Week 45 - ITF ($80K) - Las Vegas, USA Hard

PaulM · Tennis legend

Week 45 - ITF ($80K) - Las Vegas, USA Hard

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

1-5*

Julia Carrot · All-time great

Heather , after a double fault "Oh god, why am 1 still on the court"? Well, not ,much longer Heather at this rate.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Lost 7-5 1-6 1-6

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

It's just a bit of a shame. I mean it's definitely been worthwhile this tournament because she got that win yesterday which got her the 10 points, a net gain of 9, to move her up a few places, above Boulter, and likely enough to get her direct entry to the Aussie Open, but you just think her level is anywhere between 80-120 - a decent run / wildcard chance here and there and she'll head towards the top end of that and when those points drop off, head towards the bottom end. Obviously top 100 in the world is an excellent achievement and she'll deserve the guaranteed 1st round slam appearance fee and if she draws a Q or a WC, will have a decent chance of doubling that money and getting 70 points instead of 10, but when that's one of your better players and you don't see that much upside, it's a bit disappointing.

She is 7-23 in her last 30 matches against top 100 players over the past 15 months and that tells it's own story (Lao isn't a top 100 player for the record). I said on the previous page that Lao was in good form, had some decent wins recently, but should she really be winning 12 out of the final 13 games here?

Still, one more event to go this season - Houston 125k, where she'll be a high seed again and hopefully she can get another win to replace that remaining counter of 1 from Eastbourne and absolutely secure her place in Melbourne.

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Thursday 8th of November 2018 08:51:18 PM

indiana · Tennis legend

Interesting, although Heather's 7-23 last 30 match record against top 100 players unfortunately does tie in with a ranking at best lower end of the top 100. That's been her average level for some time. Be great if 2019 can bring a renewed upturn but some things no doubt need to markedly change for that.

On the other hand Katie B's record against top 100 players this year is 9-8 ( including 7-0 against ranks 64 to 100 ). She has had her off days but has certainly far outperformed Heather against the higher ranked players and real reasons for optimism that she can climb further in 2019.

Julia Carrot · All-time great

Naomi v Bencic, now ------- livestream.com/accounts/24043990/events/8442143

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
Interesting, although Heather's 7-23 last 30 match record against top 100 players unfortunately does tie in with a ranking at best lower end of the top 100. That's been her average level for some time. Be great if 2019 can bring a renewed upturn but some things no doubt need to markedly change for that.

On the other hand Katie B's record against top 100 players this year is 9-8 ( including 7-0 against ranks 64 to 100 ). She has had her off days but has certainly far outperformed Heather against the higher ranked players and real reasons for optimism that she can climb further in 2019.

Yep, I'll for sure be putting Katie above Heather for end of 2019 rankings. You always do fear the odd withdrawal / retirement which may hold her back a bit, but hopefully she recharges over the off season and hits the ground running in Australia.

Likewise, I hope Heather can get a little bit of a run going in 2019.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Oh dear, just clicked on Julia's link and Naomi is *1-5. This one was obviously always going to be a bit of a long shot.

I've no issues with top 50 Bencic entering this 80k event as she does have a lot of points dropping off before the end of the year and her past couple of seasons have been decimated by injury - I'd love to see her also discovering some form in 2019 as she's a brilliant player at her best.

2-5*