That's a great pity - I was hoping for a return to form.

Both Heather and Naomi appear to have competed well until the end of each set.
Heather was 4-3* on bothe sets - and lost the last three games in each.
Naomi was *4-3 and 5-3* and lost the last three games in the first set, and the last four in the second.

Tara and Emina couldn't get a break in the second set, and then it ran away from them.

Maybe a few encouraging signs for Naomi as that is a tight loss and she wasn't the favourite, but she will obviously have to start beating those fringe top 200 players if she wants to get her ranking back to anywhere near that level herself. She's got 2 more successive Japan events, making the main draw for both W60 events, but unless she goes relatively deep in both, her ranking will tumble even further. I guess she does have the grass season as back up. Bar Manchester W100, she'll be down the WC pecking order, but even a QWC into the likes of Surbiton would be be far more than a typical 400 player would receive, and she didn't win a grass match last year, but that will be pretty much her last good chance of fast tracking her ranking, as it'll be constant 25k Qs going forward after that.

Not really sure what to say about Heather. I did notice the odds last night were 2/5 vs 7/4 and I was thinking that's pretty close odds for a match with a qualifier ranked almost 400. I don't know too much about Omae, but a quick look at her profile and her career seems a bit like Tara's - both 26, both were at a career high in April 2017 (140odd Tara, 188 Omae) and both have fallen well back, but both have reached April W25 semi finals, so can play above their ranking. Omae actually lost 1-6 2-6 to Han in that semi final and will of course play her next. Anyway, it's still a very poor loss for Hev as you'd hope/expect her to beat the likes of a good day Tara anyway. She's defending 100 clay points, so is in real danger of slipping to her lowest ranking since 2011 - she really needs a big 2 weeks, but there'll be far tougher potential draws than the one she just had. Sad times :(

If it is any consolation to Heather, which it probably isn't, Omae went on to beat Han in the next round, another player ranked well above her, and as noted by Ace whom Omae lost 1&2 to last month. Heather may also take consolation from the fact the seeds are dropping like flies here. In Heather's half of the draw, of the seeds, only the top seed Zhu was left after the first round, but she's now gone in the second round leaving no seeds in the top half of the draw going into the QFs. In the bottom half all the seeds made it past the first round, but all except third seed, Diyas, lost in the second round leaving her as the only seed remaining in the draw at the QF stage. Apart from Heather, two other seeds, including second seed Kumkhum, lost to qualifiers.

Zhu going out was a surprise, but is beneficial to Katie B's hopes of making Wimbledon directly, as Zhu is immediately behind her in the race to Wimbledon. That said, it is only delaying the inevitable as Zhu is by a long way the highest ranked in Luan next week and only needs 7 points to go ahead of Katie by the 20th May. On the down side, Diyas will go above Katie in the race to Wimbledon if she reaches the final.

SF:- Naomi BROADY (GBR) / Luksika KUMKHUM (THA) [2] 220 (124+96) v Akiko OMAE (JAP) / Peangtarn PLIPUECH (THA) 411 (206+205)

Omae and Plipuech put out the 4th seeds 4 & 3