Week 31 - WTA International ($227K) - Florianopolis, Brazil Hard

PaulM · Tennis legend

Week 31 - WTA International ($227K) - Florianopolis, Brazil Hard

indiana · Tennis legend

Em scrambles into a TB, saving a set point at *5-6.

indiana · Tennis legend

Nae bother, first set secured 7-6(4)

Peter too · Tennis legend

Q1: WEBLEY-SMITH, Emily (GBR) 10 549 def GUIMARAES BUENO, Flavia (BRA) WC 932 7-6(4) 6-1

Q2: WEBLEY-SMITH, Emily (GBR) 10 549 v PODOROSKA, Nadia (ARG) 3 239 =CH

-- Edited by Peter too on Saturday 30th of July 2016 08:01:25 PM

DF · Tennis legend

Well done Em smile

indiana · Tennis legend

Up to 61 points, that should squeeze Em back into the top 500.

steven · Tennis legend

By taking a chance and getting a fortunate draw, Emily has just earned more singles points from this tournament than she has in the rest of 2016 put together (12 c.f. 11 from weeks 1-30 combined)

PockyTastic · Futures level

Got a bit close in the 1st set but glad she got the win. 12 points are the equivalent of a 10K win and a much needed boost to her singles' points total. Next match will be a lot tougher but less pressure and then hopefully some wins in doubles with Nao.

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

Well done Emily - smart schedule gamble rewarded with a double figure points score

PaulM · Tennis legend

That was tough. Gutsy stuff as not easy to recover after such a long trip to play straight away. Was very worried after missing all those break points in the 11th game but she dug in.

12 points, decent prize money and no expectations for tomorrow.

Hope she gets a good night's sleep!

wimdledont · Challenger level

Doubles draw is up on livescores, and they have local wildcards who are CR1700+.

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

R1: Emily WEBLEY-SMITH/Nao HIBINO (GBR/JPN) 287 v. (WC) Carolina ALVES/Luisa STEFANI (BRA) 1771 (492/1279)

PaulM · Tennis legend

Stefani was a decent junior and considered a good prospect for Brazil but yes, an inviting draw for sure. Hope that they can make the most of it.

There are 3 lucky loser spots in a main draw that is one of the weakest I have ever seen.

-- Edited by PaulM on Saturday 30th of July 2016 08:39:47 PM

WD40 · Club Coach

There are 10 Q/LL spots open in the MD here, and as Emily is the 10thQ seed it means she should hopefully make the MD win or lose today :) It all depends on the 2 lower ranked players than her losing.
(Much prefer the win though ).

-- Edited by WD40 on Sunday 31st of July 2016 06:44:21 AM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Wow, Em - from the heart !

www.instagram.com/p/BIgU1mwAL8p/

"Just occasionally. It's worth it.
It's worth searching for 4 days straight to find a flight. It's worth ten phone calls, tears and waking up at 4am to continue searching and not being able to afford it anyway. Its worth knowing every flight route and connection from the USA to South America on every airline that exists. It's worth a sisters help and a family's worry. It's worth road tripping 3hours to Nashville. Flying 2hours to Miami. Flying overnight 8hours to Brasilia. Flying 2hours to Florianopolis and walking on court to play a match straight from the plane feeling like a zombie. It's worth lead in the legs and eyes burning with tiredness. It's worth playing with a banjo of a racket and surviving playing like a muppet. It's worth going to default mechanism of heart and legs even though the legs got left behind. It's worth needing a coke at 4-3 even though you don't ever drink it or even like it. And it's worth it even though you got tight at 5-3 because of how much it meant to you and what you'd been through to make it. It's worth it because you threw it all on black and you got lucky. Risk and reward. And gratitude. You make your own luck."

And the photo just sums up 'normal' pro-tennis.....

Well done, Em, a hundred times.