Let's hear it for the girls

With three ladies in the draw and Robson surely in with a good chance of qualifying then it could be four British (OK Ukranian, Loatian, Guernsey/American and Australian via a couple of years in Singapore).

Anyway with such an array of talent surely British tennis will be celebrating more than just Andy come the second week of the Aussie open? In all seriousness, let's hope at least one of these girls makes it past the first couple of rounds.

After all, Andy shouldn't hog all the limelight. Should he?

I agree, the Girls need a good outing. It would be nice to have them get to the second week @AO.

The AO2012 qualifiers this week will be Laura's first tournament back from injury since October 2011, so don't expect too much from her here.

None of the direct qualifiers will be seeded so it will be hit or miss who they will draw. If they draw seeds then there Australian adventure might not last longer than the first round.

Last Year:
Bally was knocked out in the second round by Justine Henin.
Keothavong was knocked out in the second round to Andrea Petkovic (30th seed). She also gained qualifying points.
Heather Watson was knocked out in the second round of qualifying.
Laura Robson was out injured. [Note the first quarter of 2011 she was out injured and the last quarter of 2011 she was out injured. So despite getting to a ranking of 133 her 2011 season has been plagued with injury. If she has an injury free year, expect Laura to make the most progress. Also last year, aged 17, she was limited to the number of tournaments she was allowed to enter.]

This Year:
Keothavong and Bally have most to lose - they both have to reach the second round to maintain their ranking points (although Keothavong has to reach the third round to balance off (and better) the 60 ranking points she obtained through the qualifiers last year).
Both Laura and Heather have most to gain. However it might be that this tournament comes too early for Laura in terms of getting over her injury and reaching match fitness.

For Bally, Keothavong or Heather to reach the third round will require a career peak performance. It would be astonishing for any of them to reach the second week of the Australian Open (round four - the last 16). Reaching the second round would be considered a good result (the last 64). Reaching the third round (the last 32) depends on whom they are drawn against.

For Laura, considering she has to go through qualifying and that this is her first tournament back from injury, I think getting through the qualifiers unscathed (three rounds) would be a good result. Winning a round of tennis in the main draw would be a bonus.


AO 2012 Qualifying: others to watch
Laura is not the only British girl / senior to look out for in the qualifiers this week, there is also Naomi Broady (current ranking 195, aged 21). On the mens side there is James Ward (current ranking 161, aged 24).

Mens qualifying draw (includes James Ward): http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/scores/draws/qs/r1s2.html

Womens qualifying - Laura will have to beat the top seed to qualify (assuming they both make it to the final round): http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/scores/draws/us/r1s1.html

Naomi Broady's qualifying quarter: http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/scores/draws/us/r1s2.html

Laura may not get past the first round of qualifying - she is up against the 20 year old Melanie Oudin. Melanie was ranked 31 in the world 18 months ago.

In fairness, there's a reason why she's now ranked 131 in the world or whatever.

It's because she's been playing utter rubbish and can barely win a match.

Laura should be able to win it.

djlovesyou wrote:Laura should be able to win it.

Agreed. Robson should win it fairly easily.

Vesna Dolonts (who played Venus in USO 2011 first round, if anyone remembers after an intercontinental flight and two hours to the USO venue) is a tough opponent.

Nore Staat thanks for the detailed run down.

Didn't think Robson's injury was so bad? If it was a stress fracture of her shin then usually a few weeks rest is enough. Oudin obviously has previous form but didn't Laura beat her during her Wimbledon title winning campagn?
Seems the top seed in qualifying is in her section so qualifying may be a tough ask.

Watson has been a little unlucky with two previous first round matches. Pushed Sharapova at the US and may well have won at Wimbledon if it hadn't been for an arm injury. Won a round at the French though and, with a favourable draw, could get through a round or two here.

Baltacha is probably the best bet given her recent record in slams, but so far this year hasn't exactly hit the ground running. Keothavong? Well she doesn't have a great record in slams so far so it would be good if she proved a point or two here.

Personally, I've done my share of carping from the sidelines regarding the failings of female GB tennis players so having 3 or more players in the main draw has to be a step in the right direction.

Robson beat Dolonts in USO qualies in 2010 6-3 6-2.

