Week 40- WTA Premier ($4.8M) - Beijing, China - Hard

indiana · Tennis legend

Week 40- WTA Premier ($4.8M) - Beijing, China - Hard

indiana · Tennis legend

Bah, philwrig quoted my original post before I noticed that I had missed Lauren Davis out of the 18 yos, so my minorly interesting point became less interesting smile

Yes, I saw Vekic's residence was listed as London. Must admit that I can't recall reading or hearing much about her at all.

-- Edited by indiana on Thursday 27th of September 2012 05:54:49 PM

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Originally posted by NotAClue on the Tokyo thread:

Beijing qualies are up. Good draws for our girls.

Laura Robson (4) Vs Garbine Muguraza
Then either Julia Cohen or Johanna Larsson (15)
Should get through that I think if she's recovered from Guangzhou sufficiently well.

Heather Watson (12) vs WC Ran Tian
Then either Mandy Minella (6) or Camilla Giorgi
Fancy Heather to get through that too - Minella plays a lot of tournaments to keep her ranking up.

Laura last up of 4 matches on 'Lotus Court'. Programme starting at 04:00 UK time

Heather second up on 'Moon Court', again starting at 04:00 UK time.

As expected Annie K is not playing.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Very nice draw for Heather, especially getting a WC opponent ranked outside the top 500 in R1.
Not such a good draw for Laura, but she will still be favourite to get through it - and being scheduled as the last match on is certainly favourable for following the scores live.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Perfect draw for Hev, local WC followed by a very winnable matchup probably against Giorgi who could be dangerous if blowing hot but I expect Hev to be too solid.

Much tougher for Laura as Muguraza is dangerous if at her best and Larsson is in very good form.

The big points on offer here are for winning R1 of the main draw, so ideally you want to get through qualifying conserving as much energy as possible as R1 is likely to be played on Sunday.

Peter too · Tennis legend

Q1: ROBSON, Laura (GBR) 4 57 v MUGURUZA, Garbine (ESP) 106
Q1: WATSON, Heather (GBR) 12 78 v TIAN, Ran (CHN) WC 561

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

Muguruza looks like a future top 10 player. Beaten 5 top 100 players on hard this year despite appearing, from her choice of tournaments, to prefer clay. There's a clip on Youtube of her against Errani from the US Open. She's got a big game though the match stats suggest her first serve isn't quite as fast as it appears. Can't imagine there will be many long rallies. Almost beat Zakopalova recently but couldn't serve out the match. Beat Dellacqua in qualies for Tokyo then lost to Bojana Jovanovski.

philwrig · Hall of fame

indiana wrote:
Laura ( born 16/02/94 ) vs Muguruza ( born 08/10/93 ) is a meeting of the top 2 ranked 18 yos in the world. Could be quite tough, as has been said Muguruza has a quite a number of very good looking wins, but then even more so has Laura. I do like just seeing a tie with Laura showing as WR 57
By the way, I didn't quite like as much during my look at the rankings seeing at WR 122 16 yo Donna Vekic ( CRO) ( born 28/06/96 ), who 2 weeks ago reached the WTA tour 220K final in Uzbekistan, beating 3 top 100 players on the way. But I'll leave worrying more about her until another time

Vekic is 1/2 British so thats OK.

steven · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
Bah, philwrig quoted my original post before I noticed that I had missed Lauren Davis out of the 18 yos, so my minorly interesting point became less interesting
Yes, I saw Vekic's residence was listed as London. Must admit that I can't recall reading or hearing much about her at all.

