Week 2 – ITF (W25) Hamburg, Germany (Indoor Hard)

the addict · Tennis legend

Week 2 – ITF (W25) Hamburg, Germany (Indoor Hard)

PaulM · Tennis legend

The difficulty for Emily is the WTA plans to return to normal rankings from 31 March. And the majority of her points were gained in that amazing April/May period in 2019 (for which she and Sofia should have been rewarded in the summer, but hey ho). So whilst at the moment she needs to win a 25k to put on any ranking points, not having built up any reserves over the last 6 months when she was having a go in the big events mean she could fall down quite quickly. She'd be replacing a 50/30 pointers with single digits.

Hopefully she can get that one win that kicks things back into gear soon. (Or the WTA push back the ranking change by an extra month which would make a big difference!).

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Forgot about Jodie playing. Just turned the stream on and see she is *4-2 up, no idea how it has gone thus far, but hopefully it being indoors will tilt it more in her further this week:

live.itftennis.com/en/live-streams/video.php

The scoreboard seems to be playing up, but hopefully that's 5-2* now as they change ends.

Back working now. Jodie got the early break and went 3-0* up, and then holds thereafter.

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Wednesday 13th of January 2021 11:54:01 AM

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Had to save a couple of BPs in her second services game of the second set, but going really well now. 6-2 4-1*

She had a couple of BPs to serve for the match, but it's now Hesse serving for the set. 4-5*. Her frustration is growing, was arguing with the umpire about a call.

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Wednesday 13th of January 2021 12:41:20 PM

PaulM · Tennis legend

Missed points for *5-1 and collapsed to 4-5*. Should have been in the locker room by now she was doing it all right.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Yep, second set gone, and more arguing. The scoreboard is constantly out of sync, so makes it pretty hard to follow if dipping in and out.

PaulM · Tennis legend

Hesse holds from 0-30 and then breaks at the start of the third. She was totally in control!

6-4 4-6 0-1*

Break back point here

PaulM · Tennis legend

*2-4 final set. She gets down on herself so quickly and it really impacts her game.

DF · Tennis legend

She needs to believe in herself but it is easier to say than to do

PaulM · Tennis legend

Lost 6-2 in the third. Was as bad at the end as it was good at the start. Really let it slip after missing the chances for 5-1 in the second, got in her own head as much as anything. Shame.

Peter too · Tennis legend

R1: BURRAGE, Jodie Anna (GBR) 4 263 lost to HESSE, Amandine (FRA) 289 6-2 4-6 2-6

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

No British interest unfortunately, but a very interesting semi final line up for anyone looking for a tennis fix over the weekend.

Jodie's conqueror Hesse lost to Jesika Maleckova today, who I saw Marni beat at Sunderland just under a year ago, but the other 3 remaining players will likely be a lot more 'relevant' in the not too distant future. Maleckova plays 18 year old (Oct 2002) Qinwen Zheng tomorrow who is incredibly chasing her 5th title since the restart (4 at W25 level). She was ranked 630 in August, but should now be circa 280 in the live rankings, and will make the top 250 if she takes the title here (and should be the favourite to do so), and has proven you can make great strides even in this current climate if you play the limited events available to you.

The other semi final sees 15 year old Linda Fruhvirtova (who many will be aware of if they follow the junior scene, along with her younger sister), and she's up against a local player who I wasn't aware of until a couple of months ago (when someone started a thread on her of TF), Noma Akugue Noha, who just turned 17 last month. I saw her match today and she was very impressive, and she has only dropped 12 games in her 3 matches this week (4 in each game), 2 of them against top 300 players.

A Zheng final vs either of the teenagers in the bottom half would be good.