Week 6 - Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia Hard

ROSAMUND · Futures level

RE: Week 6 - Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia Hard

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Talking about Jo playing qualifiers in the AO, she lost to Pera a qualifier in the 2nd round in 2018.

Barefoot · Lower Club Player

No easy draws there really, Dasha is on the up again after her awful slump but Hevs match should be close. Juvan is a banana skin but Im not sure how good she is on hard court...

ROSAMUND · Futures level

JonH comes home wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
Albeit on a different surface but I see Juvan beat Angie Kerber in the first round of the French Open last year. I see Jo and Heather are entered in the lesser event in Melbourne in the 2nd week in case they have a short stay in the main event.
Do you remember when the Wimbledon plate event was a big deal, up until the late 70s. Losers in round one and two, maybe first week, could enter. Strong fields and played in 2nd week on the same courts.

thats effectively what the week 2 event here is. Not sure it should have ranking points really but heh.

In the current circumstances it probably makes sense to have a ranking tournament in the 2nd week of the Grand Slam. After the Australian circuit is over there could be uncertainty over future WTA tournaments judging by the past year.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

flamingowings wrote:
R1: (Q) Francesca Jones CR 245, CH = 241 (Nov 2020) vs Shelby Rogers (USA) CR 57, CH = 48 (Jan 2017)
R1: Kristyna Pliskova (CZE) CR 71, CH = 35 (July 2017) vs Heather Watson CR 58, CH = 28 (Jan 2015)
R1: (Q) Kaja Juvan (SLO) CR 104, CH = 100 (Oct 2020) vs (13) Johanna Konta CR 14, CH = 4 (Jul 2017)
R1: (PR?) Katie Boulter CR 315, CH = 82 (Feb 2019) vs Daria "Dasha" Kasatkina (RUS) CR 73, CH = 10 (Oct 2018)
Overall - could've been better, could've been a lot worse (at least all of Fran, Heather & Katie) have avoided seeds immediately in R1.

Brilliant just to see four women listed biggrin Four !!!

And, yes, those draws could have been MILES worse smile

Of course, they're not 'easy' - in fact, I'm sure Shelby, Dasha and KP, in particular, are all pretty pleased with the draw.

But all very playable.

Worth mentioning that Juvan is ex-JWR 5. Won the junior Olympics, I think. Back in 2018?

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Barefoot wrote:
No easy draws there really, Dasha is on the up again after her awful slump but Hevs match should be close. Juvan is a banana skin but Im not sure how good she is on hard court...

Re Juvan on hard courts she beat Yafan Wang and then lost to Swiatek in 3 sets this week in Melbourne. Prior to that she qualified very easily for AO on hard courts in Dubai. Her best results on hard courts last year were beating Venus and Podroska in Acapulco.This was before Podroska made her Grand Slam break through.

Priesty · Challenger level

JonH comes home wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
Albeit on a different surface but I see Juvan beat Angie Kerber in the first round of the French Open last year. I see Jo and Heather are entered in the lesser event in Melbourne in the 2nd week in case they have a short stay in the main event.
Do you remember when the Wimbledon plate event was a big deal, up until the late 70s. Losers in round one and two, maybe first week, could enter. Strong fields and played in 2nd week on the same courts.

thats effectively what the week 2 event here is. Not sure it should have ranking points really but heh.

The Wimbledon Ladies Plate event was still running at the end of the 80s.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Priesty wrote:
JonH comes home wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
Albeit on a different surface but I see Juvan beat Angie Kerber in the first round of the French Open last year. I see Jo and Heather are entered in the lesser event in Melbourne in the 2nd week in case they have a short stay in the main event.
Do you remember when the Wimbledon plate event was a big deal, up until the late 70s. Losers in round one and two, maybe first week, could enter. Strong fields and played in 2nd week on the same courts.

thats effectively what the week 2 event here is. Not sure it should have ranking points really but heh.
The Wimbledon Ladies Plate event was still running at the end of the 80s.

Cool. Was a big deal at one time. When did the mens stop?

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Indeed here we are. 1981 for the men. Sara Gomer won it in 1987, Amanda Brown and Sue barker before that. John Clifton won the mens in 1973

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_England_Plate

ROSAMUND · Futures level

I'd forgotten this, but anybody who went to the Fed Cup matches in Bath 2019 might remember watching Katie Boulter beat Kaja Juvan.

the addict · Tennis legend

Sarah Gomer was also runner-up in the WOmen's Plate in 1988, the last year it was held. She retired in the final at 1-6, playing Mrs S.W Magers (formerly Mis G.A Rush according to the programme for that year)
The prize money in the Plate was £4205 for the winner, £2725 for the runner-up, compared to £148,500 for the Women's Champion (and £165,000 for the men's champion, Stefan Edberg)

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

the addict wrote:
Sarah Gomer was also runner-up in the WOmen's Plate in 1988, the last year it was held. She retired in the final at 1-6, playing Mrs S.W Magers (formerly Mis G.A Rush according to the programme for that year)
The prize money in the Plate was £4205 for the winner, £2725 for the runner-up, compared to £148,500 for the Women's Champion (and £165,000 for the men's champion, Stefan Edberg)

Gretchen Magers...

the addict · Tennis legend

JonH comes home wrote:
the addict wrote:
Sarah Gomer was also runner-up in the WOmen's Plate in 1988, the last year it was held. She retired in the final at 1-6, playing Mrs S.W Magers (formerly Mis G.A Rush according to the programme for that year)
The prize money in the Plate was £4205 for the winner, £2725 for the runner-up, compared to £148,500 for the Women's Champion (and £165,000 for the men's champion, Stefan Edberg)
Gretchen Magers...

Well you know how formal Wimbledon was back in the 80's - no Christian names either ! - at least there were only a handful of married women in the draw that year, so it is easier to remember who is who.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Having 4 ladies in the AO singles draw equals the best in recent times. In 1992 we had 5 and since then in 2009, 2012 , 2019 and 2021 we have had 4. Heather is appearing in her 10th successive Australian Open singles debuting in 2012.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Of the Brits, TA reckons jo will reach round 3 and heather will get through one round.

www.tennisabstract.com/current/2021AustralianOpenWomenForecast.html