Sounds more Danish than however you describe someone from Benin.

R1: Sabrina BAMBURAC/Rebecca POIKAJARVI (GBR/SWE) [4] vs. Matilda HAMLIN/Valeria OSADCHENKO (SWE/SWE)

(Beninese)

Sabrina has not won a main draw singles match since Edgaston 10k in November last year - 8 consecutive 1st rnd losses.

She won't win this match either.

Seems to be playing Cabaj Awad rather than Jacobsgaard

korriban wrote:

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With Sabrina, its more the fact that she hasn't won a set in all those losses, not taken a set to a TB. But has a ranking in the 800s! Her unranked opponent today has only ever won a single MD match in her short career to date.

It's her life. Good luck to her if Sabrina wants to give things a go on the women's tour - if she's funding all her coaching, fitness, equipment, travel, accommodation, entry fees, etc, then it's simply living the dream and getting an answer to the question, "if only I'd given it a go, then maybe...."

If however, the above (and for other girls in a similar position) is being supported/funded by the LTA and/or other academies/charities, then it does beg a question: Why? Or rather, what else could be done with the resources instead?

-- Edited by korriban on Monday 6th of May 2013 11:12:53 AM

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 Well said.

R1: BAMBURAC, Sabrina (GBR) 831 lost to CABAJ AWAD, Jacqueline (SWE) UNR 2-6 2-6

RainDelay wrote:

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Seems to be playing Cabaj Awad rather than Jacobsgaard

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It looks now as if I read it wrong off the ITF drawsheet, yet with the two all-GB matches next to each other, I remember taking down 4 consecutive names in the draw. I doubt it changed though, so probably my mistake.

To provide some context, here is a quick look at how Sabrina got to her current ranking:

- 4 points from wild cards for tournaments where she lost her first match

- 4 points from Edinburgh 10K (due off next Monday), when she upset top seed Naomi Broady in 3 sets in R1 then beat Angelica Moratelli (ITA) WR 698 in R2 before going out to a qualifier (Paquet, who played there this year too) in 3 sets in the QFs

- 6 points from a 10K SF in Egypt last July (*)

- 1 point from Wrexham 10K in July, when she beat (then-)unranked qualifier Eden Silva 3 & 0 in R1

- 1 point from Shrewsbury 75K Q in September, when she beat unranked Brit Natalie Wall in QR1

- 1 point from Edgbaston 10K in November, when she beat Anna Smolina (RUS) WR 1002 in R1

(*) She beat an unranked ex-top 750 player in R1 then got unranked WCs in R2 and the QFs (the latter previously ranked) after one seed in her quarter got replaced by a lucky loser and the other retired in R1 - an incredibly lucky 6 points, then, though full marks to her for making the most of that luck!

Anyway, that probably explains why she is ranked in the 800s without having any recent form to explain it. I hope she manages to get out of her current rut. As a refugee from the war in Croatia who came over not speaking English (I think) and whose family was threatened with deportation when they first came to the UK, she has certainly faced bigger challenges before, even if they weren't on the tennis court.