Week 10 - WTA Premier ($6.1M) - Indian Wells, USA Hard

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

RE: Week 10 - WTA Premier ($6.1M) - Indian Wells, USA Hard

Strongbow · All-time great

Thanks for the info guys - come on Heather smile

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

tony_orient wrote:
I'm sill not exactly sure if Laura has 5 or 6 PRs left - if you look on Laura's WTA results page for New Haven last year it has her entry as P but the qualies draw pdf has her as a WC.

You are right. I just checked the original qualifying entry list on TennisForum. No sign of Robson's name so must have been a wildcard, in which case she will have 6 left.

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

R1: Laura ROBSON (GBR) 551 lost to Magdalena RYBARIKOVA (SVK) 97 6-7(3) 2-6

Jo's first opponent is also now known, and the H2H is a shocker! Maybe we should just be happy if Jo completes the match!
R2: Johanna KONTA, Johanna (GBR) [25] 26 vs. Madison BRENGLE (USA) 58
H2H 0-4
2015 Linz, Austria - International - Hard, Indoor - JK(LL) - R16, MB won 6-3 5-7
2013 Landisville, PA, USA - $25K - Hard - JK[4] - QF, MB won 6-3 1-0 RET
2009 Redding CA, USA - $25K - Hard - JK(Q) - R32, MB won 6-1 3-2 RET
*2007 ITF Juniors, Roehampton, UK - Grass - JK(Q) MB[3] - R64, MB won 6-1 6-2
* Junior Result

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

That was a big opportunity missed for Laura (albeit a relief that she managed to get some decent serves in after her nightmare start): Rybarikova was there for the taking towards the end of the first set with the second surely going the other way if Laura had clinched the first.

Hey ho, hopefully no adverse physical reaction for Laura and she can move on with her come-back; fingers crossed :)

philwrig · Hall of fame

Positive news from Laura's presser. Looks like maybe she went to her surgeon following her withdrawals last month, and got the all clear, other doctors also confirmed the diagnosis. Hopefully that's true, although we were told that she was withdrawing due to further wrist problems, but apparently she has had no wrist pain since January. It certainly did look that she was not holding back on either her forehand or her serve, so fingers crossed its only step forwards from here and no steps back. Intending to play a full clay schedule.

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

A bit of a mystery then as to why Laura has withdrawn from her last two tournaments if her wrist has been pain free since January, but if she's fine now that's the main thing. Hopefully she can push on to the point where she can get at least a couple of wins in the upcoming WTA events.

-- Edited by tony_orient on Friday 11th of March 2016 09:29:36 AM

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

Have to say I thought this was a very poor quality match - had it not been Laura on one side of the net I would not have watched it to the end. It was certainly nice to see Laura back on a tennis court and, particularly in the first set, there were points from her with her old lovely beautifully timed ball striking which were great to see. They were few and far between however and well outnumbered by basic errors, especially on the forehand wing. It was only because her opponent was playing similarly that the score ended up looking not too bad. Against 90% of the other players in the draw I feel she would have been thumped in short order. Clearly, the well played points show her old world-class standard of play is still in there but I'm not sure what her schedule should be to work back up to it on a consistent basis. She might get a lucky win or two at this level and be able to take confidence from them but I feel it is more likely she'll take lots of first round losses. She clearly didn't feel comfortable playing at the lower levels where the game is fairly different from the standard she was playing before injury. IMO she's not going to improve until she gets match after match after match - but what is the best way to go about getting them?

christ · Futures level

The Optimist wrote:
... she's not going to improve until she gets match after match after match - but what is the best way to go about getting them?

Have a word with those folk that fix matches.

Win-win situation.

(except for the whole legality/ acceptability thing, of course)

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

christ wrote:
The Optimist wrote:
... she's not going to improve until she gets match after match after match - but what is the best way to go about getting them?

Have a word with those folk that fix matches.

Win-win situation.

(except for the whole legality/ acceptability thing, of course)

Not sure I really understand this comment. Did I write something particularly stupid?

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

Think it was a joke; no, your remarks were pretty reasonable, I'd say. The glimpses of world class Laura were whetting the appetite...at 4*-4 40-15 I felt the match was hers to win after her nightmare first game...only for the momentum to be lost by virtue of some soft UEs; as you say, if she can get some matches under her belt the winners/UE count can be turned around; hopefully! :)

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

Still don't get it.....oh well, the penny will probably drop in a few hours time!!!

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

I don't get it either but I think it was meant humorously

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

Missed this yesterday but an interesting article from Simon Briggs

www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2016/03/10/heather-watson-turns-to-mum-for-change-in-fortunes/

I hadn't realised that Heather's R1 win here was a first following a WTA title win; or that she has now overtaken Jo Durie in the title winning stakes. Keep going Heather :)

-- Edited by vohor on Friday 11th of March 2016 11:58:26 AM

paulisi · Tennis legend

I think the insinuation was that to play match after match you would have to win a few and Laura doesn't really look like doing that at the moment. Hence the dig.