JoKo and Litvak have only met once, in the Troy 50K in 2009 - it went to a final set tiebreak, which Litvak edged 8-6. The other 'meeting' is a WTA glitch (the lack of score on the WTA H2H is the clue) - they qualified from sections 7 and 8 at Rancho Mirage in 2010, but the WTA seems to have treated that as a match (albeit an unplayed one) even though it wasn't.

Unlucky Jade getting the 5th seed for the 2nd week running - or maybe not, if she can upset this no. 5 seed too!

L16 : Johanna KONTA (GBR) / Kady POOLER (USA) v Elisabeth FOURNIER (CAN) / Petra JANUSKOVA (CAN)
L16 : Naomi BROADY (GBR) / Olivia ROGOWSKA (AUS) [1] v Mai MINOKOSHI (JPN) / Emi MUTAGUCHI (JPN)
L16 : Samantha MURRAY (GBR) / Jade WINDLEY (GBR) [2] v Keren SHLOMO (ISR) / Caitlin WHORISKEY (USA)

-- Edited by WD40 on Monday 22nd of July 2013 05:27:03 PM

philwrig wrote:

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I agree good strategy, aim to get a few wins/matches under her belt on a surface that she hasn't played on for several months.

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I agree Phil. Perfect start for her first hard court tournament on a longish N American tour with a few competitive matches played as the main objective. Next week she is down for a $100k tournament. Ideal step-up.

But it's the tournament in 2 weeks time, another $25k, which I find baffling.....as I noted on another thread. Don't get that logic at all.

philwrig wrote:

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I don't know the other alternatives, but maybe there isn't anything suitable for her in North America, certainly the big premier events are on at the same stage, and she wouldn't make the cutoff for qualifying for them, so possibly its just a case of that tournament is her only option.

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 That is in fact the highest ranked ITF for that week and as you say she would probably not make the cut for the Rogers Cup.

JoKo would have been seeded 4 in qualifying at Stanford this week

She would also be seeded in qualifying for Washington next week - I can just about see the point of the $100K instead; arguably just as competitive for slightly less rewards per win.
She'd make qualifying for Carlsbad in the same week. But, fair enough to not play there as chances of any wins are small.

The week after, Rogers cup is probably too strong for realistic returns.
I hope though that the $125K in Suzhou was very seriously considered, as these challengers have been a way for many of the youngsters now making their mark to get the points to clear the hurdle that JoKo has been trying to leap for over a year now - the quagmire between 100-150. Svitolina, Muguruza (now sadly out for the rest of the year - hope she recovers fully), Vekic, Putintseva, Date-Krumm to name a few all got significant points at one that in part got them out of that zone and in to the top 100.

L16 : Johanna KONTA (GBR) / Kady POOLER (USA) Beat Elisabeth FOURNIER (CAN) / Petra JANUSKOVA (CAN) 6-1 6-1
L16 : Naomi BROADY (GBR) / Olivia ROGOWSKA (AUS) [1] beat Mai MINOKOSHI (JPN) / Emi MUTAGUCHI (JPN) 6-3 6-5