She's a solid player, but not someone to really fear.

djlovesyou wrote:Robson beat Dolonts in USO qualies in 2010 6-3 6-2.

She's a solid player, but not someone to really fear.

Dolonts is seeded #1 for Qualies, though (ranked 113 to Robson's 133). Let us see what happens.

Sounds daunting that she's seeded 1, but the difference in ranking is so small anyway with Laura between a (hopefully) upwardly mobile trajectory and Dolonts more or less playing to her level.

Personally if Laura does get to the final round, I think it won't be against Dolonts as I quite fancy Bertens to beat her first up. But who knows of course.

James Ward came through his first round qualifying match against Cervantes-Huegun 6-7 7-6 6-1.

Oudin v Robson will be played in about two hours.

In Melanie Oudin's last Grand Slam tournament just a few months back ... she won a grand slam senior title (mixed doubles with Jack Sock).

First set Robson 6-3

Laura was serving for the match at 6-3 5-0 40 love up (on 44 minutes).

It's now 6-3 5-4 (on 1:10 minutes).

Coming up Laura's third attempt to close out the match.

Laura wins 6-3 6-4 (1:18 minutes).

In that match Oudin showed why she has slipped to 166 but also why she was a top 50 player. Laura says she lost concentration when she was serving for the match at 5-0 up 40 love up, but then Oudin started playing better.

The main thing "wrong" with Oudin seems to be poor footwork, and lack of power - at least early on.

Two more rounds for Laura (hopefully). Apart from Laura's lapse of concentration (where her first serve rather deserted her), she played very well, with good variety, depth and power. She did have notable problems with her ball toss, having to pull out of the serve and start again on quite a number of occassions. It was quite windy but her opponent didn't have this problem.

Through 6-3 6-4, so generally a job well done.

Oudin has definitely fallen from her 'rising star' perch.

well done Laura

and James Ward too I guess.

Well done Naomi Broady too

In three sets

Naomi Broady GBR ....6 5 6
Ashley Weinhold USA 4 7 3

Great news for the girls. Could we see 5 British girls in the draw?

legendkillar wrote:Great news for the girls. Could we see 5 British girls in the draw?

Optimism pays.

laverfan wrote:

legendkillar wrote:Great news for the girls. Could we see 5 British girls in the draw?

Optimism pays.

May well be. I am sure Draper will come out saying about his development plan again!

legendkillar wrote:I am sure Draper will come out saying about his development plan again!

Argh ..... the infamous 3 year, no wait 5 erm....maybe 7.........no less than 10........15 is realistic development plan!

Well done Laura and Naomi. Naomi will now go to a new CH in the mid 180s.

As was discussed earlier, the top seed Dolonts who Laura would be due to play in the FQR lost her match to Kiki Bertens.

djlovesyou wrote:... As was discussed earlier, the top seed Dolonts who Laura would be due to play in the FQR lost her match to Kiki Bertens.

Yes that was a good call - she lost 6-0 4-0 (retired), so maybe she wasn't in tip top condition.

I have great expectations of Laura R as she has weapons - big serve, big ground strokes. Yes, her movement and fitness need to be improved but that will come. Not so sure about Heather Watson who, admittedly, has done well to get as far as she has by now. But she lacks Laura's armoury.

Nore Staat wrote:Laura was serving for the match at 6-3 5-0 40 love up (on 44 minutes).

It's now 6-3 5-4 (on 1:10 minutes).

Coming up Laura's third attempt to close out the match.

Well as most know Laura Roson went on to win that last set 6-4. It would have been very hard to lose that set from 5-0 40-0 up. I also have sympathy for Oudin. To fight back all that way and lose. However you look at it tennis can be a very cruel sport...

Main draw:

Watson vs Azerenka
Keothavong vs Barthel
Baltacha vs Foretz-Gacon

Shocker for Heather, the other two are certainly winnable. Bally particularly.

djlovesyou wrote:Main draw:

Watson vs Azerenka
Keothavong vs Barthel
Baltacha vs Foretz-Gacon

Shocker for Heather, the other two are certainly winnable. Bally particularly.

The world No 3 ranked player, 6 foot tall Victoria Azarenka looks to be in good form as she progresses to the final of the premier WTA tournament - the Apia International, Sydney, a warm up tournament for the AO. She reached the semi-final at last years Wimbledon.

