Week 47 - ITF (W25) Solarino, Italy Carpet

indiana · Tennis legend

Week 47 - ITF (W25) Solarino, Italy Carpet

Peter too · Tennis legend

Q2: MARTINS, Destinee (GBR) WC UNR def ERJAVEC, Veronika (SLO) 8 534 3-6 6-1 [10-8]

R1: CARRERAS, Amanda (GBR) 351 v ZUGER, Joanna (SUI) LL 524 CH=523 11/11/19
R1: BURRAGE, Jodie Anna (GBR) 282 v DE VROOME, Indy (NED) 6 259 CH=177 2014
R1: MARTINS, Destinee (GBR) WC UNR v BOLKVADZE, Mariam (GEO) 2 155 CH=153 30/9/19

Strongbow · All-time great

Destinee seems to have got the short straw. Just good to see Mandy playing again. biggrin

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
wolf wrote:
That is pretty bad fortunes all round IMO.
Yeah, I forgot Mandy had already reached a few W25 SFs this year, and was kind of thinking 5 points won't be too bad here, but it's not ideal when you think of it in the context of the year. If she does beat this LL, she would at least add to her tally as she has a 1 pt counter she could replace and end 2019 in the GB top 10, even if it would be too late for our predictions
Can't see much joy from the others though.
Ah but, on 02/12 when any points from here will be added, Mandy will drop 10 points from a 15K title last year ( her final points off for the year, indeed most of her points from last year post injury ) so she would need an 18 point SF to cover this and move into the GB top 10 ( to #9 ).
PS: that 15K was actually here on Solarino carpet.

-- Edited by indiana on Monday 18th of November 2019 11:27:12 PM

Ah, indeed. Didn't realise she was playing so late last season.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Amanda is into a third set and a break down (although that often doesn't mean much in Mandy's matches)

DF · Tennis legend

Amanda into the deciding set.2-2

the addict · Tennis legend

Yes, Mandy is 4-3* in the third. And as usual there have been 15 breaks of serve so far, Mandy leading 8-7

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

They've exchanged more breaks, 4-3*.

To be honest, I just thought end of season tournament, a player who couldn't even come through qualifying, that's a very nice draw, without checking on her opponent, but she has just turned 19 the other day, pretty much at a CH as per Peter's post, and a couple of decent recent results like beating Leonie Kung (who maybe isn't quite as good as I was expecting), so it could have a banana skin.

3 games in a row now, *5-3, so hopefully almost there.

DF · Tennis legend

Amanda wins 6-3 in the third. smile

the addict · Tennis legend

And Mandy serves it out :)

Status Quo · Intermediate Club Player

Well done, Ms. Carreras.
She looks to be another of our rare contingent that will keep going up to and beyond their 30th birthday, and very glad to see her do so.

See that the leading Marmite player, Niculescu, is here, vulturing somewhat as WR117. as top seed, and is almost certain to be the next opponent. Should be interesting. Amanda is pretty unflappable, so the Niculescu slice'n'dice should't put her too far out of joint, but suspect Niculescu is far too classy anyway, and she shouldn't really be at a $25K.

the addict · Tennis legend

Nicolescu it is. She's chasing points for AO entry. A tournament win would lift her to around WR109

She's entered here the following week as well

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Status Quo wrote:
Well done, Ms. Carreras.
She looks to be another of our rare contingent that will keep going up to and beyond their 30th birthday, and very glad to see her do so.

See that the leading Marmite player, Niculescu, is here, vulturing somewhat as WR117. as top seed, and is almost certain to be the next opponent. Should be interesting. Amanda is pretty unflappable, so the Niculescu slice'n'dice should't put her too far out of joint, but suspect Niculescu is far too classy anyway, and she shouldn't really be at a $25K.

It is Niculescu up next as she has just beaten her opponent 4 and 3. I'm not a fan of her style (or her grunt), but I don't think 117 in a W25 is too extreme, it just maybe seems that way because she has obviously operated at a much higher level, previously been top 30 and has made 2nd weeks of slams, but there's so many fringe top 100 players playing these type of events (all year round), that it doesn't really stand out that much to me. This is the highest level event this week (and next), and she's obviously hoping to sneak into the Aussie Open main draw, where she really should be, and very likely would have been, had she not have been injured for large parts and only managed to play 16 events and even missed the French Open. She has two 1 point counters that she can replace, so she'll certainly need to win the title this week and next week (just before the cut off) to have any chance at all. Her only other ITF event of any sort this season was at Ilkley which she won, under the watching eyes of JonH.

Players will have their specific reasons for entering these events, and on paper, this is nothing compared to the current #31 Danielle Collins (health issues) taking a MDWC into a W25 event in the US this week.

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Tuesday 19th of November 2019 11:40:00 AM

emmsie69 · Top national player

I don't think its unreasonable to play a few but its Arantxa Rus that annoys me 1,2 maybe 3 at this level but 9 is not really in the spirit

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

emmsie69 wrote:
I don't think its unreasonable to play a few but its Arantxa Rus that annoys me 1,2 maybe 3 at this level but 9 is not really in the spirit

Yes, I was actually going to mention her, but deleted it as I thought my post was going too long. It's actually 10 W25 titles for her, another final, and she has a further 4 (including 18 points for a SF) that she can't even post, so 15 W25 events in a year for a player that has been on the fringes of the top 100 pretty much all year, and it's 'job done' as 530 of her 701 total points coming from W25s has seen her secure her top 100 place and Aussie Open entry, which kind of defeats the object as she won't be facing the typical W25 type of player there. Diatchenko is another, but not quite as bad, as at least a lot of her points have been at W60 level, but she still has circa 500 of her 713 points coming from W25-60 events, including the Bolton W25 title, to also crash the top 100.

But, then again, there's no actual rules in place to prevent this, so they're techinally not doing anything wrong, it just doesn't come across the best.

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Tuesday 19th of November 2019 12:20:06 PM