25K Madrid

Sheddie · administrator

25K Madrid

Sheddie · administrator

Katie's defending points from reaching the quarters of this tournament last year, I don't think any of the others are defending anything.

johnnylad · Tennis legend

No British interest in qualies

Main draw

207 Borwell(5) vs 550 Cattaneo (q) (FRA)

177 South(3) vs 423 Cirstea (q) (ROM)

286 Llewellyn vs 260 Haring (FRA)

239 O'Brien(7) vs 1109 De La Torre-Sa....... (WC) (ESP)

419 Coles vs 343 Ozga (GER)

345 Keen vs 229 Breadmore(6) (AUS)

johnnylad · Tennis legend

Main draw doubles

The girls are hedging their bets by all partnering with foreign players.

Borwell plays with Dominque Van Boekel of NED and they are seeded 1

South plays with Ozga from GER. They have a bye into second round match with 3rd seeds.

Coles plays with Gabueva RUS. They face an unranked pairing in round 1.

O'Brien plays with Cirstea of ROM. They are seeded 2nd.

johnnylad · Tennis legend

Katie O Brien won 61 60!

Sally · Grand Slam Champion

Very emphatic win for Katie!

johnnylad · Tennis legend

3000 posts! Nice one, and well done Katie as well...

johnnylad · Tennis legend

Not sure why we have Katie's result but not Mel or Sarah's. Sarah started at the same time and Mel followed Katie on court according to OOP

all 4 Brits play their opening doubles matches today as well.

imoen · Admin: Moderator+Tennis Legend

Well done Katie!

johnnylad · Tennis legend

Mel South lost 64 63.

Her opponent was a qualifier ranked 423.

Very disappointing.

Sarah Coles lost 26 76(6) 62.

Closer and with the form book but still a disappointment.

johnnylad · Tennis legend

Mixed doubles results as well.

Top seeds Borwell and partner lost.

South and partner Ozga lost.

Sarah Coles makes Round 2 and will face 4th seeds.

O Brien and Cirstea won and reach semis. Now favourites for this doubles crown.

Sheddie · administrator

Great win for Katie

Speaking after the match to the LTA “To be honest, my opponent was a wild card and quite young and inexperienced, but I’ll take the win,” said O’Brien, who reached the last eight at the same event in 2005.

“It was good to get a comfortable match under my belt because the surface here is a bit weird so some of the girls have been struggling with it a bit.

“They’re a kind of tarmac surface – almost like public park courts – and quite quick too.” “I’ve just finished a three-week training block at Queen’s where I worked really hard so I feel like I’m ready for some matches. I feel like I’m hitting the ball well.

“I play the Nottingham $25K next week and hopefully I’ll get a few matches under my belt here.”

Shame about Mel and Sarah but with the surface being a bit weird, Mel's opponent would have had a big advantage having already won 3 matches on it in qualifying. Also, her opponent is a lot better than her ranking suggests, she's ranked 11 in the juniors and in her last match she qualified for a WTA event defeating top 100 player and 2005 Wimbledon junior champ Agnieszka Radwanska along the way. Sarah must be gutted to lose after probably holding match points in that 2nd set. However, Katie says Olza [Sarah's opponent] is a very tough competitior.

Sheddie · administrator

Looking ahead to the rest of the rd1 matches today:

On paper Sarah should win as her opponent is ranked just 707 and she hasn't won a match in a challenger this year. Her results have been generally not too impressive and she was beaten comfortably by Anna Fitzpatrick in Wrexham in August. However, the fact that she's won 2 matches in qualifying may count for a lot, hopefully not.

Rebecca's opponent is ranked about 20 places higher at 261. She's on a 5 match losing streak though that has been in 75Ks and 50Ks and US Open qualies. They've played 3 times before, Haring leads 2-1 on head-to-heads. She won 6-2, 6-1 in rd2 of a 25K in Mexico in 2005, Rebecca won 6-4, 6-3 in the quarters of a 25K in Monzon earlier this year and Haring won 7-6, 6-3 in rd2 of a 25K in France in July.

Amanda's opponent, is ranked at a career high of 227 having reached the semis of a 50k in the far east at the beginning of September. She also made a 25k semi in China in August. They've never played previously.

Sheddie · administrator

Rest of the rd1 results:

C Cattaneo [Fr][q] bt S Borwell [GB][5] 6-3, 6-4

S Haring [Fr] bt R Llewellyn [GB] 6-3, 6-3

A Keen [GB] bt L Breadmore [Aus][6] 6-3, 7-5

I suspect that like Mel, Sarah also struggled with adjusting to the courts and her opponent's familiarity played a big part. Rebecca's loss was pretty much expected. Fantastic win for Amanda Keen over the 6th seed, great chance for her to reach the quarters. It always warms my heart when a Brit beats an Aussie

Sheddie · administrator

Rd2:

K O'Brien [GB][7] v J Olza [Ger]

A Keen [GB] v A Petkovic [Ger]

Olza is 18, she defeated Sarah Coles in an extremely tight match in rd1. She's ranked at a career best of 343. Her best results in 2006 have been reaching a 10k semi on clay in Germany and making two 25k quarters, in Britain and in Spain. Katie's seen her play several times this year as she's played several Brits - she's beaten Jane O'Donoghue and Melissa Gibb but lost to Anne Keothavong and Lindsay Cox. Katie says that she's an extremely tough competitor and that it will be a tough match.

Petkovic is 19, she reached a high of no 83 in the juniors and is ranked 315 in the seniors. She's been on the verge of breaking the top 300 this year. She's one of the on-form players in this tournament having reached consecutive 25K finals this month, both on clay. The fact that the courts in Madrid are quite fast, could give Amanda the edge for this one.