She is also a grunter and was clocked at 95 decibels in Wimbledon. Her grunts also last for about 1.5 seconds so she is still on her grunt when the opponent hits the ball. http://slatest.slate.com/posts/2011/06/22/wimbledon_grunts_tournament_official_wants_victoria_azarenka_and.html

I suppose something like a 6-2 6-2 loss for Heather would be about "par" but lets hope for better. They have met once about 18 months ago when Azarenka won 6-1 6-1.

djlovesyou wrote:Main draw: ... Keothavong vs Barthel...

6foot 1" tall, 21 year old Mona Barthel ranked No 64 in the world is in very good form leading up to the AO. She has reached the semi-final of the WTA International tournament, the Moorila Hobart International, knocking out the second and fifth seeds. In comparison Elena and Heather were knocked out in the first round of the same tournament.

In comparison, Keothavong lost in the first round of the qualifying tournament of the Apia International Sydney. Hence, I can't see Keothavong making it past the first round at the AO.

I still think Anne will beat Barthel, her game must be well suited to playing her as she beat her twice in straight sets last October.

In todays qualifying we have (Melbourne, Aus Time):

Court 6
Not Before:2:00 PM
Women's Qualifying Singles - 2nd Round
Anna Floris(ITA) vs. Laura Robson(GBR)[14]

Not Before:3:30 PM
Women's Qualifying Singles - 2nd Round
Naomi Broady(GBR) vs. Alison Riske(USA)[17]

Court 15 (third up)
Men's Qualifying Singles - 2nd Round
Ivo Minar(CZE) vs. James Ward(GBR)[32]

http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/scores/schedule/index.html

Melbourne time is 11 hours ahead of GMT.

It's Friday 13th, but there still has to be a winner

djlovesyou wrote:I still think Anne will beat Barthel, her game must be well suited to playing her as she beat her twice in straight sets last October.

Mona Barthel has just beaten the fourth seed Angelique Kerber 6-0 7-6 to reach the final of the Hobart International. This would suggest she has had a great off-season, and this year might be her break-through year. She had to play three qualifying rounds to get to the main draw - so maybe she might be tired for the AO (having to play 8 matches in quick order). Her quality of play is being highly praised.

hawkeye wrote: ... It would have been very hard to lose that set from 5-0 40-0 up. I also have sympathy for Oudin. To fight back all that way and lose. However you look at it tennis can be a very cruel sport...

The match before Robson and Oudin was a mens first round match between Matt Reid (Aus) and Gianluca Naso (Ita). Matt Reid let out a whoop of delight when his opponent's ball was called out at match point by the line judge ... only for it to be over-ruled and called in by the umpire. The matchpoint to Reid was played again and this time Naso won it. Naso went on to win the match four games later. This was the fourth time in four years that Matt Reid had lost in the first round of the AO qualifiers. He was an umpires overrule away from pulling off his first victory. So yes tennis can be a very cruel sport.

Laura takes the first set 6-3 against Floris. She dropped her first serve to go 0-1 down. Broke back. It went with serve to 3-3 and then she won the next three games (breaking once).

Last year at the AO Laura went out at this stage, i.e., Q2.

second set (scores Laura-Floris)
Floris hold 0-1
Laura hold 1-1
Floris broken 2-1
Laura broken 2-2
Floris hold 2-3
Laura hold 3-3
Floris gets to 15-40 but is broken 4-3
Laura hold 5-3
Floris hold 5-4
Laura holds 6-4

Game set and match Laura 6-3 6-4 in 56 minutes. One more round to go!

Next up Naomi Broady and James Ward.

James Ward[32] v Ivo Minar
James wins the first set 6-3 in 36 mins
James loses the second set 1-6 in 22 mins
James wins the third set 6-3, game set match to James Ward 6-3 1-6 6-3

Naomi Broady v Alison Riske(USA)[17]
Naomi wins first set 6-3 in 39 mins
Naomi loses the second set 2-6 in 33 mins
Naomi loses the third set 0-6, game set match to Alison Riske 3-6 6-2 6-0, Naomi Broady is out.

