Naomi may have the hardest draw there - Begu is in the Southsea final, so in good form.
McHale however is right out of form, so really all five are winnable matches.
Tough draw for an injured Jo, Vekic in R2, Kvitova in R4, but very good for the rest. Zanevska is a solid player, but Hev on Eastbourne form should be comfortable. Laura's opponent is a young player on the up, but relatively unexposed to the surface, and would suspect that the bookies will make her favourite. McHale should be too tough, she played well at Notts, not so much since. Begu's done well this week, but it's been played a lot indoors, again wouldn't be surprised to see Naomi made the bookies favourite.
-- Edited by philwrig on Friday 30th of June 2017 04:24:45 PM
-- Edited by philwrig on Friday 30th of June 2017 04:25:32 PM
Very nice draw all round, for the first round at least. Jo will obviously be looking for much more than one win, and her draw could be tricky down the line (if it holds up which you can never predict it will with the WTA at the moment).
Bookies are saying the Brits have less chance than I though they might:
Jo 79%
Hev 76%
Naomi 43%
Laura 34%
Katie 17%
Expected wins: 2.5
If you fancy a bet on Laura, then get on now as I'm sure the odds won't be as good by Monday.
Very nice draw all round, for the first round at least. Jo will obviously be looking for much more than one win, and her draw could be tricky down the line (if it holds up which you can never predict it will with the WTA at the moment).
Bookies are saying the Brits have less chance than I though they might: Jo 79% Hev 76% Naomi 43% Laura 34% Katie 17% Expected wins: 2.5
If you fancy a bet on Laura, then get on now as I'm sure the odds won't be as good by Monday.
I'm now wishing it was possible to put a bet on tennis over here - even at her current level, Laura would have to have a complete nightmare to avoid beating Haddad Maia on grass - the Brazilian is 1-5 on grass in seniors (the win was in 2015) and while she has beaten a British Laura at the All England Club, that was Laura Deigman at junior Wimbledon and even that Laura took a set off her.
The best of a remarkably kind set of GB draws (which doesn't mean I think they should all win but all have a chance), the opposite of what happened with the women's qualifying draw, where Tara, Gabi and Katy all went out to eventual qualifiers, with Tara in QR1 and Katy in QR2 taking more games off those qualifiers than anyone else managed.
__________________
GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
As far as I can tell Haddad Maia is 4-6 on grass, not 1-5. This year she has qualified for Mallorca and lost a very, very close match to Barthel in Eastbourne qualifying. I would put her as favourite.
As far as I can tell Haddad Maia is 4-6 on grass, not 1-5. This year she has qualified for Mallorca and lost a very, very close match to Barthel in Eastbourne qualifying. I would put her as favourite.
Oops, stupid me - too much going on at the moment - I'm not sure how I missed the Mallorca wins though, unless they've only appeared on ITF in the last few hours (which I doubt)
__________________
GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
As far as I can tell Haddad Maia is 4-6 on grass, not 1-5. This year she has qualified for Mallorca and lost a very, very close match to Barthel in Eastbourne qualifying. I would put her as favourite.
Mallorca - beat Hobgarski (268) in three Q1, Kenin (165) in two Q2, lost to Rogers (70) in two R1
Eastbourne - lost to Barthel (50) in three Q1
Might be a tougher match than at first sight, but I still think Laura should win.