Chengdu 25K

Happycynic · Pro player

Chengdu 25K

Sheddie · administrator

Mini-report on Mel's rd1 win from her official site:

"2nd match on court after 10.30 meant Melanie playing in the high humid heat after mid day. She took to the court and won the first set a comfortable 6-1 but then lost the second set battle 4-6 which meant having to dig deep and fight hard in the third set which she did, finally defeating Sugano 6-1 4-6 7-5."

Hopefully Mel can make the semis like last week, that should see her into the top 200 for the first time !

-- Edited by UltimateFlemingFan at 02:13, 2006-07-28

Happycynic · Pro player

Mel has made the semi's again

QF vs J HAO (CHN)(739) 6-4 6-4

now: SEMI FINAL S Zheng (CHN)(302)

Go Mel!

As an aside, I think either this Monday or the next will see Mel break into the top 200. For context, she was 499 this time last year, 399 at the start of the year. So this is a fantastic run of form and climb, particularly the last 6 weeks or so: Wimbledon R2 and 3 25K semi's since then. Doing great-next target 150!

Finger's crossed Mel can make the final this time.

Sheddie · administrator

That's a superb win for Melanie, fantastic performances in the heat and humidity out there

Mel's ranking on Monday:
If she loses in the semis: 199 If she loses in the final: 192
If she wins the tournament: 185

So, now a rematch against Zhang who beat her 7-6, 6-0 last week. The 17 year old's been in great form this year, winning a 25K as a wildcard at the beginning of June and she's just made 2 successive 25K finals, hopefully Mel can make it 3rd time unlucky

afe · Social player

According to Mel's very up to date site, she beat Zheng 7-6(0) 6-4 to reach the final! Great performance which will put her well into the top 200.

Sheddie · administrator

Wow, really superb result !!

Is this her first challenger final ?

According to her website, after winning the 1st set she went 0-3 down in the 2nd but fought back.

She now plays China's Jing-Jing Lu who's 17, ranked 917 and actually had to qualify for this tournament. So far this week, she's beaten 2 players in the top 350. Before this week, her career best result had been reaching the semis of a 10k futures in New Delhi at the end of June. Hopefully Mel will prove to have too much experience.

Sally · Grand Slam Champion

UltimateFlemingFan wrote:

Wow, really superb result !! Is this her first challenger final ?

Yes.

Sheddie · administrator

Sally wrote:

UltimateFlemingFan wrote:

Wow, really superb result !! Is this her first challenger final ?

Yes.

Hopefully the first of many !

Happycynic · Pro player

Go Mel, and congrats on that first 25K final-The first of a few I hope (in the expectation to moving up and not playing so many 25K tournaments!)

I think the ranking situation is even better-the 25K event from last week where she Semi-finalled won't have been added in yet (10K and 25K events usually take a week I think)? So this week should see up to c. 200 with the points from that SF, then a further climb with this week's points the Monday after should see her firmly in top 200, pushing on up.

Happycynic · Pro player

And the winner is.... Mel! 7-5 7-6 vs JJ LU (Chn, 917).

2 SF and a win in three weeks, all at 25K level. A great July for Mel.

(Anyone wanting to encourage further, you can leave messages on her website!).

Sheddie · administrator

That's fantastic news, Mel's first 25k title. Is it true that it takes an extra week for 25k points to be added on [I thought that was just for 10ks

] ? If so, that'll mean that she rises into the top 190.

She will also overtake Sarah Borwell to become British no 2. Next up this week is a 25K in Changsha where Mel is again top seed so another opportunity to gain even more points and continue this fantastic run.

Hopefully Katie O'Brien can start to get some good results aswell.

Have signed Mel's messages section

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

news to bring a smile to your face! Well done Mel.

Andymonium · Satellite level

great result

Happycynic · Pro player

Mel now at 201 on the ranking list. I think this means the 25 win points for the Chengdu event have not been added (the rise is 11.5 semi points added from the week before); when they are, she'll go up to c. 170 next week.

It's one of the odd men-women's differences; in mens, 25K and above are added straight on, in women's I think it is 50K and above that go straight on.

Finger's crossed for another great week-though she must be getting tired by now....

jezzauk · Lower Club Player

This is great news for Mel! I haven't been following the girls for a while as i hadn't seen anything to cheer about. Glad to see that her wimbledon win wasn't a fluke and that she is working hard and making progress.