Week 18 - WTA International ($250K) Rabat, Morocco - Clay

the addict · Tennis legend

Week 18 - WTA International ($250K) Rabat, Morocco - Clay

Jan · Hall of fame

I had to go out so missed all the action. Brilliant from Jo!!!

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Good recovery by Sakkari from 1-3 *30-40 down to take the first set 6-4.

JonH · All-time great

flamingowings wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
JonH wrote:
To be fair, tennis abstract rate jo as 3rd most likely winner in Rabat, behind mertens and martic
I would have thought it more realistic to have Jo as the 3rd least likely winner in Rabat. Anyhow I have my money on Yafan Wang to beat Jo in the 1st round. I am a Johanna Konta fan but one must be a realist.
Well....look where we are now!

Indeed - tennis abstract isn't always right but sometimes there more surprising forecasts turn out quite accurate!

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

It is Sakkari for Jo in the final who won 6-4 6-4.

Think Jo is 2-0, both in England, Wimbledon 2017 and Bath the other month, so a grass and hard (indoor) win, would be nice if she could complete the set and add a clay tomorrow.

indiana · Tennis legend

The Final !

(7) Johanna Konta WR 47 vs (6) Maria Sakkari (GRE) WR 51 (CH 29 in September last year)

H2H indeed 2-0 to Jo.
2017 Wimbledon (Jo's SF year) L32: 6-4 6-1
2019 Bath Fed Cup Group: 4-6 6-2 6-3

If Jo wins she will be WR 38 on Monday. If Sakkari wins she will be WR 39 and Jo WR 41.

-- Edited by indiana on Friday 3rd of May 2019 04:44:03 PM

Status Quo · Intermediate Club Player

Is this the first WTA level clay final for a Brit since Sue Barker made the French Open final in 1976?
I can't find a more recent one.

Heather won a clay $100K in Prague, but is that the best it's ever gotten in 43 years?

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Status Quo wrote:
Is this the first WTA level clay final for a Brit since Sue Barker made the French Open final in 1976?
I can't find a more recent one.

Heather won a clay $100K in Prague, but is that the best it's ever gotten in 43 years?

I was trying to work out when it was. My conclusion was that it back in May 1976 when Sue reached the finals of Germany and France. Little did we know that we would be waiting another 43 years for this to happen again.

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

indiana wrote:
SF: (7) Johanna Konta WR 47 beat (4) Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS) WR 43 (CH 39 last month) 6-2 7-6(9)

Now up to live ranked 40 and with relatively minor points to defend over the coming two weeks for a clay court queen
(6) Sakkari or (8) Van Uytvanck in the final.

Brilliant biggrin biggrin biggrin

Michael D · All-time great

Shows what a coaching change can do. Never understood why Jo stuck with Joyce for the whole of last year. It was obvious almost from the get-go that he was bringing nothing to the partnership.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

ROSAMUND wrote:
Somehow or other Ladbrokes have Jo 2nd favourite to win the tournament after Elise Mertens. I think they must have got confused with Nottingham. Nobody would seriously think Jo was remotely ever likely to win a WTA clay court tournament. I know she won clay court events on the ITF circuit at the beginning of her career but that was against opponents who never made it to the main tour.

This is how I rated Jo's chances at the beginning of the tournament. She might not beat Sakkari in the final but she made me eat these words. However perhaps it is better to completely under rate someones chances than over rate them as often happens. Of course the winning of tennis matches can be on close margins. Remember Wang had 3 match points in the 1st round.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

the addict wrote:
Just a couple of hundred points away from WR32 - chance of a Wimbledon seeding if she can cover her points from Nottingham and Eastbourne

Jo would not have to cover her points from Eastbourne 2018 because the seedings from Wimbledon are done after Birmingham and before Eastbourne 2019. Looking at current rankings Collins has 1,536 points in 32nd place. There are also players in the top 32 rankings who would not be seeded based on 2019 performances.The 2 currently in the top 16 are Sloane Stephens and Qiang Wang.Conversely Marketa Vondrousova would not be seeded but on 2019 performances would be seeded 16.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Jo underway, 1-1*, but I'm finding myself more interested in the Spain match, despite Morocco being the level and significance that I'd love some of our other players to get to. Perhaps it's because of all Jo's previous accomplishments.

Peter too · Tennis legend

Jo breaks *2-1

flamingowings · All-time great

One set away...come on Jo!