Andy Murray looks to be in good form defeating David Nalbandian 6-3 7-6 (10-8) at the Kooyong, Melbourne Classic today (an extra match separate from the tournament). Here are Lendl's first impressions: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/16541865.stm

I know he's not a girl but worth mentioning that James Ward through to final round of qualifying

Robson will play Olga Savchuk (WR - 184, CH - 79) in the final qualifying round.

Laura should be a pretty warm favourite, particularly after today's comfortable win and serving performance.

NS Thanks for the coverage

well done to Laura and James, James through in another three-setter, and Laura with a pretty comfortable win. She should have enough to get through the last round provided she doesn't get complacent, I've always liked her game, she has the weapons to trouble the best but needs to find the consistency and work on her fitness.

Laura Robson has qualified defeating Olga Savchuk 6-1, 7-6(2)

James Ward has also qualified defeating Igor Sijsling 7-6(5), 6-2

Both Laura and James have bettered what would be expected of them based solely on their ranking (they would have been expected to bow out at this Q3 stage).

Wishing all the GBR seniors the best in performing to their maximuim in the main singles draw: Elena Baltacha, Anne Keothavong, Heather Watson, Laura Robson and the boys Andy Murray and James Ward.

Mona Barthel is the most exciting new prospect on the WTA tour.

She has just knocked out the top seed at the Moorila Hobart International 6-1 6-2 to lift the trophy, finishing the job off with two aces. The No 1 seed Wickmayer is a grunter and bludgeons the ball but she had no answer to the quality of Barthels play ... and fortunately Barthel is not a grunter.

Barthel has won 8 consecutive matches (3 in qualifying and 5 in the main draw) at WTA level in 9 days. Absolutely astonishing for someone who previously played her tennis on the ITF circuit (a notch below WTA level). Wickmayer's aftermatch speech was rather disappointing, and reflected her deep displeasure at losing. Barthels speech like her play was "quality" and articulate. Mona Barthel's ranking is expected to jump from 64 to about 45 for the start of the Australian Open. She looks a little like Steffi Graf.

Mona Barthel plays Anne Keothavong in the first round of the Australian Open.
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-sport/qualifier-barthel-wins-hobart-wta-title-20120114-1q0j0.html

Coincidentally Mona Barthel and Anne know each other very well - they play doubles together!






We should also note that Victoria Azarenka, who plays Heather Watson in the first round of the Australian Open, won the WTA Aspia International Sydney, beating Li Na 6-2, 1-6, 6-3. This will give Heather an excellent opportunity to judge where her game is at, at the very highest of levels.

Laura Robson is drawn against the 13th seed (and world No 13) Jelena Jankovic. Last year Jelena was knocked out in the second round and in general her performances in Grand Slam competitions were below par. However apart from this her general form has been good and she is generally only beaten by those ranked higher than herself, with the occassional lapse. Laura won't be expected to beat Jelena.

Of the British women, only Elena Baltacha would be expected to get to the second round (see previous comments) as she faces world ranked No 107 player Stephanie Foretz Gacon in the first round. Unfortunately she will almost certainly be facing World No 11 Kim Clijsters if she gets through to the second round.

James Ward is facing world No 103 Blaz Cavic from slovenia in the first round.

A potentially traumatising defeat of Heather Watson, 6-1 6-0 to Azarenka. Heather will be turning 20 in May of this year and if she isn't mentally strong enough to overcome this crushing defeat may not go on to become a regular top 50 player that had been hoped of her.

An expected straight sets loss of James Ward to Blaz Cavcic 6-4 6-3 6-4. It seems likely that James Ward isn't going to become a regular top 100 player in the latter half of his career. However, he did successfully get through three rounds of qualifying, so maybe a top 150 regular seems possible.

Elena Baltacha has lost the first set to the lower ranked Stephanie Foretz Gacon and is currently 4-4 (with serve) in the second set. Elena is struggling to hold serve here.

Laura Robson has just kicked off her AO campaign being broken on her first service game, she is currently 2-3 (down a break) in the first set.

After a titanic struggle to hold serve Elena Baltacha is broken. Stephanie Foretz Gacon will now serve for the match at 6-2 5-4.

Business as usual of GB in Grand Slams (other than Murray) then