Week 17 - ITF $50K - Wénshān, China - Hard

steven · Tennis legend

Week 17 - ITF $50K - Wénshān, China - Hard

steven · Tennis legend

QR1: (q1) Emily Webley-Smith WR 416 beat Cai Xi-Wei (CHN) UNR by 2 & 3

QR2: (q1) Emily Webley-Smith WR 416 v Wang Yan (CHN) WR 1145 (junior top 100)

The other seed in Emily's section went out in QR1 to an unranked 24-year-old called Liu Wan-Ting, who turns out to have had a career high of 310 in 2007 and is currently a top 150 doubles player.

L32: Samantha Murray v (WC) Tian Ran (CHN) WR 463 (CH 439 in Feb)

Tian reached the semis of a 50K in China in January and took 7 games off Heather in Beijing qualifying last year. The winner is likely to get 2nd seed Zheng Saisai (CHN) WR 161 in R2.

PockyTastic · Futures level

Solid start from Em. Chinese players who don't play outside of their home country are always a bit of a mystery - some are massively under ranked, others not so much. Sam's opponent could be tricky (she was a solid junior from a few years ago I believe), but one I'd hope for her to win. Saisai Zheng would be rather tough if both make it.

steven · Tennis legend

(via TF) Emily won but the top 150 doubles player with a singles career high of 310 didn't:

QR2: (q1) Emily Webley-Smith WR 416 beat Wang Yan (CHN) WR 1145 (junior top 100) by 7-6(5) 6-3

FQR: (q1) Emily Webley-Smith WR 416 v Zhao Di (CHN) WR 929 (CH 511 last July)

H2H 0-1, Zhao won 7-6(4) 6-2 in Bendigo (AUS) in 2011.

steven · Tennis legend

(via TF again) A very similar scoreline to the last time they played, unfortunately:

FQR: (q1) Emily Webley-Smith WR 416 lost to Zhao Di (CHN) WR 929 (CH 511 last July) by 7-6(4) 6-4 bleh

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Very disappointing for Em again after a first round exit last week and not even making the draw. On to the qualies in Japan hope she can find some form.

korriban · Challenger level

indiana wrote:
Wanted : an expert on helping develop a consistent serve.

Apply to : numerous British tennis players.

Brilliant post!

Laura, Sam, Elena, Lisa.....you can all chip in!

How many years have we been saying that Laura's serve is a superb weapon/terrible liability, depending on the moment. 4 years? 5 years? It still looks good, beautiful even, but it mostly gets her into awful trouble. Is there really no coach out there who can finally fix this - the motion itself seems fluid and natural, so surely it's not a lost cause....it's the one shot that is completely in your own control, not affected by surface, opponent, etc. She looks on the point of tears half the time when the yips start, so come on Mr highly paid coach - earn your money!!!

Reality check - the Argentinian #2 Molinaro was, frankly, very poor indeed. Laura won 10 games in a row.....but in the first set Laura gifted her 4 DFs and partly as a consequence faced 5 BPs, more than she generated herself! If her serve is creating struggles even against players of low calibre, how can she progress?

Interesting article from 2009 on DFitis in the women's game

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/usopen09/columns/story?columnist=tandon_kamakshi&id=4421565

-- Edited by korriban on Monday 22nd of April 2013 09:40:13 AM

blob · All-time great

The recent record of GB women losing matches having won the first set may be about to be extended yet further.

Sam is currently 6-1 2-6 *3-5 (40-40)...

blob · All-time great

Hardly started and already this week looks like it might not lift the gloom of last week.

Saved one match point, and only lost one more point in total, but... 17 double faults, ouch!

L32: Samantha Murray lost to (WC) Tian Ran (CHN) WR 463 (CH 439 in Feb) 6-1 2-6 3-6

blob · All-time great

R1: Samantha MURRAY/Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR/GBR) [4] vs. Sung-Hee HAN/So-Ra LEE (KOR/KOR)

korriban · Challenger level

blob wrote:
Hardly started and already this week looks like it might not lift the gloom of last week.

Saved one match point, and only lost one more point in total, but... 17 double faults, ouch!

L32: Samantha Murray lost to (WC) Tian Ran (CHN) WR 463 (CH 439 in Feb) 6-1 2-6 3-6

17 DFs equates to precisely 1/3 of all the winning points her opponent got on Sam's serve, and 1 in 5 of Sams service points played!

murray_2k9 · Challenger qualifying

I do wonder how much coaches can do though - I often find it strange that Serena has developed such an incredible serve - consistent, flawless technique, while Venus has bizarre technique that is very prone to breaking down. This is despite having the same coach since childhood. I guess body type may be the main factor!?

Laura seems to be more of the Serena ilk, has managed to just 'get' serving and develop fantastic technique for the most part but she doesnt seem to be able to put the last piece in the puzzle.

-- Edited by murray_2k9 on Monday 22nd of April 2013 01:50:17 PM

indiana · Tennis legend

Wanted : an expert on helping develop a consistent serve.

Apply to : numerous British tennis players.

indiana · Tennis legend

One thing that I think that has noticeably improved with Andy since Lendl joined him is his serve, both first and second.

I felt Andy spent many years kidding folk ( and maybe himself ) that his serve was better than it was.

To my mind, it was a not mentioned enough weakness at the very top level, both first serve % and most particularly his relatively very weak second serve that he could get away with against many, but not top players.

I spent many years bemoaning it and not seeing any distinct improvement. I do now, and while it is not generally any real advantage ( though he does have some particularly good days ), it is no longer the general disadvantage that it was, and I am aware that it is quite some time since I've had an Andy Serve Rant.

So no matter how good and experienced you are, improvements can be made. I do find Laura's so frustrating, because she has done so well with this liability, and I think surely it can be improved significantly and then let's see where she can get to.

blob · All-time great

In Charleston & also Fed Cup over the weekend, Serena is often just serving now at about 60% and placing the ball in play - so accurate is she, and the rest of her game so formidable, that's enough for her. But, in case anyone was in any doubt... she's pretty exceptional