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Post Info TOPIC: 2019 Race to Shenzhen


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2019 Race to Shenzhen


Battle as there may yet be to get into the WTA finals, of course at the very top Barty has been enhancing her race lead. Now over 1100 points to Pliskova and will be over 1500 points if she wins the Beijing final.

Given you 'only' get 1500 points for an unbeaten Shenzhen finals title and losers get not unsubstantial additional points too, that is looking a hugely strong position for being race and end of year #1. And Ash seems to manage to go about it all without much fuss.



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indiana wrote:

Battle as there may yet be to get into the WTA finals, of course at the very top Barty has been enhancing her race lead. Now over 1100 points to Pliskova and will be over 1500 points if she wins the Beijing final.

Given you 'only' get 1500 points for an unbeaten Shenzhen finals title and losers get not unsubstantial additional points too, that is looking a hugely strong position for being race and end of year #1. And Ash seems to manage to go about it all without much fuss.


Yes I was surprised to see how large that lead had suddenly become, seeing that it was only a week ago (was it?) that Pliskova had a chance to become WR 1. At the moment Ash is looking increasingly locked on for that year end #1 position.



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Barty loses the Beijing final to Osaka.

But if she just picks up the 375 points ( thank you very much ) for 3 group losses in the finals she can only lose a maximum of net 1125 points to the finals winner. She is more than that ahead of anyone else so some ground will need made up before the finals.

Race positions after Beijing :

1. A Barty 6476
2. Ka Pliskova 5315
3. N Osaka 5246



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Linz draw is out as well, and it looks a bit better for Bencic than Bertens, the early stages anyway, so I'm maybe a bit more optimistic about BBs chances now. Bencic starts with a qualifier, whereas Bertens has Pavyluchenkova, one of the highest ranked non seeds, who has beaten her recently, and potentially has Van Uytvanck in R2 who has a few indoor WTA titles.

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I notice that Jo duly got the 0 ranking points for failing to appear at Beijing. However it made little difference to her ranking points for 2019 as she just replaced a 1 pointer by a 0 pointer. Also notice that Caroline Garcia who stopped Jo making the final 8 in 2017 has really fallen down the rankings. When she beat Jo at the 2018 US Open she was ranked world No 4 but now fallen to 40th on 2019 rankings.



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Ace Ventura wrote:

Linz draw is out as well, and it looks a bit better for Bencic than Bertens, the early stages anyway, so I'm maybe a bit more optimistic about BBs chances now. Bencic starts with a qualifier, whereas Bertens has Pavyluchenkova, one of the highest ranked non seeds, who has beaten her recently, and potentially has Van Uytvanck in R2 who has a few indoor WTA titles.


Bertens, like Bencic, now has a Q/LL in R1. (3) Sevastova has withdrawn and Pav, having been the highest ranked non seed, has been moved into her place as a 9th seed 



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indiana wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:

Linz draw is out as well, and it looks a bit better for Bencic than Bertens, the early stages anyway, so I'm maybe a bit more optimistic about BBs chances now. Bencic starts with a qualifier, whereas Bertens has Pavyluchenkova, one of the highest ranked non seeds, who has beaten her recently, and potentially has Van Uytvanck in R2 who has a few indoor WTA titles.


Bertens, like Bencic, now has a Q/LL in R1. (3) Sevastova has withdrawn and Pav, having been the highest ranked non seed, has been moved into her place as a 9th seed 


Ahh, grim, but fair, and both will be pleased with that. Pavs goes from the top seed to a WC just like that. Kenin withdrew from Tianjin after the main draw had started, so they were unable to do the same there and a Q/LL came in to the top seed position to leave 2 and 3 in the bottom half, and a more unbalanced draw.

It'll be interesting if Gauff draws either of them, should she come through her FQR later on.

 

Edit - Gauff has just lost her FQR in straight sets, having been a break up in both, so that won't be happening. 

Edit again - but then she definitely will be one of the 2 highest ranked FQR losers, and could get that LL spot, so maybe it will.



-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Monday 7th of October 2019 01:26:50 PM

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Well, Friedsam goes from just scraping past Sam in Roehampton to pretty much ending Bencic's Shenzhen hopes in less than 2 weeks, beating her in 3 sets in Linz.

Bencic could still get a WC into Moscow to delay it, but the way she's been playing for a while, I can't see it making much difference, even if she did get one. She went from 4-0 to 4-6 in the first set, and then from 1-0 to 2-6 in the decider, and looked to almost give up towards the end of that final set. Very disappointing.

Bertens still has work to do to actually get into the top 8, and it would certainly put the cat amongst the pigeons if Serena actually decided to play, but at the moment, you'd massive fancy the Dutchwoman's chances of making her second successive tour finals.

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Coco Gauff ended up getting a *very* late LL spot, replacing Sakkari, going on court within 30 minutes and winning the match, taking her to the top 100 if she wins her next match.

