best frame of mind.

RBBOT · Futures qualifying

murray_2k9 wrote:
As far as bad draws go...

When the top 48 make up 3/4 of the field, getting #31 in R1 isn't a bad draw, it's just average.

philwrig · Hall of fame

That was huge for Hev as she was in a minor rut( very minor)with regards to her singles form. Tough draws and as a result losses I felt had started to eat into her confidence.

Lisicki is an OK draw at the moment, she hasn't played her best since the grass season, I'm pretty sure she has been carrying some sort of injury.
When she's off she can make alot of unforced so Hev has a decent shot here, next round would be too tough but 1 win here would give her 100 in total which would be very satisfactory.