Oakland2002 wrote:

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Lordy Lordy something to look forward to nothing to loose everything to gain.

Our team is only going to get stronger over the next few years.

I swear that's Nigel Farage's hat

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I was rather hoping to have more chance of gaining, not that I dismiss our task as impossible.

While it is good to think that our team will get stronger that is not a given. So I'd like to have seen the draw appear to give us more chance of progressing here and now, in 2017, and at least not be back in that ruddy regional group again next year !!!

Come over to the dark side, things are not always positive.

-- Edited by indiana on Tuesday 14th of February 2017 06:46:03 PM

Romanias selection of surface is not so straight forward as may be imagined.

Romanian surface selection for home ties.
2017 WGII - Belgium - Hard, Indoor - Lost 1-3
2016 WG-PO - Germany - Clay, Indoor - Lost 1-4
2016 WG-R1 - Czech Republic - Hard, Indoor - Lost 2-3
2015 WGII - Spain - Hard, Indoor - Won 3-2
2014 WGII-PO - Serbia - Clay, Outdoor - Won 4-1

If they chose Hard, Indoor against the Germans (Kerber, Petkovic) and the Czechs (Kvitova, Ka. Pliskova), they might just choose grass against us!

I woudn't swap Konta for Halep.

Jo should win 2, leaving us 3 chances to seal the win in the remaining rubbers.

Halep hasn't been on form for some months, there's a chance that she won't regain it by April. Niculescu is one of the biggest dangers in my opinion. I saw her defeat Kvitova in Luxembourg, or maybe I should rephrase that to: destroy Kvitova's game in Luxembourg. Her unorthodox style seems to throw so many; if she has a good run she'd be my big worry.

Konta v2.0 is still ~30% weaker on clay than any other surface - that though is based on the one clay season of v2.0.
That's also a measure of how high her play was in that period on grass, and, especially, hard courts.
Last 52 weeks:
Hard: 45-13 (78%)
Clay: 2-4 (33%)
Grass: 6-4 (60%)

The big threat on clay, and someone we'll probably under-estimate, is Begu, who is best on clay by some distance (13-6, 68% - which is ~+25% than other surfaces), and a very good player generally.
Her form in 2017 is bad, but it almost always is at the start of the year, and the clay gets her going.
Last year she played 5 tournaments on clay, and lost to some pretty good players:
QF in Charleston (lost to Kerber)
QF in Madrid (lost to Halep)
SF in Rome (lost to Serena)
R16 at Roland Garros (lost to Rogers - was injured)
R32 in Rabat lost to LL Hogenkamp ? not sure what was going on there!
Also lost in Fed Cup to Angie.

On their best clay form, Begu would beat Jo.