Week 47 - WTA $125K Series - Carlsbad, CA, USA - Hard

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

Week 47 - WTA $125K Series - Carlsbad, CA, USA - Hard

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

"The WTA introduced the WTA 125K Series of tournaments to provide an opportunity for new markets to showcase a professional women's tennis product"
Such as that tennis desert Carlsbad, obviously

In unrelated news, Carlsbad is 60 miles away from... Indian Wells!

Good luck Naomi.

Spectator · All-time great

Now that's a doubles pairing that could be rather good fun. Look forward to seeing how they do against the 3rd seeds.

And yes, AliBlahBlah, that's rather funny. Maybe they thought they were putting it somewhere else, and it wound up in California by mistake. I jest, but seem to recall reading on some website a few years back that there are in fact two Carlsbads - one of which is quite a distance away - and that at least one player had wound up in the wrong place.

Edit: Yes, it was Bojana Jovanovski: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/SPORT/tennis/08/02/tennis.jovanovski.carlsbad.mexico/.

-- Edited by Spectator on Monday 23rd of November 2015 11:37:20 AM

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

Ha ha; well remembered Spectator :)

Oh, and good luck Naomi...

philwrig · Hall of fame

This must be nearly Broads 40th tournament of the year, hopefully she'll be able to get some proper rest after this one, so that's she's 100% to go at the start of 2016.

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

Having gained 308 points in 5 events over the summer, Naomi managed 33 in her next 5 tournaments on what seemed to be slightly slower surfaces and conditions, leaving her needing to reach the final here to have any chance of direct entry into the main draw for Aus Open. She certainly wasted several promising positions in those 5 losses, having been at least one break ahead at some stage in the final set in 3 matches. For all the talk about a much improved serve, the reality since Albuquerque is that her serve has deserted her just when she needed it; the most recent loss to Vania King being an extreme example.

To me, her performance level looks higher than ever before but she has been guilty of having wretched spells lasting 10-15 mins in which she can't seem to do anything right. In the Glushko match, Naomi's bad patch came fairly early on in the 2nd set and once she had rediscovered her touch, she was slightly unfortunate not to get the win. Against Vania King, the meltdown happened with Naomi in total control, 2 big serves away from victory.

Watching her, she doesn't look a top 100 player yet, but I would say she's not that far away and within matches there are promising signs, such as 2nd serve aces, and some decent returning in the slower conditions in Waco.

-- Edited by kundalini on Monday 23rd of November 2015 03:11:41 PM

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

I agree with the analysis but Naomi made such a big leap in the rankings things were bound to stabilise at some point. I think it might be better for her to go through qualifying in the AUS open. Get the year off with a bang and a few good wins.

wolf · Tennis legend

Some great attacking returns from Naomi to get the early break and four unreturned serves consolidates. 3-0*

Julia Carrot · All-time great

Looks a nice part of the world to be in right now.

Grachka · County player

Naomi Broady 6-3 *0-1 Jovana Jaksic

Peter too · Tennis legend

R1: BROADY, Naomi (GBR) 4 120 def JAKSIC, Jovana (SRB) 177 6-3 7-5

Naomi earned two break points and took both, her opponent got five break points and took none.

-- Edited by Peter too on Monday 23rd of November 2015 09:16:17 PM

Long time reader · Lower Club Player

Think that's a really good win for Naomi.

After the first few games it seemed to me like Jaksic was slightly on top for the rest of the match but Naomi managed to hold on and then sneak the break.

Since the Albuquerque final she has lost a lot of close matches and seems to have really struggled closing out sets and matches on serve, so it was good to see her serve out the match after breaking even if she did have to save a couple of break points.

Crawford or Min next who play later.

paulisi · Tennis legend

15pts in the bag
For those not aware as WTA 125 are quite rare - points go 15, 29, 57, 95, 160

Even a very good week here will probably not enough to make Aus Open directly.

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

Well done Naomi :D

indiana · Tennis legend

Good stuff.

IMO it would be great for Naomi to get direct entry to the Australian Open, to be guaranteed being in the BIG draw and have the cheque that comes with it. Then with a good draw and if that serve really working she could be a rather unwelcome opponent for someone. However, as kundalini says if no tournament next week she would need to reach the final here to have a chance, with the title ensuring it. Probably be a tough task unless near her best form

So few points to come off in the first half of next year that she is already extremely well positioned for French Open direct entry and top 100 and indeed pretty well positioned for the US Open since that 5 tournament 308 point run comes after its entry cut-off date.

One step at a time though this week ...