If at first you don't succeed......... Kylie Bilchev has been trying all month to qualify for a Grade 2 or 1 event and this time she has stormed through, losing only a handful of games. Her main draw could have been a lot kinder though. Derrick Chen's looks much more favourable, against a wildcard inexperienced at this level
Good luck to Kylie in the main draw, definitely a much tougher challenge for her with her opponent ranked 79, in the qualies she did storm through but wasnt really challenged first round 14 year old ranked 2042 second round a girl ranked 986. for such a strong main draw the qualifying draw was relatively weak. Having watched Kylie over the years, could see she had the tennis of a top international junior. Hoping she has some good performances in the last stages of her junior career as the womens tour will be beckoning.
Good draws are relative to the strength of field (the cut was inside 200), and Derrick's still resulted in defeat. Kylie just lost out in doubles and plays her singles tomorrow.
Boys R1 (L48)
(WC) Hynek Barton (CZE) d. Derrick Chen 6-4 7-6(5)
Kylie can celebrate her first ever win in a Grade 1 event - the JWR 33 awaits
Girls R1 (L48)
(Q) Kylie Bilchev d. Linda Klimovicova (CZE) 6-0 3-6 6-2
R2
(8) Radka Zelnickova (SVK) v (Q) Kylie Bilchev
I see Kylie had another win, two fairly comfortable sets. Also noticed her opponent lost in three to matilda back in december, suggests kylie's ranking could improve quite a bit.
Yes progress for juniors often comes in sudden spurts. Kylie was very strong at under 12 (defeated by Holly Fischer in the Auray final, and reaching one of the under 12 team finals with Holly) and under 14 level, but has struggled to make an impact in junior ITFs, having been missing, presumably injured, for long spells. Her next opponent has reached a final and semi of $15K events earlier this month
R2
(Q) Kylie Bilchev d. (8) Radka Zelnickova (SVK) 6-1 6-3
I also wonder if the Proleague had anything to do with it.
No idea but it was quite marked that when she started off, with her first Proleague match or so, she was a long way off the level (although showing some decent skills). And then she got markedly better, very quickly. I enjoyed watching her, especially over the two weeks.
...and today's win appears to be the most significant to date given her opponent's recent form in 15K events. Although her quarter-final opponent is unseeded, she has been one of the top under 14s along with the Fruhvirtovas, ranked one in Europe for a while
The tournament is being streamed by Vista Sport on YouTube Tomorrow's match is on court 3 at 9am and today's match may well be viewable soon via one of the playlists (Kylie was first on court 2 today)
Great week for her regardless, but tomorrow's match looks a tough ask. Opponent just turned 15 a couple of months ago and beat circa 150 player Leonie Kung in WTA Istanbul qualies just last week as a QWC. I might catch a bit of that on David's link tomorrow, so cheers for the heads up.
Kylie's week ended with a 6-1 6-4 loss in the last 8 today. Still, a good week and hopefully she can build on this. Anyone know where she is playing next week, if anywhere?