Week 8 - WTA1000 - Dubai Hard

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Week 8 - WTA1000 - Dubai Hard

wolf · Tennis legend

Dominated the net, well played.

PaulM · Tennis legend

Great stuff. They've been struggling to break through to the next level by not being able to take out these sorts of pairs in big events, so that's fantastic.

the addict · Tennis legend

L32:- Tereza Mihalikova(SVK) / Olivia Nicholls (GBR) CR87 (47+40) def Hao-Ching Chan (TPE) / Veronika Kudermetova (***) CR31 (15+16) [6] 6-4 6-2 biggrin

Next opponents won't be decided until tomorrow

9vicman · Satellite level

the addict wrote:

L32:- Tereza Mihalikova(SVK) / Olivia Nicholls (GBR) CR87 (47+40) def Hao-Ching Chan (TPE) / Veronika Kudermetova (***) CR31 (15+16) [6] 6-4 6-2
Next opponents won't be decided until tomorrow

Third time lucky. Chan and Kudermetova beat them in straight sets in Seoul and Beijing at the back end of 2024 so an important woin.

the addict · Tennis legend

120 points will be a counter for both of them, but they both have big points dropping in March which are partially covered by the 98/108 spare counters they have.

HarryGem · Club Coach

the addict wrote:
Could have been a lot worse !
Still annoyed at her for taking another WC. Muchova if she can get through this one.

Qualifying isn't finished yet - you'd think they could have made the draw a coule of hours later !
I see Alexandrova has landed in the same spot as in Doha - with Sabalenka next if she makes it through.

-- Edited by the addict on Saturday 15th of February 2025 10:27:30 AM

I think the continued wild cards are becoming something of an embarrassment, especially if she can't beat Sakkari, who has frankly been pretty poor this year.

But to be fair to Emma, if she wants to play this week, unless she dropped down to an ITF W75 in Prague there isn't another choice.

Trouble is I expect her next tournament will be Indian Wells. There is 250 in Texas she could have entered or even a 500 in Mexico, which I suspect may be quite a weak entry list, the same week before Indian Wells.

Let's see how she gets on but for me a loss here ought to mean no more wild cards for a while. She really needs to sort out a proper coach, especially if she is still trying to change her serve which has been really hit and miss this year.

indiana · Tennis legend

No tbf about it. She.could nave perfectly easily played here this week, starting in qualifying without any sort of WC. No need to step down a level of tournament for more chance of an easier opening match and in turn the very possibly more matches that just about everyone outside Team Emma thinks she needs ( who knows what motivates Team Emma at times ).

Indian Wells and Miami are fair enough. She will be into the 96 player MDs without the need of a WC and can't face any of the 32 seeds in R1 as they get byes into R2.

Peter too · Tennis legend

Emma breaks to love in the first game with very positive attacking play. Now lets see her continue this style for the rest of the match.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Am I correct in thinking Emma regularly gets ahead with an early break in the opening set and then has a tendency to get pegged back? Like today seems to be going?

Or is that perception wrong?

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

And it probably wont age well as a comment if she wins the set from here

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

But she won, Jon - the first set that is

Good set, good play, some nasty UEs from Sakkari certainly helped, but Emma was definitely playing a decent level

paulisi · Tennis legend

JonH comes home wrote:
Am I correct in thinking Emma regularly gets ahead with an early break in the opening set and then has a tendency to get pegged back? Like today seems to be going?

Or is that perception wrong?

Maybe this season, however she was renowned as a slow starter previously

paulisi · Tennis legend

Emma is serving well.
Sakkari is hot and cold, but is dominating the longer rallies

DF · Tennis legend

JonH comes home wrote:
And it probably wont age well as a comment if she wins the set from here

and she did get the set 6-4 smile