British Tennis Forum

DF · Tennis legend

RE: Week 19 - W75 - Prague, Czechia - Clay

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

I saw a little bit in the second set - and Fran got broken - and although I don't believe in it, I thought I might be jinxing her - so I turned off

You're welcome, Fran biggrin

Tanaqui · County player

Well done, Fran!

So lovely to see her having success again!

9vicman · Satellite level

Without wanting to jinx her, can't wait to see Fran at RG qualies and hope her body behaves throughout. So close now to Top 100.

Mervatron2 · Challenger qualifying

Great week for Fran.

I assume her next tourney is Roland Garros qualifying? Barring a tough draw should be in her wheelhouse.

Andy Parker · Club Coach

Superb from Fran - I'm just going to enjoy that and hope she will now make the top 100. She's now British Number 4 ahead of Harriet.

Like everyone else, I am in awe of Fran's fighting spirit and determination - so many physical difficulties to overcome, but she keeps going with an iron will and determination. Well done Fran - so happy for you.

B00thy · Intermediate Club Player

DF wrote:
DavidC wrote:
I was just in time to see what turned out to be the last point, as Fran broke serve to 30

F:- Francesca Jones (GBR) WR126 [1] d. Ena Shibahara (JPN) WR139 [2] 6-3 6-4

yaay! Out for the day today so couldn't watch her but so pleased she won. Having said that I spent the whole of the week expecting her to win this but wishing she was getting experience against a higher standard of clay courter in Rome because on clay she's clearly in the 75-80 bracket and if she'd had the opportunity to get a higher level of match in, she'd be a strong favourite to make MD RG. Come on Fran, fight your way into the MD

9vicman · Satellite level

B00thy wrote:
DF wrote:
DavidC wrote:
I was just in time to see what turned out to be the last point, as Fran broke serve to 30

F:- Francesca Jones (GBR) WR126 [1] d. Ena Shibahara (JPN) WR139 [2] 6-3 6-4

yaay! Out for the day today so couldn't watch her but so pleased she won. Having said that I spent the whole of the week expecting her to win this but wishing she was getting experience against a higher standard of clay courter in Rome because on clay she's clearly in the 75-80 bracket and if she'd had the opportunity to get a higher level of match in, she'd be a strong favourite to make MD RG. Come on Fran, fight your way into the MD

She'd have needed 4 wins in Rome to surpass her Prague total so I think a reasonable decision. She'll be confident heading into RG.

B00thy · Intermediate Club Player

9vicman wrote:
B00thy wrote:
DF wrote:
DavidC wrote:
I was just in time to see what turned out to be the last point, as Fran broke serve to 30

F:- Francesca Jones (GBR) WR126 [1] d. Ena Shibahara (JPN) WR139 [2] 6-3 6-4

yaay! Out for the day today so couldn't watch her but so pleased she won. Having said that I spent the whole of the week expecting her to win this but wishing she was getting experience against a higher standard of clay courter in Rome because on clay she's clearly in the 75-80 bracket and if she'd had the opportunity to get a higher level of match in, she'd be a strong favourite to make MD RG. Come on Fran, fight your way into the MD
She'd have needed 4 wins in Rome to surpass her Prague total so I think a reasonable decision. She'll be confident heading into RG.

It depends upon her priority I guess. Short-term points or long-term prizes? The quality offered in Prague will have provided good physical match practice, and points, but not the difficulty of tennis she would potentially have experienced in Rome. I'm not sure which is higher on her priority as preparation for RG. But if she were to attain RG MD then I feel that would be almost certainly the highlight of her year, with points, prestige and financial reward. Let's hope she gets in, regardless smile

SuperT · Futures level

I'm pretty sure Fran has qualified for the FO before so no reason why she can't do it again.

B00thy · Intermediate Club Player

SuperT wrote:
I'm pretty sure Fran has qualified for the FO before so no reason why she can't do it again.

I don't think she has qualified for MD .. she has won a qualifying match .. but that's as far as she's gone I think

emmsie69 · Top national player

It was the 2021 Australian Open that Fran qualified for.

Peter too · Tennis legend

Fran moves up to 112 in the live rankings, 64 ranking points short of the player ranked 100.

SuperT · Futures level

emmsie69 wrote:
It was the 2021 Australian Open that Fran qualified for.

Thank you Emmsie. I was pretty sure I remembered that she won through the year they played qualifying in Dubai (or somewhere similar)

9vicman · Satellite level

B00thy wrote:
9vicman wrote:
B00thy wrote:
DF wrote:
DavidC wrote:
I was just in time to see what turned out to be the last point, as Fran broke serve to 30

F:- Francesca Jones (GBR) WR126 [1] d. Ena Shibahara (JPN) WR139 [2] 6-3 6-4

yaay! Out for the day today so couldn't watch her but so pleased she won. Having said that I spent the whole of the week expecting her to win this but wishing she was getting experience against a higher standard of clay courter in Rome because on clay she's clearly in the 75-80 bracket and if she'd had the opportunity to get a higher level of match in, she'd be a strong favourite to make MD RG. Come on Fran, fight your way into the MD
She'd have needed 4 wins in Rome to surpass her Prague total so I think a reasonable decision. She'll be confident heading into RG.
It depends upon her priority I guess. Short-term points or long-term prizes? The quality offered in Prague will have provided good physical match practice, and points, but not the difficulty of tennis she would potentially have experienced in Rome. I'm not sure which is higher on her priority as preparation for RG. But if she were to attain RG MD then I feel that would be almost certainly the highlight of her year, with points, prestige and financial reward. Let's hope she gets in, regardless

I suspect she's looking to continue to get her ranking up which she's doing through a mixture of WTA and ITF events. Winning becomes catching at whatever level, something Sonay managed last year.

The top seed in Rome qualifying was ranked 66, so who knows who she might have faced. With all her injury struggles, to get through five matches unscathed can only be positive.