Week 14 - ITF (W25) Bolton, GB Hard

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Week 14 - ITF (W25) Bolton, GB Hard

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

AS people have said, that's a shocker for Naomi. On an indoor hard court (even if not very fast). To lose to Noel.

The 'warm-up' strategy of playing the British Tour didn't seem to work out..... :(

Peter too · Tennis legend

R1: ALLEN, Victoria (GBR) WC UNR def CADAR, Elena-Teodora (ROU) IR UNR 6-0 6-0
R1: LUMSDEN, Maia (GBR) 313 lost to KERKHOVE, Lesley (NED) 4 186 7-6(4) 3-6 3-6
R1: HILL, Sasha (GBR) WC UNR lost to STOJANOVIC, Nina (SRB) 248 1-6 1-6
R1: TAYLOR, Ella (GBR) 614 lost to FERRANDO, Cristiana (ITA) Q 456 6-2 0-6 0-6
R1: GILLAN, Alice (GBR) WC UNR lost to MARCINKEVICA, Diana (LAT) 267 6-7(4) 2-6
R1: BURRAGE, Jodie Anna (GBR) Q 336 def MALMQVIST, Linnea (SWE) Q 735 6-1 3-6 6-1
R1: MOORE, Tara (GBR) Q 479 lost to ANDERSON, Robin (USA) 8 200 4-6 3-6
R1: RADUCANU, Emma (GBR) SE 586 def PAAR, Laura-Iona (ROU) Q 375 6-4 6-3
R1: BROADY, Naomi (GBR) 266 lost to NOEL, Mallaurie (FRA) Q 549 4-6 6-4 6-7(3)

R2: ALLEN, Victoria (GBR) WC UNR v DIATCHENKO, Vitalia (RUS) 1 96 CH=71 2014
R2: BURRAGE, Jodie Anna (GBR) Q 336 v KALINSKAYA, Anna (RUS) 3 183 CH=127 12/6/17
R2: RADUCANU, Emma (GBR) SE 586 v ANDERSON, Robin (USA) 8 200 CH=183 2016

-- Edited by Peter too on Wednesday 3rd of April 2019 06:03:14 PM

Michael D · All-time great

Completing the a's doubles round up. Thin pickings in the end, only 3 players and 2 pairs through

R16: Naomi BROADY (GBR) [1] Rosalie VAN DER HOEK (NED) [1] lost to Emina BEKTAS (USA) Tara MOORE (GBR) 5-7 6-4
R16: Freya CHRISTIE (GBR) Olivia NICHOLLS (GBR) lost to Yu-Chieh HSIEH (TPE) Pei-Chi LEE (TPE) 2-6 2-6

R16: Diana MARCINKEVICA (LAT) [3] Ekaterina YASHINA (RUS) [3] beat Victoria ALLEN (GBR) (WC) Ella TAYLOR (GBR) (WC) 6-3 6-3
R16: Sasha HILL (GBR) (WC) Holly STAFF (GBR) (WC) lost to Laura-Ioana PAAR (ROU) Helene SCHOLSEN (BEL) 6-4 3-6 8-10

R16: Isabella SHINIKOVA (BUL) Julia TERZIYSKA (BUL) lost to Alicia BARNETT (GBR) Jodie Anna BURRAGE (GBR) 0-6 2-6
R16: Aleksandra PITAK (GBR) (WC) Katarzyna PITAK (GBR) (WC) lost to Jessika PONCHET (FRA) [4] Nina STOJANOVIC (SRB) [4] 4-6 2-6

R16: Robin ANDERSON (USA) Maegan MANASSE (USA) def Tayisiya MORDERGER (GER) Yana MORDERGER (GER) 6-2 6-4
R16: Emma LAINE (FIN) Samantha MURRAY (GBR) lost to Pei Hsuan CHEN (TPE) [2] Fang-Hsien WU (TPE) [2] 4-6 4-6

QF: Emina BEKTAS (USA) Tara MOORE (GBR) vs Yu-Chieh HSIEH (TPE) Pei-Chi LEE (TPE)

QF: Alicia BARNETT (GBR) Jodie Anna BURRAGE (GBR) vs Jessika PONCHET (FRA) [4] Nina STOJANOVIC (SRB) [4]

Oakland2002 · All-time great

A good bit of GCSE preparation for Emma, looking at the maths she probably has the best chance in R2 but the quality of opposition has really stiffened up.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
AS people have said, that's a shocker for Naomi. On an indoor hard court (even if not very fast). To lose to Noel.

The 'warm-up' strategy of playing the British Tour didn't seem to work out..... :(

That's the thing. After losing in 25k qualifying the other week and now losing to a qualifier here, I was thinking could she maybe go to Tunisia, Turkey or Egypt for a couple of weeks and get some wins like what Tara did last year, but then she was beating that sort of level last week so you'd hope she might have got a bit confidence from it, but seemingly not.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Oakland2002 wrote:
A good bit of GCSE preparation for Emma, looking at the maths she probably has the best chance in R2 but the quality of opposition has really stiffened up.

