Week 19 - ITF (W25) - Rome, Italy - Clay

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Week 19 - ITF (W25) - Rome, Italy - Clay

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Not a great draw overall. You'd hope Katie would get past her local WC in R1, but unless Fran can cause a big upset, it'll be the 16 year old in R2 who has been on a tear this year and is already 5-0 against Brits (Naomi x 2 last year, Maia, Jodie and Gabi this year).

Given her slow start to the year, a potential 2nd round exit and only 5 points would be poor for Katie being the #2 seed, especially after winning Monzon W25 (50 points) this time last year, but she'll do well to avoid it. Hopefully she can take inspiration from Katy D who got her season going from out of nowhere last week.

RedSquirrel · Satellite level

A nice little 47 minute warm up for Katie against Italy's doubles #1 before her singles tomorrow

L16: Jaimee Fourlis (AUS) Katie Swan (GBR) 824 (273+551) defeated Lucia BRONZETTI (ITA) Giorgia MARCHETTI(ITA) 745 (590+155) 6-1 6-0

Possibly another Italian pair and the 3rd seeds up next.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Match before Katie has just finished, so she should be starting soon.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Katie started very well. 4-0*, two love holds and two breaks to 40.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Pegged back to 4-4*.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Looking much better for Katie though as she won the set 6-4 and is an immediate break up in the second. 6-4 *1-0.

the addict · Tennis legend

Must be lunchtime in Rome as well as Madrid - Katie follws Simona in getting a bagel

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Katie won 6-4 6-0, so 8 games in a row and a much better 2nd set - she only dropped 5 points in those 6 games. smile

Fran and Lopatestska play later.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Fran should be about to start. Would be great if she could pull it off to guarantee a Brit in the QF, but it'll be tough - I wonder how she is following her retirement against Bains last week?

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Fran 1-1*, saved 2 BPs in her opening service game.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Fran looks to be in most of her games, but is 1-5* down.

the addict · Tennis legend

The actual stats for the first set don't look to bad, but obviously Fran not winning the crucial points. 1-6 0-1*

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

the addict wrote:
The actual stats for the first set don't look to bad, but obviously Fran not winning the crucial points. 1-6 0-1*

The second set not so competitive unfortunately, *0-3 and 2-12 points.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Fran lost 1-6 1-6. She did manage to break to love in the 2nd set.

It'll be a big task for Katie next. Lopatestska is currently as high as 125 in the race and has recorded an impressive 200 points from her 9 scoring tournaments, Katie is currently 289th with 63 points from her 7 events, so despite Katie currently being 50 places higher in the rankings, their respective starts to the year could hardly have been more different.

I've said a few times that Katie hasn't really had a good / significant win since beating Hibino in US Open quals 8/9 months ago (Thandi at a stretch because of their previous H2H), but despite being lower ranked and currently outside the top 200, this would certainly be a great win if she could pull it off.