There has been lots of media coverage of Donna recently, including an article in the Times if I remember right. She's being looked after by Tigger's old coach David Felgate. More at http://www.wtatennis.com/page/GettingToKnow/Read/0,,12781~2922659,00.html

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

steven wrote:
indiana wrote:
Bah, philwrig quoted my original post before I noticed that I had missed Lauren Davis out of the 18 yos, so my minorly interesting point became less interesting
Yes, I saw Vekic's residence was listed as London. Must admit that I can't recall reading or hearing much about her at all.
There has been lots of media coverage of Donna recently, including an article in the Times if I remember right. She's being looked after by Tigger's old coach David Felgate. More at http://www.wtatennis.com/page/GettingToKnow/Read/0,,12781~2922659,00.html

Interesting that Laura and Donna are both based in London, and Laura is British with a Croatian coach, and Donna is Croatian with a British coach.

philwrig · Hall of fame

That's what I was thinking as well, kind of should be in reverse.

Maza1987 · Challenger level

Seems like good draws. Especially for Heather.
Murguruza does seem like a good young player though.

And I've been folliwng Vekic for a while. She is a fine young player and is doing well.

NotAClue · Lower Club Player

Muguruza on clay would be a completely different prospect, and I would have her a strong favourite.
On these hard courts though, she's nowhere near as formidable yet. There is the occasional standout like Miami this year, but not the consistency.
I expect Laura to win in competitive straights, slight possibility of a TB set against.

Then should win match against either
Cohen, who still regularly played 25K's this year, and has played 8 more events than anyone in the top 100 to make her ranking, including being the only USA rep in Baku (Her standout week - represents one third of her total points) & Tashkent. Everyone knows the line on those tournaments!
Or
Larsson - whom I disagee with philwrig about her being in very good form. She did beat Bartoli in Cinci, for a big week, and ran Cibulkova close in USO, but other than that, her semi in Bastad was courtesy of two RET's. In short, she's playing the sort of tennis you would expect of a player ranked 84. She started this year at 59, went out to 104, and has bounced a little.
Either way, I would expect Laura to win, again in straights.

Heather's Q1 is a gift, and Q2 should be no problem, even if Giorgi. Her run at Wimbledon accounts for ½ her total points, and everything else is unremarkable.
Heather to qualify without losing a set.

Thank you to Madeline for correcting my posting error, and sorry for having done it in the first place.

philwrig · Hall of fame

NotAClue wrote:
Muguruza on clay would be a completely different prospect, and I would have her a strong favourite.
On these hard courts though, she's nowhere near as formidable yet. There is the occasional standout like Miami this year, but not the consistency.
I expect Laura to win in competitive straights, slight possibility of a TB set against.

Then should win match against either
Cohen, who still regularly played 25K's this year, and has played 8 more events than anyone in the top 100 to make her ranking, including being the only USA rep in Baku (Her standout week - represents one third of her total points) & Tashkent. Everyone knows the line on those tournaments!
Or
Larsson - whom I disagee with philwrig about her being in very good form. She did beat Bartoli in Cinci, for a big week, and ran Cibulkova close in USO, but other than that, her semi in Bastad was courtesy of two RET's. In short, she's playing the sort of tennis you would expect of a player ranked 84. She started this year at 59, went out to 104, and has bounced a little.
Either way, I would expect Laura to win, again in straights.

Heather's Q1 is a gift, and Q2 should be no problem, even if Giorgi. Her run at Wimbledon accounts for ½ her total points, and everything else is unremarkable.
Heather to qualify without losing a set.

Thank you to Madeline for correcting my posting error, and sorry for having done it in the first place.

Larsson just qualified and won a round in Tokyo, but I do agree that Laura would still be the favourite. I just think there are easier draws than playing players in peak form.

Peter too · Tennis legend

Q1: ROBSON, Laura (GBR) 4 57 beat MUGURUZA, Garbine (ESP) 106 6-3 6-3
Q1: WATSON, Heather (GBR) 12 78 beat TIAN, Ran (CHN) WC 561 7-5 6-2

Q2: ROBSON, Laura (GBR) 4 57 v LARSSON, Johanna (SWE) 15 84

Q2: WATSON, Heather (GBR) 12 78 v GIORGI, Camila (ITA) 95

I hope that is right now.

Heather beat Larsson in three last year.

-- Edited by Peter too on Friday 28th of September 2012 01:19:28 PM