Millie and Ella are two of our better young players and it is nice to see them both come through.
For Katy D, it just shows her perseverence to keep going in her latter years, and Esther is a surprise package and it shows the format works to give someone the chance who otherwise would not have been selected - with none of our players that highly ranked, it feels like a great way of seeing who is actually on form right now.
i really like the fact that they played just 2 matches over the 2 days for the 4 slots - much better than the 3 in previous years - I always felt that if you were going to make it three matches, then you should also make the play offs a 3 day event, and 2 in 2 days is perfect I think. Ella and Emily A in the same part of the draw is unfortunate, but all draws are like that, I think.
It will also be a nice warm up for all the players before the qualifying starts next weeks - a couple of good work outs, but not so many matches that anyone is burned out - hope they keep this format for future years, as it really works.
-- Edited by Andy Parker on Friday 19th of June 2026 02:08:15 PM