Week 33 - WTA Premier ($2.567M) - Cincinnati, USA Hard

Jaffa · Challenger level

RE: Week 33 - WTA Premier ($2.567M) - Cincinnati, USA Hard

steven · Tennis legend

That was a very convincing win, wasn't it

FQR: (q12) Heather Watson WR 57 beat Shahar Peer (ISR) WR 116 (CH 11 in 2011) by 3 & 0

-- Edited by steven on Monday 11th of August 2014 12:44:50 AM

BeefyDeedz · Pro player

Heather is first on Court 3 at 11AM local, or 4PM BST I believe.

Her prospective seed is (12) Wozniacki (R2).

steven · Tennis legend

Rankings updated - Heather moves back into the top 50 as expected:

L56: (Q) Heather Watson WR 46 v Zhang Shuai (CHN) WR 31 (CH 30 last week)

H2H 1-2 - Zhang won on hard courts in 25Ks in the US in 2010 & 2012 but Heather won their previous only main tour meeting on clay in Estoril in 2012

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

I had no idea that Zhang Shuai was ranked anywhere near that high. Still, not a bad draw at all and should be a good match.

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

I've high hopes, if she gets through this, I would say that Woz is also not unbeatable.

Jan · Hall of fame

So pleased for Hev!

philwrig · Hall of fame

Zhang is a strange one, finalist at a premier event in Birmingham and QF in Rome, but other than that very little, hammered by an average opponent just last week. Suffice to say Hev should win but if Zhang plays her best stuff she probably won't.

Woz next round would be very tough given that players return to form following the Rory calamity.

Live on BT as well.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Zhang is currently on a 5 match losing streak, whereas Heather has been in excellent form - which makes the odds on Heather to win of 3/10 just about understandable (I wanted to put a bet on Hev for this one but not at that price!)

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

Zhang is rubbish and has no right to be ranked at high at 31. She is 0-13 i think in grandslams matches and looks likely to be seeded at this years US open.

This is one Heather should win and i'd be disappointed at a loss

BeefyDeedz · Pro player

Always more nervy watching Heather than most other players. She can be so good but she can sometimes be so inconsistent. Still, thankful that BT Sport are showing it.

paulisi · Tennis legend

Mervatron wrote:
Zhang is rubbish and has no right to be ranked at high at 31. She is 0-13 i think in grandslams matches and looks likely to be seeded at this years US open.

This is one Heather should win and i'd be disappointed at a loss

I don't think rubbish is the word you are looking for. I think you mean severely over ranked.

philwrig · Hall of fame

To be fair I've watched Zhang a couple of times this year when she has been playing well, and she looked to have improved massively being aggressive and hitting loads of winners so Hev has to be very careful.
I always believe British bookmakers inflate the prices of British players for obvious reasons, so 3/10 is a ridiculous price eventhough Hev will probably win in straights.

BeefyDeedz · Pro player

Mervatron wrote:
Zhang is rubbish

I saw her in the Rome QFs and she was consistently rallying well with Serena. She was hardly 'rubbish' and some of her shots were unbelievably flat. But when seeing that game she did have many weaknesses, particularly her movement into and out from the net.

Watching her did make me think about how a woman player playing a 'male game' with topspin would wreck the majority of women on the tour. So much high-level women's tennis is flat shots through the court, returning consistently with flat shots would be extremely difficult. Just a thought.

paulisi · Tennis legend

Hev is 4-1 down, so she can hardly be rubbish....