Week 1 - WTA500 ABU Dhabi. UAE Hard

Peter too · Tennis legend

Week 1 - WTA500 ABU Dhabi. UAE Hard

PaulM · Tennis legend

Good draw here. Qualifying is very weak as noone entered into AO Qualies can play this event.

Heather is in the main draw

the addict · Tennis legend

Distinct lack of information coming from the WTA - but I've found this pic of the qualifying draw

https://twitter.com/WTA_insider/status/1346096094149705729/photo/1

the addict · Tennis legend

And the main draw

https://twitter.com/WTA_insider/status/1346153268326502400/photo/1

Heather gets a qualifier

seagull · Hall of fame

Jodie is 3rd on. Play starts at 6am

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Ridiculously poor entry information coming through from the WTA - very amateurish. They are the license owners here, they should be posting draws before twitter and the like.

Peter too · Tennis legend

R1: WATSON, Heather (GBR) 58 (CH=38 2015) v Qualifier

If Heather wins then her R2 opponent is likely to be the 17th seed Alexandrova. Heather has a 1-1 record against her. If she wins that she would likely play the 2nd seed Svitolina in R3. Heather has a 1-2 record against Svitolina, all going to 3 sets, but she hasn't played her for several years.

indiana · Tennis legend

Good thinking by the WTA to set things up so that players are only able to play one of Abu Dhabi qualifying or Australian Open qualifying.

They have arranged such a busy calendar over the last 6 months or so and into the future that there must be a real danger of player burnout, so sensible to restrict their opportunities of tournament play.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

indiana wrote:
Good thinking by the WTA to set things up so that players are only able to play one of Abu Dhabi qualifying or Australian Open qualifying.

They have arranged such a busy calendar over the last 6 months or so and into the future that there must be a real danger of player burnout, so sensible to restrict their opportunities of tournament play.

The irony isnt lost ... although to be fair the atp have the same situation in place, hence weak qualies fields this weak.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

The 13th Q seed is currently leading 6-4 4-0, so Jodie could be on soon. Streams on Bet365. I'll be casting to the TV.

Really good opportunity for 13 points. This week last year in Brisbane, the same level of event, the likes of Putintseva, Brady, and Kudermetova were in qualifying, so a slight contrast to kick off the WTA year.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Strong start. *3-0. Just switched on midway through the second game and so many unforced errors from the opponent already.

Canda · Junior player

Jodie leading 4-1 in first set. Great start

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Only saw the last 10 mins but that was nice and tidy, 6-2 6-3

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Kichenok improved slightly in the second set. She came back from *3-1 to *3-3, and then had *0-30 on Jodie's serve, and she thought a Jodie winner was out - big difference from *15-30 to *0-40. Jodie went on to hold, and didn't look back.

Potential FQR opponents on court now in the early stages. Hesse the seed and slight favourite, but this could easily have been Cherbourg or Reims W25 qualifying, so hopefully she continues to take advantage and get those generous 25 points.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Decent win for Jodie, that will do her good at the start of the year - what difference will that make to her ranking?