Week 10 - ITF ($25K) - Yokohama, Japan - Hard

Sim · County player

RE: Week 10 - ITF ($25K) - Yokohama, Japan - Hard

Michael D · All-time great

Sim wrote:
Michael D wrote:
Great for Harriet to make the final and good luck to her in seeking her second win in two weeks. This result also means that GB have 8 women comfortably within the top 250, Harriet now only two places behind Katy D in the live rankings. Five players now in a cohort between 184 and 238, and I agree, Harriet's recent surge has perhaps been the least expected of the three big upward movers - Gabi, Katy D and Harriet - so really delighted for her, and hope she is able to continue her form and run.

-- Edited by Michael D on Saturday 10th of March 2018 09:06:27 AM
Harriet is actually just ahead of Katy in the live rankings and winning the final would put her just 3 points behind Laura.
Great to see all the successes of this group of players.

These live rankings I've found to be more accurate Sim, and as others confirmed yesterday too; as wimdledont notes, it is the difference between the hypothetical rankings next week, and what they will actually be end of Indian Wells.

-- Edited by Michael D on Saturday 10th of March 2018 11:05:21 AM

SuperT · Futures level

Coup Droit wrote:
SuperT wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
Absolutely thrilled for Harriet. She's been the slightly unsung hero of the Next-gen pot for a while - not Laura with her pedigree, not Katie Swan with her much hyped young talent, not Katie B with her photogenic looks and LTA backing, not Gabi with her story and feistiness, not Katy Dunne with her outward going-ness and character.... And yet I've always liked her so much as a player. Great to see her doing well, on a consistent basis.

I do so agree with you. I hadn't taken much notice of Harriet either until I saw her playing at Roehampton last summer and I was so impressed with her attitude and determination. She was playing a Turkish girl I think, a couple of hundred ranking points ahead of her and although she didn't win, she matched her all the way, and gave a really good account at herself. I thought at the time that she was one to watch and I'm so pleased she's now getting the results she deserves.

Yes, I loved that match. The crowd were great, too, weren't they? The competition between them with the instant 'Harriet!!!' the split second after every time the Turkish contingent got behind their girl. There was as much a competition in the stands as on the court
I saw Harriet first about four years ago now, at Surbiton, I think (although maybe the NTC). She struck me as rather shy, a little unsure, but with a perfect physique, a desire to attack the ball, a grit, and an excellent flat shot. (Funnily, someone - probably The O - said she was very defensive as a junior - if so, all the more credit to her because she's really had to talk herself into being attacking then). She still has difficulty using emotion in a positive way, and is very reserved on court until she becomes cross, which doesn't really work for her. But that's a question of age and maturity as well as natural character.

Yes I'd forgotten that. We were a bit concerned before if the changes to ticketing and the new stand would affect the ambience, but in fact I think having the crowd in that stand so close to the court made for a great atmosphere and the players put in a great battling performance to reward us. Remembering that makes me look forward to this summer again, although it looks like most of the girls I've enjoyed in recent years (Gabi, Katy Harriet, Katie) will be by passing this straight into the MD this year. Only problem now is getting tickets for the main event!

wimdledont · Challenger level

Harriet would be ahead if rankings were published during IW; by 19/3/18 she will have dropped 4 points from 2017 to trail KD again.

Harriet is now on 13 consecutive wins and counting; GB women W21, Peskies W1 @25k level this week (singles and doubles combined).

This run has taken her up around 70 ranking places, with a further 20 or so to follow if she wins the final.

Her opponent's career is in a weird place, completely skewed by her extraordinary success as a doubles player. She won 7 mainly 25k doubles titles in 2016, and a further 5, most at 100k+, in 2017. She's ranked 58 for doubles, and played FedCup for Russia. So most of her singles is now played in qualifying for big WTA tournaments where she's in the doubles main draw. This is her first ITF tournament of 2018.

Mervatron2 · Challenger qualifying

Great job Harriet. Clearly in a good place with her game at the moment.

Cherry on the cake would be title #2 at 25K level. Which would also put in a good position for French Open qualifying with a few more events in Japan to come.

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, re the rankings, that openerarankings.com/WTAHome site that Michael referred to in the 'strongest nation' thread seems very good for taking all known additions and deductons into account before the next ranking update - in this case on 19/03.