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flamingowings wrote:

Coco Gauff ended up getting a *very* late LL spot, replacing Sakkari, going on court within 30 minutes and winning the match, taking her to the top 100 if she wins her next match.


Yep, worked out pretty well for her given she got a largely out of form qualifier in Voegele, and effectively take over the seeding in that section, whereas the other LL Bonaventure got (and lost to) Van Uytvanck, who is a bit of an indoor specialist.

I hope Gauff does get in the top 100 and qualify directly for the Aussie Open. Kozlova next, which seems winnable, but would get a second chance in Luxembourg Qs if she did lose. A fair few don't like the hype around her, which I can undertand, but I do enjoy watching her, and she obviously brings additional attention to the women's game. She played a cracking tie break today.



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Ace Ventura wrote:
flamingowings wrote:

Coco Gauff ended up getting a *very* late LL spot, replacing Sakkari, going on court within 30 minutes and winning the match, taking her to the top 100 if she wins her next match.


Yep, worked out pretty well for her given she got a largely out of form qualifier in Voegele, and effectively take over the seeding in that section, whereas the other LL Bonaventure got (and lost to) Van Uytvanck, who is a bit of an indoor specialist.

I hope Gauff does get in the top 100 and qualify directly for the Aussie Open. Kozlova next, which seems winnable, but would get a second chance in Luxembourg Qs if she did lose. A fair few don't like the hype around her, which I can undertand, but I do enjoy watching her, and she obviously brings additional attention to the women's game. She played a cracking tie break today.


 I get the hype but I don't think they should change rules around u-18's(?) playing. 



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flamingowings wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
flamingowings wrote:

Coco Gauff ended up getting a *very* late LL spot, replacing Sakkari, going on court within 30 minutes and winning the match, taking her to the top 100 if she wins her next match.


Yep, worked out pretty well for her given she got a largely out of form qualifier in Voegele, and effectively take over the seeding in that section, whereas the other LL Bonaventure got (and lost to) Van Uytvanck, who is a bit of an indoor specialist.

I hope Gauff does get in the top 100 and qualify directly for the Aussie Open. Kozlova next, which seems winnable, but would get a second chance in Luxembourg Qs if she did lose. A fair few don't like the hype around her, which I can undertand, but I do enjoy watching her, and she obviously brings additional attention to the women's game. She played a cracking tie break today.


 I get the hype but I don't think they should change rules around u-18's(?) playing. 


It's complicated, but I'm not sure if they have changed or broken any rules. As a 15 year old she can play a standard 10 events per year, but she qualifies for some 'merited increases', based on performances:

https://www.wtatennis.com/player-development (two thirds down that link)

She can get up to 4 additional tournaments on top of those 10. As a year end top 5 junior, she can get 2 extra tournaments, and then she can play PMs and slams, if her ranking gets her in directly, or into the qualifying. I guess these 'merited increases' are for exceptional cases, as there won't be too many 15 year olds who ended the previous year in the Jr top 5 (at 14), nor will many be in slam direct entry or PM direct / quals contention.

I'm not sure when these rules came into play, or if they were actually changed recently to specifically cater for Gauff, but one thing is for sure, if there are any loopholes, then you can pretty much guarantee her large team will find them.



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Sorry I wasn't clear. There certainly was a lot of attention on wanting to change the current rules that restricts tournaments for teenagers which I don't agree with because it's there to protect young players from doing too much too soon. I don't believe they have changed anything about them.

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flamingowings wrote:

Sorry I wasn't clear. There certainly was a lot of attention on wanting to change the current rules that restricts tournaments for teenagers which I don't agree with because it's there to protect young players from doing too much too soon. I don't believe they have changed anything about them.


Yeah, I recall Federer (Team8 involvement) saying they should be changed as well as others. Like you, I am largely in favour of Age Eligibility as well, especially with potential burn out issues that we have seen before, but I think I'm OK with these increases based on merit. A max of 4 extra tournaments isn't massive and they are obviously exceptional cases as very few 15 year olds are going to achieve what Gauff has to date at both jr and pro level, and it'll be up to the player / team to decide if they want to play the extra events, but it's obviously a delicate subject.

I just wasn't sure when they came about as it wouldn't be a huge surprise if it was Gauff's team that influenced the changes. smile



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flamingowings wrote:

Sorry I wasn't clear. There certainly was a lot of attention on wanting to change the current rules that restricts tournaments for teenagers which I don't agree with because it's there to protect young players  from doing too much too soon. I don't believe they have changed anything about them.

 Remember who the 2 highest ranking teenagers were at the end of 2017? You won't find either of them currently in any ranking lists at the end of 2019. One of them won Nottingham as a teenager in 2015 and has had more elbow operations than WTA tournament wins.



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