Week 11 - WTA 250 $235K Abierto Seguros, Mexico Hard

emmsie69 · Top national player

Week 11 - WTA 250 $235K Abierto Seguros, Mexico Hard

HarryGem · Club Coach

JonH comes home wrote:
Disappointed with that result. It doesnt mean Harriet is suddenly great, more like she was no better than recently - which in turn says very little good about heather.

One or two players apart, British womens game is in a pretty poor place right now.

When a player who only qualifies for the main draw by virtue of being a lucky loser for the 2nd tournament in a row defeats someone who served 8 double faults and played a match of rather low quality it pretty much sums up the British women's game right now.

Harriet played some good shots but really didn't need to do too much to win. Hope she can go on and make something of her big slice of fortune.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

emmsie69 wrote:
Well I'm pretty happy with that result, Harriet has been out trying to get results and she finally reaps the benefit of playing actual matches rather than endlessly training. Good for her.

Harriet has played 7 singles matches in March, probably more than any other British player.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

HarryGem wrote:
JonH comes home wrote:
Disappointed with that result. It doesnt mean Harriet is suddenly great, more like she was no better than recently - which in turn says very little good about heather.

One or two players apart, British womens game is in a pretty poor place right now.
When a player who only qualifies for the main draw by virtue of being a lucky loser for the 2nd tournament in a row defeats someone who served 8 double faults and played a match of rather low quality it pretty much sums up the British women's game right now.
Harriet played some good shots but really didn't need to do too much to win. Hope she can go on and make something of her big slice of fortune.

Well Harriet was luckier than the player Osorio Serrano who beat her in qualifying. She was beaten by another qualifier Kaja Juvan.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

When Heather played Harriet in 2017 she had an easy win. Similarly Katie had an easy win over Schmiedlova in 2018. Cum 2021 both results were reversed.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

ROSAMUND wrote:
the addict wrote:
Osorio Serrano got one of the Q v Q spots, playing Juvan the Q1 seed. Lucky loser Kucova wan't so lucky - she plays Sloane Stevens, the top seed.
I think it is Sloane Stephens not Sloane Stevens. However I think drawing Sloane at the moment is not such a bad thing as she's not in the form that once saw her win the US Open.

At the moment it looks like Stephens is heading for a heavy defeat. Lost 6-2 6-2.

-- Edited by ROSAMUND on Tuesday 16th of March 2021 09:19:04 PM

ROSAMUND · Futures level

It might be forgotten now but Kuzmova was the player who beat Harriet in just under 3 hours in the 2020 Fed Cup tie against Slovakia.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

ROSAMUND wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
the addict wrote:
Osorio Serrano got one of the Q v Q spots, playing Juvan the Q1 seed. Lucky loser Kucova wan't so lucky - she plays Sloane Stevens, the top seed.
I think it is Sloane Stephens not Sloane Stevens. However I think drawing Sloane at the moment is not such a bad thing as she's not in the form that once saw her win the US Open.
At the moment it looks like Stephens is heading for a heavy defeat. Lost 6-2 6-2.

-- Edited by ROSAMUND on Tuesday 16th of March 2021 09:19:04 PM

Amazing how a player can go from a top player, and looking like one of the more accomplished players on tour to an absolute shell of herself, and over such a prolonged period as well. This doesn't even feel like an upset. 23 defeats in 31 matches is crazy for someone of her previous calibre.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Ace Ventura wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
the addict wrote:
Osorio Serrano got one of the Q v Q spots, playing Juvan the Q1 seed. Lucky loser Kucova wan't so lucky - she plays Sloane Stevens, the top seed.
I think it is Sloane Stephens not Sloane Stevens. However I think drawing Sloane at the moment is not such a bad thing as she's not in the form that once saw her win the US Open.
At the moment it looks like Stephens is heading for a heavy defeat. Lost 6-2 6-2.

-- Edited by ROSAMUND on Tuesday 16th of March 2021 09:19:04 PM
Amazing how a player can go from a top player, and looking like one of the more accomplished players on tour to an absolute shell of herself, and over such a prolonged period as well. This doesn't even feel like an upset. 23 defeats in 31 matches is crazy for someone of her previous calibre.

She was one of those players who at her peak made playing tennis look easy and not hard work. She missed a year out between the Olympics of 2016 and Wimbledon 2017 with a foot problem. She only needed 5 tournaments back to win the 2017 US Open. Losing members of the family to Covid has been mentioned. Apart from that maybe motivation has gone. It does happen with players.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

ROSAMUND wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
ROSAMUND wrote:
the addict wrote:
Osorio Serrano got one of the Q v Q spots, playing Juvan the Q1 seed. Lucky loser Kucova wan't so lucky - she plays Sloane Stevens, the top seed.
I think it is Sloane Stephens not Sloane Stevens. However I think drawing Sloane at the moment is not such a bad thing as she's not in the form that once saw her win the US Open.
At the moment it looks like Stephens is heading for a heavy defeat. Lost 6-2 6-2.

-- Edited by ROSAMUND on Tuesday 16th of March 2021 09:19:04 PM
Amazing how a player can go from a top player, and looking like one of the more accomplished players on tour to an absolute shell of herself, and over such a prolonged period as well. This doesn't even feel like an upset. 23 defeats in 31 matches is crazy for someone of her previous calibre.

She was one of those players who at her peak made playing tennis look easy and not hard work. She missed a year out between the Olympics of 2016 and Wimbledon 2017 with a foot problem. She only needed 5 tournaments back to win the 2017 US Open. Losing members of the family to Covid has been mentioned. Apart from that maybe motivation has gone. It does happen with players.

She has obviously gone through a tough time, and some on TF are speculating that she has split up with long term fiance Jozy Altidore, the ex Sunderland striker, but that streak has been since mid 2019, and she was losing 2-6 2-6 to Rodionova at Adelaide 2020, long before Covid was even at the forefront of people's minds. It's a shame because she was a joy to watch. I didn't see the match today, but this from that Portuguese Twitter journalist doesn't sound great:

https://twitter.com/josemorgado/status/1371934386418036737

(probably won't paste correctly since I've quoted you, rather than a new post).

Peter too · Tennis legend

R1: DART, Harriet (GBR) LL 153 def WATSON, Heather (GBR) 5 64 6-4 7-6(1)
R1: BOULTER, Katie (GBR) 317 lost to SCHMIEDLOVA, Anna Karolina (SVK) 517 4-6 0-6

R2: DART, Harriet (GBR) LL 153 (CH=121 2019) v KUZMOVA, Viktoria (SVK) 104 (CH=43 2019)
Harriet played Viktoria in Antalya in 2016 losing 6-0 6-4
and played Viktoria again in the Fed Cup in 2020 losing 7-6(3) 3-6 5-7

Third time lucky!?

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

This was Kuzmova's form heading into this competition, before her R1 win:

www.tennisabstract.com/cgi-bin/wplayer-classic.cgi

Bet365 have it almost 50/50 with Kuzmova 4/5 and Harriet evens. Pretty big opportunity to make a first ever main tour QF - not sure when the next time she'll be involved in a 'pick'em' type scenario to reach the last 8 of a WTA tournament.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Not sure if anyone listens to the Tennis Podcast on here, but she was a player that Matt Roberts was tipping to have a big run at a slam a while back, but she's kind of gone off the boil ever since Jo comfortably beat her at the 2019 French Open. They often bring that prediction up on the pod.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Harriet's win got a mention on BBC Radio 5 L ive Sports Desk.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

You can tell what an Open tournament this is when the 1st and 2nd seeds are both beaten in the first round.