Week 30 - WTA International ($250K) - Baltic Open - Jurmala, Latvia - Clay

DF · Tennis legend

Week 30 - WTA International ($250K) - Baltic Open - Jurmala, Latvia - Clay

Michael D · All-time great

Well good to see Naiktha win this and go through to the FQR, even if no net points gained as RS said. She also did well overcoming that poor second set, as a result of which Naiktha actually lost on points 92-103!

Final score 6-4 1-6 6-3

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Naiktha won the final 2 games to take the match 6-4 1-6 6-3, so gets those 12 points and will take on either the higher seeded Kawa or the Kazakh Fed Cup doubles player Danilina tomorrow. Sounded a battle and some important holds. Well done Naiktha.

Spireman · Club Coach

Sorry for being pedantic but you can't lose (or win) on points in tennis, unlike boxing, which is why the scoring system in tennis makes it such a good sport.

Michael D · All-time great

Spireman wrote:
Sorry for being pedantic but you can't lose (or win) on points in tennis, unlike boxing, which is why the scoring system in tennis makes it such a good sport.

Exactly, and hence my note about Naiktha winning the match despite winning only 47% of the points. However, she won a majority in the two sets she won and that's all that counts.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Kawa and Danilina are currently 5-5 in the third. Fran should be starting soon.

DF · Tennis legend

Fran's match moved to centre court

Against the no 1 seed . Already broken 1-3

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

It is Kawa next for Bains as she came back from 2-5* in the tie break to take the final 5 points.

Fran down an early break. *1-3

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Fran finding it tough, 2-6 1-4*.

Babfive · Satellite level

Fran 2-6 *1-5

Michael D · All-time great

QR1: Francesca Jones WR 299 lost to (q1) Barbara Haas (AUT) WR 170 ( CH134 in September 2016 ) 2-6 2-6
QR1: (q7) Naiktha Bains WR 231 def Andrea Gamiz (VEN) WR 347 ( CH 244 in April 2018 ) 6-4 1-6 6-3

FQR: Naiktha Bains (GBR) [q7] 231 vs Katarzyna KAWA (POL) [q3] 196

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Naiktha immediately broken, 0-1*

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

She did come back from a 0-6 opening set deficit a couple of months ago, but she's going to need similar today if she's going to make the main draw - 1-6, and only been past 30 once (on Kawa's 6 games).

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Monday 22nd of July 2019 10:42:23 AM

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Lost 1-6 2-6. Gave it a go, but obviously not enough, at least she did cover her 12 points with that win yesterday and thus still has USO qual hopes.

Kawa's had a decent 2019 (has halved her ranking in the past 12 month) and did well at a 125k level event the other week, but this isn't exactly typical WTA level because as far as I can tell, Kawa has never had a main draw WTA match (until now) and is 27 in a couple of months. She actually has Chiswick W25 as her P1 in a few weeks, so will likely play there unless she makes a decent run in this event and subsequently withdraws.

The way the other FQR results have gone, if there was a LL spot opening up, like there was in the simultaneous Palermo event and 4 in Bucharest last week, then Naiktha would be in contention, but that backdoor route looks closed for now.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Well, Kawa has certainly taken advantage of a pretty weak field and a draw opening up in her first WTA main draw appearance. In the main draw, she has beaten the #109, a #316 MDWC and now the #156 to make the semi final here. I don't necessarily think it was a missed opportunity for Naiktha because she was obviously comprehensively beaten by Kawa and would more than likely have been out of her depth against those 2 ranked in the 100's, but it just goes to show, there are plenty of opportunities in these post slam down time weeks for less familiar players to put a solid run together and completely change their season. With at least 128 points already in the bag, it'll be interesting to see if she does show up to Chiswick in a couple of weeks.