Lovely to see EWS play singles for the first time and I always like watching Tara.

A pleasant day, although the covid restrictions are just ridiculous, but then that's the whole country at the moment.

Very interesting match for Jodie tomorrow.

Now I know WCs are generally about giving a local player an opportunity, a bit of exposure, a bit of additional money etc. and in a lot of cases, they will be expected to lose (due to the ranking discrepancy), but if Jodie did get a Wimbledon MDWC and drew (Q) Ahn in R1, then it would be considered a fairly winnable match, certainly a generous draw, relatively, so it is a really good chance for her to stake a claim tomorrow.

It seems Ahn can play on grass, and has a fairly decent record on the surface over the years, a few notable wins, and she is the very slight betting favourite, but she has also lost 7 in a row, is 1-8 in 2021, 1-11 including the tail end of 2020, or 2-14 since 'Cincy' if you want to go a bit further back, so she's barely won a match since the middle of August. It would be great if Jodie could kick off the main draw in style tomorrow, and get her season back on track.

 

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Saturday 5th of June 2021 08:56:10 PM

Haha that's one of the reasons I never write them anymore. Back in the day it felt like you had lots to say, as game styles could be unknown.

I wish EWS has a more grooved first serve - as it can be big when she gets it right. I also wish she would stop doing the occasional crazy play which is never going to work, or I guess have the ability to execute. I thought she was going to slice it more than she did, no choppy stuff as CD calls it.

Beth is a little one dimensional lacks a bit of feel which hurts her on low balls up the court which she sometimes frames long as can't get over it. And also gets tight

Di Giussepe had a very weak second serve and seemed to mentally or physically give up in the 3rd (did she know she had the LL?).

Could Tara get her ball toss a little higher to stop the double faults? Also she hits with a one handed backhand now!

Naikitha as you said.

As no one has summarised yet...

FQR: (alt) Eden Silva WR 520 (CH 424 in May 2019) defeated Samantha Murray Sharan WR 205 (CH 165 in September 2013) 7-6 6-2
FQR: (alt) Beth Grey WR 614 (CH 426 in Oct 2018) defeated Emily Webley-Smith WR 472 (CH 240 in November 2011) 6-3 5-7 7-5
FQR: Naiktha Bains WR 290 (CH 199 in January 2020) lost to (q4) Lesley Pattinama Kerkhove (NED) WR 177 (CH 149 in October 2017) 2-6 4-6
FQR: Tara Moore WR 476 (CH 145 in May 2017) defeated (q8) Martina Di Giuseppe (ITA) WR 194 (CH 149 in July 2019) 3-6 7-6 6-2 



L48: (1) Jo Konta WR 20 (CH 4 in July 2017) vs Bye
L48: Kristie Ahn (USA) WR 123 (CH 87 in Sept 2019) vs (WC) Jodie Burrage WR 250 (CH 233 in Jun 2019)
L48: Leonie Kung (SUI) WR 158 (CH 144 in Sept 2020) vs (q) Beth Grey WR 614 (CH 426 in Oct 2018)
L48: (WC) Francesca Jones WR 187 (CH 185 in May) vs Astra Sharma (AUS) WR 124 (CH 85 in Jun 2019)
L48: Maria Camila Osorio Serrano (COL) WR 98 (=CH) vs (WC) Katie Boulter WR 262 (CH 82 in Feb 2019)
L48: (q) Eden Silva WR 520 (CH 424 in May 2019) vs (q) Tara Moore WR 476 (CH 145 in May 2017)
L48: (9) Heather Watson WR 71 (CH 38 in Jan 2015) vs Bye
L48: (WC) Emma Raducanu WR 366 (CH 333 in Mar 2020) vs Harriet Dart WR 143 (CH 121 in Jan 2019)

Phew!

Ace Ventura wrote:

---

Automatically assumed you were referring to Heather there HarryG after reading that first line, I never really considered Harriet or Katie as actual genuine title contenders (don't really see Heather either), but you never know, they have both beaten decent WTA players on grass.

I'd be very interested to see the outright odds when they come out, just to see who are considered the favourites. I'd imagine the top 3 seeds would probably be the top 3, due to their grass pedigree, despite their lack of form / wins / injuries, and the byes should certainly help those, not having to win 6 matches.

---

 Well I've said Harriet before when I meant Heather. 

Just think Harriet can play on grass and Katie B ought to have the game for the surface with her decent serve and forehand. The number of players here who are either out of form or haven't been fit for quite a while does make a bit of a lottery of it all. The 2019 Heather would have been a good bet but she's just not looked "on it" as they say this year. On her day though she has more than enough to do well here.

Despite the relative paucity of the field it will be fascinating to see how it unfolds. Must be a record for the number of GB women in the first round of a WTA250?

Is it just me, the addict?

But when I go on that link, there's no live tennis, just lots of archived material from the national championships.

And if I put nottingham in the search function, old stuff with Evo comes up?

(I'm not too fussed but I like Kerkhove - good game for grass - and thought I'd watch a few balls)

I didn't check the link, but as you say, there doesn't seem to be anything there right now. Lee is usually 100% correct though, so I blame the LTA.
I wanted to watch Kerkhove as well.