Week 39 - WTA Premier 5 - Wuhan, China - Hard

Peter too · Tennis legend

RE: Week 39 - WTA Premier 5 - Wuhan, China - Hard

Forbesman · Social player

Fantastic! I thought she was dead and buried there. Amazing performance

christ · Futures level

Oh goody. Now a Williams - and that is the soft option, as everyone else in Jo's half is a seed!

-- Edited by christ on Wednesday 30th of September 2015 01:08:32 PM

thejester · Satellite level

190 points in the bag for making the quarters, and a not too shabby looking $52,430
Decent week's work so far. And it's not over yet. So chuffed for Jo

Edit: Of course, actually a haul of 220 points as Jo came through qualifying - which will be a distant memory if she keeps going at this rate.

-- Edited by thejester on Wednesday 30th of September 2015 01:13:40 PM

Jan · Hall of fame

Sim wrote:
Must be 35 odd years since a GB woman beat the World No.2 ... Sue Barker I guess?

I am sure Steven will tell us soon......

Steven has tweeted:

"Probably now in the top 50 on Monday, @JoKonta91 is the first GB woman to beat a top 2 player since Sue Barker more than 30 years ago! "

indiana · Tennis legend

thejester wrote:
190 points in the bag for making the quarters, and a not too shabby looking $52,430
Decent week's work so far. And it's not over yet. So chuffed for Jo

220 ( net 211 ) points in total, adding her 30 for qualifying

thejester · Satellite level

indiana wrote:
thejester wrote:
190 points in the bag for making the quarters, and a not too shabby looking $52,430
Decent week's work so far. And it's not over yet. So chuffed for Jo

220 ( net 211 ) points in total, adding her 30 for qualifying

Alas, my edit was not quick enough to fool you Indie wink

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

For me, the greatest single result by a British woman since Virginia won Wimbledon.
Not just in terms of pure rankings involved, but taking everything as a whole.

There are no words, there are no emoticons or emojis.

I can only offer my tears of unadulterated joy.
Bliss.

steven · Tennis legend

Jan wrote:
Sim wrote:
Must be 35 odd years since a GB woman beat the World No.2 ... Sue Barker I guess?

I am sure Steven will tell us soon......
Steven has tweeted:
"Probably now in the top 50 on Monday, @JoKonta91 is the first GB woman to beat a top 2 player since Sue Barker more than 30 years ago! "

Yes, apologies for being a bit vague, but I'm not sure whether Tracy Austin was ranked 2 or 3 when Sue beat her in Brighton in 1981 (I've tried to find out for sure, but I can't) - if Austin wasn't top two then, the last time would have been when Sue beat Chris Evert (then no. 1) at Boston in 1979. Jo is thus one of only three GB women to have beaten at least one top two player in the Open era - the first was Virginia Wade, obviously.

The difficulty of obtaining anything other than year-end rankings from the 1980s (and the fact that newspaper reports form that era always talk about seedings rather than rankings) means I can't be 100% sure that Jo Durie never beat a top two player but Helen's table gives her career best win as having been against no. 4 and another of her most memorable wins, against Mandlikova at Wimbledon, came when Hana was seeded 3, so she may well have been ranked 3, 4 or 5 at the time, definitely not top 2.

Anyway, what a fabulous win, especially from the depths of 1-5 down in the 3rd - should see her into the top 50 too, I think biggrin

Edit: The LTA have just tweeted that Tracy Austin was ranked 2 in 1981. Seems like the kind of thing they might well keep a record of (many years before I started keeping records myself!) so that's probably correct.

-- Edited by steven on Wednesday 30th of September 2015 01:36:25 PM

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

I'm a bit dumbstruck!
Walking around work with a big goofy grin. What a glorious Wednesday afternoon.

Sensational, stupendous, breathtaking, JOHANNA!

indiana · Tennis legend

Just Garbine Muguruza left from the top 10 and Jo's got her number

Calm down, calm down, me

thejester · Satellite level

Thanks as ever for the information Steven.
Jo's race ranking (without looking at other players' results this week) should now be up around 40-42, and her official ranking looks set to be just inside the Top 50. Which is remarkable given where she was at just a year ago (and even more recently than that)

A great summer has morphed into a superb autumn, and whilst Venus is always going to be a big challenge, the points on offer (and the cash) go up exponentially from here. Keep it up Jo, you are absolutely flying

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Words fail me . . .

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

It seems like every time Jo does something incredible, she then follows it up with something even more impressive.

What is she going to do now that betters beating the World No. 2 from 1-5 in the 3rd?

Madeline · Admin:Moderator + Tennis Legend

Just seen this, I haven't been near the computer since this morning! Woohoo, Go Jo! Brilliant win, it would be wonderful if she can go further, but even if not a fantastic tournament for her.