It obviously looks a very tall order for Victoria, but I think Jodie might have a chance. Kalinskaya is at her lowest ranking for over 18 months and looked like she was in a really close battle with qualifier Scholsen today. Plus, she is in line for WTA Lugano qualifying which starts on Saturday so may have that in the back of her mind - lose tomorrow, get to Switzerland by Friday, have a bit practice on the clay etc. - of course she may well decide to withdraw from that, but she'll have a decision to make soon because she certainly can't make the Bolton final and play Lugano simultaneously. In normal circumstances, you'd think at this stage she'd probably have a bit too much for Jodie, but you never know. Mind, by the sounds of it, Jodie will have to be in a better frame of mind than smashing rackets and threatening to retire if she is going to give herself a chance.

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Wednesday 3rd of April 2019 06:46:06 PM

JonH · All-time great

I still think both the broadys could very well be in their last season, I hope I'm wrong.

paulisi · Tennis legend

Naomi's first set was awful and I gave up watching for a bit. I came back for the latter stages of the match.
She served reasonably and was much better when she served and volleyed, but her footwork and her groundshots were all over the place. Her net play was very poor for a good doubles player.
She had chances in the final set to break, but couldn't take them.
Maia game was terrific. Two players of a similar style(good defenders) led to long rallies. The turning point was Maia not taking the break points at 3-3 in the second set and then she struggled after that. She definitely had an injury as she was struggling to walk after the game(hamstring?), but I'm not sure if it impacted on her match.
Tara put up a very good performance against a decent player in Anderson. It was one break late in each set.

Michael D · All-time great

JonH wrote:
I still think both the broadys could very well be in their last season, I hope I'm wrong.

By Wimbledon I hope Naomi is earning her tennis keep by commentating, as I've said for a while now. She does not appear to have much in the way of a coach at the moment, and she is not improving. Her strengths are spluttering and her weaknesses have magnified, and with her style ungainly rather than natural, she cannot improve without good coaching. Her apogee was under Fitzy, and since he departed her game has gradually declined and I don't see a route back now, sad to say. She is a good commentator though, so would love to hear more from her in the future.

JonH · All-time great

Michael D wrote:
JonH wrote:
I still think both the broadys could very well be in their last season, I hope I'm wrong.
By Wimbledon I hope Naomi is earning her tennis keep by commentating, as I've said for a while now. She does not appear to have much in the way of a coach at the moment, and she is not improving. Her strengths are spluttering and her weaknesses have magnified, and with her style ungainly rather than natural, she cannot improve without good coaching. Her apogee was under Fitzy, and since he departed her game has gradually declined and I don't see a route back now, sad to say. She is a good commentator though, so would love to hear more from her in the future.

I wonder whether she might hope with the grass she can earn a little cash for her pension and play through it , maybe mix it with commentating. But agree in general with your thinking.

Feels like heather may also be near a similar fall, albeit maybe six months behind. The

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Thursday's order of play:

Court 6 (no stream)
10am Hoyt
Jodie

Court 7 (stream)
10am Luke J
Emma
Liam

Court 8 (stream)
10am Aidan-Lloyd
Victoria

So all 3 scheduled to be on roughly the same time. Hopefully there will be match length differences between some of the 10am men's matches to space them out a bit.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Well, Naomi earned £1500 last week. And a little this. So I guess it keeps the wolf from the door (just).

I'm not a real fan of her tennis but I don't hope she's commentating, she's only 29.

I hope by summer she's refound her mojo, is smashing aces that take the tops of the grass, and then goes over to the State for World Team tennis (or whatever they call it), that she seems to love, and pays well.

JonH · All-time great

Coup Droit wrote:
Well, Naomi earned £1500 last week. And a little this. So I guess it keeps the wolf from the door (just).

I'm not a real fan of her tennis but I don't hope she's commentating, she's only 29.

I hope by summer she's refound her mojo, is smashing aces that take the tops of the grass, and then goes over to the State for World Team tennis (or whatever they call it), that she seems to love, and pays well.

I forgot, she is committed to that and indeed it does pay well, there are a number of Brits signed up I see

Michael D · All-time great

JonH wrote:
Coup Droit wrote:
Well, Naomi earned £1500 last week. And a little this. So I guess it keeps the wolf from the door (just).

I'm not a real fan of her tennis but I don't hope she's commentating, she's only 29.

I hope by summer she's refound her mojo, is smashing aces that take the tops of the grass, and then goes over to the State for World Team tennis (or whatever they call it), that she seems to love, and pays well.
I forgot, she is committed to that and indeed it does pay well, there are a number of Brits signed up I see

The article in the Liam Broady individual section says she has broken even plus only in about 2 of the seasons she's played (Liam similarly). I'd wish for both actually more than that. Of course the new tour, instead of making it easier has now made the situation more precarious. Slip too far down the rankings, even lose your ranking and the way back is now much harder. As Laura is sadly also finding.