Week 26 - Wimbledon Women's Qualifying Singles, Roehampton, Great Britain - Grass

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Week 26 - Wimbledon Women's Qualifying Singles, Roehampton, Great Britain - Grass

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

I don't think anyone was predicting 5 or 6 wins, at least I don't recall anyone saying that. I did reference 5 or 6 were in with a decent chance of progressing, and they were, as the odds later in the day, and some of the narrow scores reflected. I think the consensus was 4 would be great, 3 would be a good return, maybe par, and 2 would be more on the disappointing side, but still could be worse.

A case of what might have been in some cases, but generally more positive than the past 3 weeks.

Michael D · All-time great

Thanks CD, great notes to read... Yes Cori Gauff certainly looks one to watch. This is her first singles Grand Slam tournament...

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

She won a Q match at the French Open 3 weeks ago Michael.

Michael D · All-time great

Ace Ventura wrote:
She won a Q match at the French Open 3 weeks ago Michael.

Oh really Ace? I'm trusting the Wimbledon website too much then, as it shows no data for any of the grand slams for singles (and it should show q wins) but shows her as being in the first round doubles at RG.

PaulM · Tennis legend

Great to see competitive matches all round but I do feel disappointed we don't have 1-2 more wins to toast tonight

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Michael D wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
She won a Q match at the French Open 3 weeks ago Michael.
Oh really Ace? I'm trusting the Wimbledon website too much then, as it shows no data for any of the grand slams for singles (and it should show q wins) but shows her as being in the first round doubles at RG.

Yeah, beat Raina 6-4 6-4 and lost to Juvan in Q2. Received a QWC there as well.

Michael D · All-time great

Liam Broady 2nd up on Court 11 tomorrow followed by Gabi. Sam last (4th) on Court 16.

flamingowings · All-time great

Reem Abulleil
@ReemAbulleil

15-year-old Coco Gauff beat Aliona Bolsova (who made the 4th round as a qualifier at RG) 6-3, 6-4 in Wimbledon qualifying today. She has a science test to take today or tomorrow, and says she isn't quite sure if her teachers even know she's playing Wimbledon.

7:43 pm · 25 Jun 2019 · Twitter Web Client

Michael D · All-time great

I would expect her teachers to be a bit smarter than she thinks they might be!!

indiana · Tennis legend

Thanks very much for that, CD. Yes competitive if not collecting as many cigars as to be hoped. A 3rd win would have made it seem just about 'right'. But 2 from a generally accepted 'good' draw it is.

Yes, no real worries at all re Emma with her lack of competitive tennis and seemingly much tennis full stop. Just maybe more pointers to be learned tactically and no bad thing in that.

At least Gabi and Sam's wins are good for helping us in that well known top 12 strongest nation contest

Seriously, with Naomi still there as well, the depth is as I can never recall in our top 300 / 400 and we can field a goodly number of competitive players at Slam qualifying as today. But at the sharp end, which is ultimately where most no doubt really want to see the difference, for now we have just one in the top 100 and one in the race top 150. Numbers ( and fit numbers ) should ultimately help our chances of one or two significant breakthroughs in time, more top ranked players, more winners. May take time though.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Michael D wrote:
Liam Broady 2nd up on Court 11 tomorrow followed by Gabi. Sam last (4th) on Court 16.

Good that we get to see Gabi (and Liam).

The TV / online schedule:

D Brown vs M Ymer

L Broady vs Griekspoor

G Taylor vs Bonaventure

Doi vs Ar Rodionova

I could think of far more women's matches that I'd have preferred to watch than that last one personally, but I suppose Doi was a top 30 player at one time, and it's good that it's 2 men's and 2 women's, although that might be the ratio on all the courts.

Andy Parker · Strong Club Player

Agree Ace - Gabi v Bonaventure should be great, but it is a shame they couldn't have given us Sam's match too. I feel both did really well today, but whereas Gabi is very much the underdog against Bonaventure, I think Sam has a real chance of making the final qualifying round against her Spanish opponent, and probably starts as a warm favourite, and I would have liked to have seen that on TV.

