Victory would secure a place in the main draw to be conducted during a civic reception at Budgen Motors on Featherbed Lane this evening.
Big Time!!
I can see that this may not sound 'big time' but it is indicative of the effort which Shrewsbury put into their ITF events. I have been to virtually all the British ITF venues and I consider Shrewsbury to be, by far, the best! The players are made to feel special. Goodie bags are provided. Photos of past winners are displayed. Glossy informative programme. Publicity is good so local supporters come to watch from the stands which are constructed for the last few days. Many other venues seem to consider their events as merely something to be tolerated.
-- Edited by telstar on Monday 5th of November 2018 12:11:34 PM
Well said Telstar. Proper club, great facilities, properly promoted and very well attended at the end of the week. Even the players love it as they keep coming back and making the event really strong.
Most Britons in the lower half, and especially the bottom quarter which features Gabi Taylor as second seed and Katy Dunne as 7th seed, plus SBG and Freya. Only Ali Collins who gets the top seed and Maia in the top half.
Main draw is out. Some good, some bad. Ali Collins get Rus Holly Staff gets a qualifier Katy D gets Savinykh, and is in the same section as Freya, Beth and Gabi - if they all win that would be two all GB second round matches
Given nearly all of our girls are outranked, whoever they play against, and we only have two in the draw as of right, so to speak, I think the draws are pretty decent.
Beth should have a decent chance - Eden nearly beat Andrei last week. Ozgen hasn't been on great form in the last month or so. Shinikova lost to Lou Adler, ranked about 650 a couple of weeks ago, and only just scraped past Fran. Obviously Gabi and Maia couldn't have asked for much more. And Holly has as 'gentle' a start as one can hope for in a 25k MD. Katy Dunne has a tricky ask, and Ali, of course, is barely in the frame for that match.
The figures say that we should only have two wins, and that seems about right but, overall, it seems decent enough.
Ali Collins, top seed triumphant! Hopefully.
Went out to Rus last week in straight sets, lets hope she can put the experience of playing the bigger names into play tomorrow.
(WC) Ali Collins UNR vs (1) Arantxa Rus (NED) WR 109 (CH 61 in August 2012)
(Q) Maia Lumsden WR 376 vs Eva Guerrero Alvarez (ESP) WR 332 (CH 317 last month)
(Q) Eden Silva WR 459 vs (8) Pemra Ozgen (TUR) WR 240 (CH 207 in May 2014) (WC) Holly Staff UNR vs (Q) Eleni Kordolaimi (GRE) WR 449 (CH 440 in July)
(WC/7) Katy Dunne WR 237 vs Valeria Savinykh (RUS) WR 377 (CH 99 in April 2012) (Q) Freya Christie WR 516 vs Isabella Shinikova (BUL) WR 275 (CH 133 in February 2017) (WC) Sarah Beth Grey WR 439 vs (Q) Laura-Ioana Andrei (ROU) WR 453 (CH 280 in July 2013) (2) Gabriella Taylor WR 164 vs (Q) Ana Vrljic (CRO) WR 562 (CH 180 in August 2013)
Given nearly all of our girls are outranked, whoever they play against, and we only have two in the draw as of right, so to speak, I think the draws are pretty decent.
Beth should have a decent chance - Eden nearly beat Andrei last week. Ozgen hasn't been on great form in the last month or so. Shinikova lost to Lou Adler, ranked about 650 a couple of weeks ago, and only just scraped past Fran. Obviously Gabi and Maia couldn't have asked for much more. And Holly has as 'gentle' a start as one can hope for in a 25k MD. Katy Dunne has a tricky ask, and Ali, of course, is barely in the frame for that match. The figures say that we should only have two wins, and that seems about right but, overall, it seems decent enough.
Yes, I think given the strength of field it is a decent R1 draw and hopefully we can get something going in that bottom quarter with at least one all Brit R2 tie ( to shut out the bottom quarter after R1 might be a bit much to ask ).
On rankings we actually have 3 higher ranked - our 2 seeds plus Beth by a small margin. And Maia isn't outranked by that much.
I think that it would be a bit disappointing to get less than 3 wins and here's hoping for even more.
-- Edited by indiana on Monday 5th of November 2018 11:14:29 PM