So, after two kiddies, Caro Wozniacki is back with us, beating 11th seed Kvitova - we all like Petra but it does put a big smile on your face

Crispy wrote:

---

Decent enough performance, and some great hitting by both, but ultimately outclassed. Hope Lily is proud of herself, and there's a lot to be encouraged by. Who knows where she might be ranked if she can do well in the 60-100K's this autumn.

---

 I've seen a lot of praise for Lily's game which makes you wonder why the results havent come until now.

Crispy wrote:

---

She does seem like a player who is willing to get straight back out and work. Hugely encouraging.

---

 Yes and just to add that in her press conference, she was pretty clear that the money will be reinvested back into her career, which is great to hear. 

the addict wrote:

---

LordBrownof wrote:

---

Apologies if it's being posted elsewhere and I have seen it but both Heather and Katie B are playing doubles. Heather with Danilina and Katie with Putintseva. Personally, I like that latter pairing purely because it's Poots and Boults.

Both pairs must be alts?

---

 No, they were direct entries. They can use their singles rankings for entries into slams. I posted the draw a few days ago- it's back on page 2, but just to recap

R1:- Katie Boulter (GBR) / Yulia Putintseva (KAZ) UNR (UNR+703) v Fang-Hsien Wu (TPE) / Lin Zhu (CHN) CR153 (61+92)

R1:- Emma Navarro (USA) / Peyton Stearns (USA) CR685 (519+166) v Anna Danilina (KAZ) / Heather Watson (GBR) CR140 (29+111)

(Katie 61 and Putinseva 78 using singles rankings, Anna and Heather using doubles rankings and just made the cut)

---

 Doesn't seem particularly fair that Lissey and Liv probably miss out while Katie who hasn't shown any interest in doubles for years can just walk into a GS draw.

Katie and Poots is a totally baffling pairing, but fair enough! Hopefully theyll be fun together.

I also wondered why she was suddenly playing doubles - mixed at Wimby aside which was obviously for fun- but surely she must be pole position for an Olympics spot next year currently and could do with some doubles practice in advance

indiana wrote:

---

It's how it's been for years and there is an attraction in sometimes tempting top singles players into the doubles draw.

Pity in a way for some, but they know the score and then have to get their combined ranking high enough, allowing for this, to get into what is a comparatively big field of 64 pairs. 

If you are a dedicated doubles pair and can't get into that field, in truth you are probably not real contenders.

---

Main draw cut-offs are around the 140 combined ranking mark. Not unreasonable for doubles specialists I think. 

But Boulter and Putintseva particularly random. Putintseva hasn't won a doubles match this year, and Boulter just played mixed at Wimbledon. I think playing doubles can help singles in terms of adding variety to the game or warming up for next singles match. However it comes after Boulter's 2nd round singles, so in this case probably just extra dollars in the bank.