Peter too wrote:

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QF: SOUTH, Melanie (GBR) 7 669 v FORTE, Carla (BRA) 4 539

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 Mel faces a strong opponent in the next round

korriban wrote:

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john wrote:

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tony_orient wrote:

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Peter too wrote:

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QF: SOUTH, Melanie (GBR) 7 669 v FORTE, Carla (BRA) 4 539

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 Mel faces a strong opponent in the next round

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 Indeed, Carla's tough to break down and has many weapons

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Hold on a minute......Ms Forte is Laura Robson's age, but ranked just 539 in the world, down from a CH of 420 last year. This is just a $10k Futures tournament and she is only the fourth seed. She's lost in the first or second rounds of her previous 7 ITFs this year. Just how strong can she be?

Mel is a former top 100 player whose ranking has dropped 300 places on the year (i.e. she was ranked well inside 400 just a few months ago, which itself is well down on her peak) and who, if we're honest, probably shouldn't have got herself in the position of having to play $10k Futures more than just occasionally. 

I hope Mel wins today. The fact is that her struggles in the previous round against a player ranked outside 1000 and the players' current respective rankings suggest she won't. But that still doesn't make Ms Forte a strong player in the context of where Mel could/should be......

 

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 I seem to inadvertently started quite a debate

My comment was purely based on Forte being French for strong!

For the record I have absolutely no knowledge as to how accurate a description Carla's surname is of her tennis skills.

john wrote:

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tony_orient wrote:

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Peter too wrote:

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QF: SOUTH, Melanie (GBR) 7 669 v FORTE, Carla (BRA) 4 539

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 Mel faces a strong opponent in the next round

---

 Indeed, Carla's tough to break down and has many weapons

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Hold on a minute......Ms Forte is Laura Robson's age, but ranked just 539 in the world, down from a CH of 420 last year. This is just a $10k Futures tournament and she is only the fourth seed. She's lost in the first or second rounds of her previous 7 ITFs this year. Just how strong can she be?

Mel is a former top 100 player whose ranking has dropped 300 places on the year (i.e. she was ranked well inside 400 just a few months ago, which itself is well down on her peak) and who, if we're honest, probably shouldn't have got herself in the position of having to play $10k Futures more than just occasionally. 

I hope Mel wins today. The fact is that her struggles in the previous round against a player ranked outside 1000 and the players' current respective rankings suggest she won't. But that still doesn't make Ms Forte a strong player in the context of where Mel could/should be......

Coup Droit wrote:

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I think the 'strong' reference was originally due to her name !!!!!

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 I thought I could rely on you at least to get it

Forgive me for being particularly slow today!! Completely missed it.

Still sort of shocked at how quickly Mel's ranking has crashed, which means she probably doesn't have too many options above $10k tournaments any more......if she struggles to make an impact in these tournaments too (winner or finalist, at least!), the future doesn't look that bright......want her to do well, but can't see it happening.