Hasn't Quebec been quite a happy venue for brits in the past?
Not sure on that one, maybe. I do think that Canada in general has been pretty good for Brits over recent years.
Naomi got to the SF back in 2015. I feel Annie K won the odd match here over the years, and maybe some of the other recent WTA level players. Sarah Borwell I think qualified here in singles once but dont think got any further.
Last ten years Quebec MD best round per player by year:
But, so little is our presence on the WTA at International level that, yes, I think it is fair to say this has been a good event for us relative to GB WTA results overall.
Heather is up playing doubles with Kristie Ahn. Heather's fairly usual partner Tajiana Maria was also in singles here (seeded 7) but was knocked out by Rebecca Marino. Interesting that they aren't playing doubles together.
I half had it on in the background at work and saw she had 40-15* early in the second set but that was about as good as it got.
Veey tough draw but I thought she'd have an outside chance with Martic's efforts in Chicago last week and this supposedly being a preferable surface, but then Martic did have an extra day or two to recover and I also remembered Naomi's 2018 in general...
Looking forward to watching Hev vs the Canadian youngster Fernandez later on though.
Either other players have worked out how to handle Naomi's serve or it has lost the venom that helped her climb well into the top 100. There was a time when even the best players would struggle to break her serve and results like this would not have been possible.
Either other players have worked out how to handle Naomi's serve or it has lost the venom that helped her climb well into the top 100. There was a time when even the best players would struggle to break her serve and results like this would not have been possible.
Indeed I think the issue is almost all with Naomi re consistency and probably venom over the last year or so.
Unlike what some suggest, I think she was well worth her comfortable top 100 place in the days when she had many good wins and could be a problem for very good higher ranked players.
Either other players have worked out how to handle Naomi's serve or it has lost the venom that helped her climb well into the top 100. There was a time when even the best players would struggle to break her serve and results like this would not have been possible.
I've noticed a fair drop in Naomi's serving stats over the last year. Not only consistency, with a lower first serve percentafe, and less points won overall. I haven't watched a match recently, so can't comment on service speed, but I bet it has dropped by a few percent in seeking more accuracy. Hope she finds which airport has hidden the bag with the killer serve in soon.
Streaming available of the Hev match. *1-2, both had break points in their first return games but the youngster has just held to love. Very competitive so far.