Week 41 - WTA ($220K) - Osaka, Japan - Hard

Reeltime · Satellite level

RE: Week 41 - WTA ($220K) - Osaka, Japan - Hard

Maza1987 · Challenger level

wohoo,
just woke up to see the heather news. good stuff. new career high coming and a 2-0 record against doi going in to the semi.
great chance to make the final.

shame about laura, but looked a close match.

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

In rankings terms, Laura's worst loss for a long time, especially with all that was riding on it.

But credit must go to Chang, who was well beaten in the second set, but came back very impressively in the decider, and completely stopped Laura carrying forward the momentum. Overall, Chang probably deserved the win.

Laura actually served very well through out, and one can only presume that her ground strokes and general play were not up to their recent standard. A match she should have won for sure, and I thought that she would win. Disappointing, then, especially considering the draw she had this week, but still a QF and decent points.

That may well be it for her now this year, and still much to look forward to next year.

So now we can focus on one match at a time

and wish Heather all the best as she seeks to emulate Laura's Guangzhou achievements.

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

QF: ROBSON, Laura (GBR) [8] 56 lost to CHANG, Kai-Chen (TPE) 134 4-6 6-3 (4)6-7
QF: WATSON, Heather (GBR) 71 defeated PARMENTIER, Pauline (FRA) 73 7-5 6-3

SF: WATSON, Heather (GBR) 71 vs. DOI, Misaki (JPN) 123
H2H 2-0 - Birmingham 2011 R32 - grass, 2 & 4; New Haven 2011 Q-R32- hard, 4 & 2

chavkev · Intermediate Club Player

Laura is still entered into the Barnstaple 75k. With her final 30 points of the year to be defended here, she may choose to go. There are 110 points for the winner. It might be better for her to end the season now. It depends on how keen she is to end the year in the top 50 and whether she feels the break would be more beneficial.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Top win for Hev, Doi is playing well but you couldn't ask for a better semi in order to make your first final.
One match too many for Laura after a long season, slightly injured but put up a huge fight after losing the first set. She's actually on the list for Barnstaple and this loss probably makes it more likely she may play there in order to secure a top 50 year end slot. She actually might get to 50 between now and then as other players points drop off, but would then drop back after last years Barnstaple points drop off.
So exciting for Hev, first semi and fully deserved as well.

indiana · Tennis legend

With Stosur still around, it may be quite an ask, but you know in many ways I'd love Heather to be the one that wins a WTA tournament and finishes the year as GB No 1, possibly inside the top 50.

Just that much as I really like Heather, I can't help but really feel that it is Laura who will go on to the far greater things.

-- Edited by indiana on Friday 12th of October 2012 01:44:02 PM

Jan · Hall of fame

Well done Heather

Shame for Laura - a great chance, but couldn't quite get there. Great year though!

Gary Denton · Intermediate Club Player

indiana wrote:
What a quite extraordinary final set, such a pity the first game that either player really got anywhere much on their opponent's serve was Chang in the tiebreak.
Overall 97 points all. Each won 65/97 on their serve, and so 32/97 on return.
Really well done to Heather earlier, 2 wins away from a WTA title ! ( oh and usurping Laura as GB No 1 )
I do think Laura should call it quits for the season. She's done tremendously well. and I really don't see the point in chasing top 50 this year ( it will come next year, and more besides, whatever changes there are during the remainder of this year ), especially since she has been carrying some sort of minor injury for a few weeks and is maybe kind of played out. She can do without Barnstaple.
Have some rest and recuperation to try and get fully fit again and then put in some hard training including working more on the consistency of that serve ( though it has been much improved lately and particularly today ), and indeed moving towards turning it into more of a weapon.
She didn't really have a close season to work on her game last year and came out not really ready, and has done tremendously well to show such improvemnt later in the year. I wouldn't want her to hinder a full and effective close season this year.

-- Edited by indiana on Friday 12th of October 2012 06:59:01 AM

I echo Indy's sentiments. Time for a rest, Laura. Great season. Well done!

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Another really good win for Heather this morning, and she's suddenly in the position of being strong favourite to make the final (her H2H v Doi looks especially encouragng), although it's hard to see past Stosur for the title. Parmentier's strong serve never materialised as Heather was able to win the majority of return points. She has been excellent in Japan this year.

Tough defeat for Laura is a match where she wasn't outplayed but lost two sets that could have gone either way, and Chang didn't give her much of a chance in the decider as Laura could only win 7 return points. Given that Laura has been nowhere near top form here a quarter final is a reasonable return. Fully agreed she should end her season now - I can't see much to gain from her playing Barnstaple.

jake270392 · Intermediate Club Player

Gary Denton wrote:
I echo Indy's sentiments. Time for a rest, Laura. Great season. Well done!

Apparantly she's playing Luxembourg next week, I doubt this is true but she might well play Barnstaple in able to crack that top 50 but its been a great end to the season for her and Hev.

But well done to Hev and a real shot at making her first WTA final!

philwrig · Hall of fame

jake270392 wrote:
Gary Denton wrote:
I echo Indy's sentiments. Time for a rest, Laura. Great season. Well done!
Apparantly she's playing Luxembourg next week, I doubt this is true but she might well play Barnstaple in able to crack that top 50 but its been a great end to the season for her and Hev.
But well done to Hev and a real shot at making her first WTA final!

That's coming from a realiable source so it sounds as if thats the plan. She's not eligible for a MDWC so would have to be playing qualifying which starts on Saturday. Won't be easy to travel on a long distance flight and basically get off it and play straightaway.

philwrig · Hall of fame

Hev through to semis of dubs as well 7-6 6-1, what a week !!

Gary Denton · Intermediate Club Player

I think it's a mistake personally but she's determined to get into the top 50, so good luck to her. Barnstaple will be happy with her participation, I'm sure.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

philwrig wrote:
jake270392 wrote:
Gary Denton wrote:
I echo Indy's sentiments. Time for a rest, Laura. Great season. Well done!
Apparantly she's playing Luxembourg next week, I doubt this is true but she might well play Barnstaple in able to crack that top 50 but its been a great end to the season for her and Hev.
But well done to Hev and a real shot at making her first WTA final!
That's coming from a realiable source so it sounds as if thats the plan. She's not eligible for a MDWC so would have to be playing qualifying which starts on Saturday. Won't be easy to travel on a long distance flight and basically get off it and play straightaway.

In Laura's Press Conference on Tuesday, she indicated that she would only play another tournament if she could get in to the main draw as qualifiers would be too quick a turnaround. I was thinking this must be Moscow, but i suppose with the rankings of six weeks ago being used, Laura may not make the cut even for Luxembourg.

I forgot about Heather's involvement in the doubles with the singles action still going on - another good win there as well.

Does anyone know if there will be any streaming at all for this tournament? I'm sure I read somewhere that WTA tournaments have to have TV coverage at least for the semi-finals onwards but I may be wrong. I'll be much more tempted to get up at 4am to watch Heather rather than follow live scores.