Mervatron2 wrote:

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Hmm, not sure what to make of Katie's draw. Anything could happen really.

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It's the 3rd seed, so on paper it could have been easier, but at the same time, McHale has always come across as a bit basic to me despite her impressive career high, so if Katie is to really push on and get to where many think she can, McHale IMO should't be feared. I know she's had injury setbacks, but she's 20 next month and when you see others of similar age pushing on more (and I'm not necessarily talking about those clearly exceptional talents who everyone knows about), then you'd like to think she could win this one - both Kayla Day and Destanee Aiava have beaten her in straight sets within the last 3 months. Although all that said, a 21 year old Harriet was 300+ this time a year ago and has more than cut her ranking in half, but it would still be nice to see Katie really make a move soon.

Just saw that McHale is the 4/9 favourite, but I still think it's a lot better than Bonaventure, Martincova, Haddad Maia, Birrell etc. and if she can win, it's a WC or Von Deichmann (who Maia beat last week and Laura pushed close despite her layoff) in the FQR, so would be a great chance for her to make the main draw.

Naturally, you would have preferred 11th seed Von Deichmann first up for a better chance of earning points, but still a good opportunity to get a notable ranking win under her belt. Just a shame it'll be on around 2am (like a lot of this tournament) so it'll be a case of finding out in the morning for the majority.