I didn't realise until now, but worth keeping an eye on this YouTube channel tomorrow for a potential SF stream: www.youtube.com/watch
That's Jodie and Olivia's doubles match today if anyone wanted to watch it back, and hopefully they'll have both semi finals tomorrow.
Jodie plays Maia's conqueror at 10am, and she is the betting favourite to win, whereas the Romanian was the favourite to beat (the higher ranked) Maia, and that went with the odds, so fingers crossed tomorrow's does too. Haddad Maia was in a right battle today (in the singles) but came through, and her SF follows Jodie's match.
Interesting first set in the other SF. Haddad Maia was 1-5 down early, but then turned the screw and won 23 of the next 28 points to set up 2 SPs, but it's gone into a TB.
Haddad Maia won that 7-6 6-2 so that's who Jodie faces in the final tomorrow, and she will be the underdog. At least BHM has been tested in her last couple of games and it's not like she has been absolutely ripping through the draw easily, but she's obviously been used to a much higher level than this.
Jodie has now made 4 W25 finals, winning one of them, but she faced a top 100 player (at the time) in her defeat at Bolton last year, and now plays a 24 year old who has been in the top 60, so a bit unlucky in that respect, but hopefully she can produce a big performance tomorrow.
Whatever happens, (at least) 30 points is a good return for her first tournament back, especially as she did pass up the money in Prague just for turning up, and she has a 25+H event next week in the same country, although the entry list is a bit stronger.
-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Saturday 5th of September 2020 01:08:19 PM
Although it's not been the most fun 30 or so mins from a British perspective. I think Jodie did manage a break point midway through the set (the scoreboard was stuck on 40-40 for ages so was hard to tell), but a pretty comfortable first set for the Brazilian.
1-6.
Broken from *40-15 early in the second, hard to see her coming back now. 1-2*
-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Sunday 6th of September 2020 09:55:36 AM
Yes, Jodie had two break points in that long game at 1-3* in the first set. The ITF live scores app has finally woken up for me, so I can now see the point-by-point
Hanging in still at 3-4*. Saved one break point in the last game.
(It's taken me until now to notice the green dot on the scoreboard signalling advantage !)