Ryan certainly hanging tough this week. So both finals are repeats of earlier in the week.

I asked that Q the other day ST, but nobody got back. I had a quick look on Instagram and she seems to be a Romanian based in Germany. The only link I can find is that it may possibly be a friend / partner of Billy Harris, which if indeed is the link, is surely a bit of a stretch, even if she was just killing time between Bath and Loughborough. No problem at all with the likes of Lily, Joanna, Katerina etc. participating if they A) contribute to British tennis, and B) add value and better competition to the event, but not so much if it was just some randomer.

Completely forgot about this so will tune in to the closing stages, Arina leads Sonay 6-2 *5-6, which is a bit of a surprise given the score line in their first match 5 or 6 days ago. A very big outsider with the bookies as well. 8.00 or 7/1 at Bet365.

Sonay breaks to take the second set - 2-6 7-5. Into a MTB! Arina apparently served for the match at one stage.

Final:- Arina Vasilescu def Sonay Kartal 6-2 5-7 12-10

Final standings
1. Arina Vasilescu
2. Sonay Kartal
3. Katie Stresnakova
4. Eliz Maloney
5. Eden Silva
6. Freya Christie
7. Joanna Garland
8. Millie Bissett

Places 9-12 still to be determined

Ace Ventura wrote:

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Arina takes it 6-2 5-7 12-10. A very competitive MTB, Sonay did lead it 9-7, so had MPs, one on serve, but lost 5 of the final 6 points. Arina did defend very well.

Any 20p's on CD?

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 No, but I had 20p on Eliz which went down the toilet  

However, 50p on Mannarino came up trumps..... 

Madadman wrote:

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Ace Ventura wrote:

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I asked that Q the other day ST, but nobody got back. I had a quick look on Instagram and she seems to be a Romanian based in Germany. The only link I can find is that it may possibly be a friend / partner of Billy Harris, which if indeed is the link, is surely a bit of a stretch, even if she was just killing time between Bath and Loughborough. No problem at all with the likes of Lily, Joanna, Katerina etc. participating if they A) contribute to British tennis, and B) add value and better competition to the event, but not so much if it was just some randomer.

Completely forgot about this so will tune in to the closing stages, Arina leads Sonay 6-2 *5-6, which is a bit of a surprise given the score line in their first match 5 or 6 days ago. A very big outsider with the bookies as well. 8.00 or 7/1 at Bet365.

Sonay breaks to take the second set - 2-6 7-5. Into a MTB! Arina apparently served for the match at one stage.

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 Yeah I posted in another thread about the Billy link, also noticed on Instagram. They've played several similar tournaments towards the end of last year so makes sense. Arina also played the progress tour in Cardiff as did Billy. She also won that as well earning a good pay day. I guess if Billy is the link he is in pretty good standing with the organisers having played every day in 2020 and a lot last year. 

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I just saw a 'story' of them near Downing Street the other day which led me to think that may be the case, and I wasn't even aware that there was a Progress Tour event in Cardiff, the last I heard of that competition was the one that Katie B won the other year, and Alicia (I think) the TB Tens. 

I don't know, I mean this is a pretty hardcore, dedicated British tennis forum, and there's pretty minimal interest, apart from posting of scores and one or two comments, so it's not huge in the grand scheme of things, and there's not much jeopardy to the results, but you'd (or rather I'd ) at least like someone either representing GB (ideally), or permanently living here (and thus contributing to the scene) to benefit from the generous pay days, to then put the money to good use for future tour tournaments / trips. I'd rather Arina was in than a typical 0/1-6 0/1-6er making up the numbers, but it's just a little disappointing that she actually ended up winning, haha, although I guess at least a UKPL stalwart like Billy might indirectly benefit.

 

Ace Ventura wrote:

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Madadman wrote:

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Ace Ventura wrote:

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I asked that Q the other day ST, but nobody got back. I had a quick look on Instagram and she seems to be a Romanian based in Germany. The only link I can find is that it may possibly be a friend / partner of Billy Harris, which if indeed is the link, is surely a bit of a stretch, even if she was just killing time between Bath and Loughborough. No problem at all with the likes of Lily, Joanna, Katerina etc. participating if they A) contribute to British tennis, and B) add value and better competition to the event, but not so much if it was just some randomer.

Completely forgot about this so will tune in to the closing stages, Arina leads Sonay 6-2 *5-6, which is a bit of a surprise given the score line in their first match 5 or 6 days ago. A very big outsider with the bookies as well. 8.00 or 7/1 at Bet365.

Sonay breaks to take the second set - 2-6 7-5. Into a MTB! Arina apparently served for the match at one stage.

---

 Yeah I posted in another thread about the Billy link, also noticed on Instagram. They've played several similar tournaments towards the end of last year so makes sense. Arina also played the progress tour in Cardiff as did Billy. She also won that as well earning a good pay day. I guess if Billy is the link he is in pretty good standing with the organisers having played every day in 2020 and a lot last year. 

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I just saw a 'story' of them near Downing Street the other day which led me to think that may be the case, and I wasn't even aware that there was a Progress Tour event in Cardiff, the last I heard of that competition was the one that Katie B won the other year, and Alicia (I think) the TB Tens. 

I don't know, I mean this is a pretty hardcore, dedicated British tennis forum, and there's pretty minimal interest, apart from posting of scores and one or two comments, so it's not huge in the grand scheme of things, and there's not much jeopardy to the results, but you'd (or rather I'd ) at least like someone either representing GB (ideally), or permanently living here (and thus contributing to the scene) to benefit from the generous pay days, to then put the money to good use for future tour tournaments / trips. I'd rather Arina was in than a typical 0/1-6 0/1-6er making up the numbers, but it's just a little disappointing that she actually ended up winning, haha, although I guess at least a UKPL stalwart like Billy might indirectly benefit.

 

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 I was told last year that non-UK players would only be accepted if there was a lack of good standard British players. There were occasions when UK-based players like Katy Stresnakova could not get a placein the draw or would only get in at the last moment. Regularly there has been less than 12 British female players of world ranking standard despite the high level of prize money. Two of this week's entrants can be described as county standard at best. Added to this has been the LTA's policy of deterring foreign players from entering the ITF 25's by putting an artificial gap between the weeks. Presumably Arina and Joanna Garland found the Pro League to be a good opportunity to fill the week's gap. There may well be more non-UK entrants in the next Pro-League event which takes place in the week's gap between Loughborough and Edgbaston.

The Progress Tour has continued to be held regularly and offers reasonable prize money. The 2020 event at NTC was the richest and most heavily publicised.

Draws for week 2 are on website starts tomorrow. Looks to me like 6 non Brits in the womens, either with British connections or in some cases over here for Bath/Loughborough/Birmingham itf 25k tournaments. Including tomorrow's qualifier Loughborough finalist (from Denmark).

-- Edited by Spireman on Saturday 29th of January 2022 07:59:05 PM