Currently showing the GB #4 to #8 :

184. Gabi 310 points ( 289 + 30 - 9 points coming off )
208. Katie B 263 points ( 295 - 39 points coming off + 7 in non counters replacing them )
211. Laura 259 points ( 255 + 9 - 5 coming off )
236. Katy D 234 points ( 217 + 18 - her 16th best of 1 )
238. Harriet 233 points ( 207 + 31 - 5 points coming off )

Gabi and Harriet can each add a further 20 points if they win their final.

Congratulations to all our winners and I simply cannot remember such a run of success from a group of players as these 25K players. And what a great still young age distribution. Really well done !!

Michael D · All-time great

There will likely be other changes as Indian Wells continues to play out - for one, Azarenka is lurking just two places behind Gabi, so any further wins for her... - and the 60k event in China this coming week, since that will also be counted by 19/03. Other than that, it is of course the finals this week smile

blob · All-time great

For Laura, a seventh pro title; her fourth in doubles, and second this year to go with her $60K dubs from Burnie.
All Laura's doubles title have been on hard courts.
Laura has now won 2 pro titles every year from 2016-18.PLenty of time to make this year a three-fer.

Harriet powers on - she's won more matches consecutively than Kvitova! It's the longest streak for a Brit in the last two years.
The $25K crowd - and it is now a crowd - are doing things we've never seen. Week-after-week, mutiple deep runs. This week a particular standout not reliant on one player, but 4 solid runs or better.
Yellow is 2018; blue 2017 - see 4 of the last 5 weeks way beyond our normal distribution.

That these points and performances are being banked early in the season, and in the competitive part of the season is also important. It gives such a great base from which to build, and there's no chasing points desperately. Neither is there any sense that we have picked up 'cheap' points in out-of-season events, as has sometimes been the case, playing a $25K in December in Lagos, or Djibouti.

Just fantastic, and may it continue, driven by the internal Gb competition and belief that comes from seeing one of your contemporaries achieven, and understanding that through long familiarity with each other in junior ranks together that, if they can do it, then there's no reason you can't also. Spurring each other ever onward.

jb288 · Satellite level

Thanks for that blob.

I'm excited for the coming weeks... will be interesting to see schedules.

One option would be the 'carpet season' of the three Obidos 25ks plus the Japanese 80/60ks before going straight into RG qualies, but that would be cutting it fine.

Will be interesting to see if Laura and Harriet stay in Japan all the way up to RG as well. Japan and Australia have dine a fantastic job of providing a 25k level schedule this year.

-- Edited by jb288 on Saturday 10th of March 2018 12:50:00 PM

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

Peter too wrote:
F: ROBSON (GBR)/STOLLAR (HUN) {115+106=221} 2 def KOBORI (JPN)/MURAMATSU (JPN) {222+331=553} 5-7 6-2 [10-4]

-- Edited by Peter too on Saturday 10th of March 2018 04:51:12 AM

biggrin

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

Great SF win :D
Here's hoping Harriet lifts the title now :)

wimdledont · Challenger level

Final underway

Babfive · Satellite level

Harriet's run comes to an end 2-6 4-6

Oakland2002 · All-time great

A great week, well earned points after 7 rounds of tennis! I havent see Harriet play for 18 months or so but the thing I liked about her was her grit and consistency. She moves well and is prepared to play the point out. Great to hear she has bulit on that to become more aggressive.

blob · All-time great

'Only' a 13 win streak then.
In $25K singles this week, this was the only match that we could have won, but didn't. The only other losses came in all-GB matches.

It's great to see Harriet back up her $25K title with another quality performance at this level so soon.
She shouldn't need to play qualifying at this level again for the foreseeable future, and though she won her title as a Q, the extra 2 or 3 matches required a week is attritional over time and the associated fatigue would impede regular progress. That obstacle is now out of the way, and she can concentrate on upgrading some of her 8 scores of 5 points or less. Even QF at $25K in each of those cases would be +4 each time, and +30 points overall. That incremental upgrading, along with one big result - SF or better - in order to defend points coming off, would be enough to move her into the top 200, and a place in Slam qualifying. There's time for that process to happen before she has her big score from Surbiton $100K to defend in June.

April provides lots of big potential target events in lots of locations, not sure how the schedule can or might be rethought to take best advantage. Onwards and upwards, and well done.