An ace and two unreturned serves as Naomi holds to 30 despite a df 2-1*
VK untroubled 2-2
Naomi taking an injury time-out, currently 3-2* having just saved a bp in the previous game, untidy initial ground-strokes after her serve, finally held on her 6th game point, VK dominating most 2nd serve points
Naomi looks comfortable at 40-15 then df and a super K drop shot winner make it 40-40, but 2 aces close out the game 4-3*
Not doing much on return so far 4-4
Another hold to 40 thanks to big serving, with a terrible backhand drive volley error at 30-0 5-4*
Love hold 5-5
Naomi finally concedes the break, losing 3 first serve points in a row to go 15-40 down, looking slow around the court, 5-6*
VK closes out the set, though Naomi had a chance to pass at 30-30 that she put narrowly wide, 5-7
--
Naomi holds to 30 1-0*
A df followed by a rare VK f ue, makes it 15-30 but Naomi doesn't do enough on the next two 2nd serve points, big chance at 30-30 wasted 1-1
Naomi hands VK 2 bps with 3 awful errors then saves both then sees two 2nd serves get punished 1-2*
15-30 might be a mini opportunity for Naomi but no, all too easy for VK on serve 1-3
VK's 2nd df of the game makes it 30-40 but Naomi fails to return a first serve then makes a poor error on a backhand *2-4
Naomi 40-15 up broken again, inspired return from VK to get the break 2-5*
VK a comfortable winner 2-6
--
Almost no penetration on Naomi's ground-strokes, while VK seemed to have no trouble hitting a variety of winners off both wings. The wisdom of going for body-serves is lost on me in such a match. The injury didn't appear serious but perhaps it was making more of an impact than was evident. The trainer came on one time and massaged Naomi's hip area briefly.
11 aces and a similar number of unreturned 1st serves but after that it was all a bit depressing. Would have made more sense if it was her first match, struggling to adapt to the speed of the court. VK's attack versus Naomi's defence was a rather one-sided contest.
-- Edited by kundalini on Monday 9th of October 2017 02:50:32 PM
Naomi in the main draw as a lucky loser after Camila Giorgi withdrew. Plays a qualifier, Viktoriya Tomova
Tomova's first serve looked ordinary today against Zhuk during the few mins I watched, both players' ground-strokes, and movement, vastly superior to Naomi's.
-- Edited by kundalini on Monday 9th of October 2017 12:56:02 PM
Well that's a lucky reprieve for Naomi, and a good first round draw too.
In the doubles better news for GBR as Anna and Nicole win easily R16: Anna SMITH/Nicole MELICHAR (GBR/USA) 106 (56 + 50) beat Lesley KERKHOVE/Lidziya MAROZAVA (NED/BLR) 178 (94 + 84) 6-1 6-2
I note also that their combined starting ranking of 106 is only one more than the 4th seeds, who have a total ranking of 105. Their next match could be against the third seeds Flipkens and Schuurs or Bencic and Haas, either of whom should be useful pairs.
This win moves Anna up 1 place in the live rankings, but Nicole is defending points this week and stays still... In fact it is only by reaching the final that Nicole will gain more than one ranking place... whilst for Anna they need to win for her to show much further gain . For the moment, they will be happy with a comfortable win as they've lacked them recently. Also no sign of Joss playing at the moment...
-- Edited by Michael D on Monday 9th of October 2017 02:54:17 PM
Is it really only 2 extra points for that win by Naomi?
Extra 4, followed by another 4 for qualifying. Not great progression still.
I guess FQR win points are not so important if you bypass actually winning that match **
The WTA has as long as I can recall had strange qualifying points progressions. I have heard re Slams the early points weighting ( and it used to be even more weighted so ) was to encourage players to err play*, and possibly for other tournaments too. But logically the most important qualifying match, and the one that ultimately takes you ( well, the normal method ) into the main draw, is the FQR.
* and probably to be fair, to generally play up a level, which ATP Challenger points don't exactly do ( though then again you get tough but also much easier challenger qualifying ).
** edit: though thinking later, I believe Naomi would lose all her remaining 14 points for reaching the FQR if she wins her MD R1 match ( 30 points for that ) although I've always thought that a fair deal ( I am not absolutely sure this applies in WTA Internationals, but I think so, having seen it in the past for women's tournaments ).
-- Edited by indiana on Monday 9th of October 2017 11:37:30 PM