Keeping my fingers crossed for both of them. If Gabi comes through, she will probably face Arantxa Rus, who has had some great results here at Wimbledon, including when she beat the defending champion, Sam Stosur on Centre Court, which was one of the finest performances I have seen at Wimbledon, and meant I have followed the career of Rus ever since. Rus gave Serena Williams a tough match at Wimbledon last year; all in all a very tough draw from here for Gabi.

So tough for Gabi to make it through to qualifying, but not impossible, and this win today will have given her a much needed boost to her confidence. Her 2019 form may be fairly poor, but she remains a really great player, who is much better than her current ranking suggests.

As for Sam; I called it here on the forum last night, and said I thought she might win; she is so gritty and determined, and I am so pleased for her. I thought she would beat Peng - she is very much a shadow of her former self and it was a nice draw for Sam.

I think everyone else did pretty well too - Eden had a really tough draw but ran her opponent close, and Fran really battled in her match too. No-one succumbed to crushing defeats, so all in all a much better day in the qualies than last year. Well done everyone.

-- Edited by Andy Parker on Tuesday 25th of June 2019 10:00:13 PM

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Yeah, it's a shame we won't get to see Sam, especially as it is a winnable match, and she does actually start as favourite as you suspected - her odds have come in from 5/6 joint fave to 8/13, whereas Gabi is a sizeable 7/2 underdog. Bonaventure will be very tough, she has beaten Kuzmova, Siniakova, Swiatek, Vekic, Rybarikova, Zidansek, Townsend, Ferro, Boulter (and many others) in WTA events, all this year - I'm kind of just listing a bunch of names, but that's a pretty decent resume of top 100 wins she has built up this year alone, and it is obviously a different level to what Gabi has operated at in her more tender years. She also pushed Kerber 5-7 6-4 2-6 just last week on the Mallorcan grass, so it is a very big ask, but Gabi has a win, 20 precious points in the bag, so while it would be nice if she could go further, it is kind of a nothing to lose match IMO, and hopefully she gives a good account of herself and see what happens. Rus is a 1/6 favourite in her match FWIW, but then again, odds are just a number as was pointed out yesterday when you thought Sam's 2/1 to beat Peng was too big. I'm not sure what Gabi's ceiling is, or where a more natural level would be, but I also certainly think her current 300+ ranking doesn't do her justice at all, but it is of course up to her to push on and get nearer her CH, injuries/health permitting.

It is indeed great when someone you'd not normally be that familiar with catches your eye, whether that be on Centre Court as the B side opponent, a random WTA international on BT, or at a UK ITF event that you attended, and you end up following their results going forward. Gabi Ruse did that with me a bit last year with her agonising Court 1 defeat against Radwanska (had 5 MPs) before leaving to a standing ovation. She sailed into Q2 today and I'd like her, along with Rybakina, to qualify, and I think both will probably be favourites to do so. Sam will probably have Badosa Gibert in the FQR if she does manage to get past Bucsa.

Yeah, collectively a decent enough GB showing, 2 through which helps, some narrow defeats, and ironically, the one that looked to find it toughest going was Bains, the only one not to require a QWC. A couple of good stories in QWCs Lisicki and Gauff, at totally different stages of their respective careers, both progressing, and I'm sure there will be more stories developing tomorrow.

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Tuesday 25th of June 2019 10:48:07 PM

Andy Parker · Strong Club Player

Agree Ace that Naiktha was the most disappointing result, and the irony that she was the only non-wildcard Brit. I mentioned the 4 Brits hat I thought did the best, but Emma and Maia also did reasonably well and are young players, who will take a lot from the experience of being in a Wimbledon Qualie. Naomi also took her opponent to tie breaks in both sets, so all three did creditably I think. Emma matched her opponent for most of the first set, and it wasn't that obvious who was going to win really.

Anyway good performances and looking forward to tomorrow, to see how our Brits perform. Lisicki looked back to form today, too; it will be interesting to see if she can qualify. Babos was one of the hardest draws she could have had, and all credit to her for a very solid showing.

-- Edited by Andy Parker on Tuesday 25th of June 2019 11:08:07 PM