GB Player Watch

Colin Fleming and Ross Hutchins have reached the final of the Malaysia Open by beating No. 1 seeds Frystenberg and Matkowski.

Also both Laura Robson and Heather Watson have made it through opening qualifying rounds at China Open.

Well done to all

A ha the rich vein of form seems to be on all fronts now which is great to see

It is. Both Robson and Watson have winnable matches next as well (against Larsson WR84 and Giorgi WR95 respectively).

And Boggo's through to the Q/F's of a futures tournament in the States!!

I remember when he was going to be the next big thing in GB tennis

Take a look at his website and you'll likely find people that still think he will

http://www.alexbogdanovic.com/

bradman99.94 wrote:Take a look at his website and you'll likely find people that still think he will

http://www.alexbogdanovic.com/

Fair play to him for still carrying on. It shows comittment - from what I hear life on the Futures and even Challenger tour is not easy.

British tennis taking over the world!!!!

Ok, I exaggerate a little. It's a lot better though!

Lets just hope Oliver Golding or Liam Broady develop into good enough players for us to have something to watch on the men's side after Andy.

Danny_1982 wrote:British tennis taking over the world!!!!

Ok, I exaggerate a little. It's a lot better though!

Lets just hope Oliver Golding or Liam Broady develop into good enough players for us to have something to watch on the men's side after Andy.

I really do hope they can too.

I'm hoping the LTA have actually learned their lesson with the likes of Boggo and Ward finding it impossible to crack the top 100.

Dan Evans might have played well in the Davis Cup but he's still treading water and Ollie Golding is finding move up the ranks somewhat of a challenge.

Hopefully now the LTA will support players in their efforts to make the top 100 rather than pursuing vendettas like they did against Alex when he did not meet their high expectations. It obviously isn't an easy task to make it to those main tour heights so let's see if the LTA has changed its tune.

Laura R has made it into the main draw in China, but Watson lost in three sets. Soon Robson won't have to qualify for events like this.
I'm not surprised that Robson is having such a good run. With her big serve and strong ground strokes, she has the weapons to do well. There are just four teenagers in the top 100 and she's the youngest.

Does Laura still have the strapping on her left shoulder? Going by the picture on the BBC website she still does and I hope it's not serious, but it might be a picture from a couple of weeks ago.

Good news about Laura, shame for Watson though.

In other news Hutchins / Fleming made it into the doubles draw at China Open.

These stats are great if you want to follow GB players progress.

http://www.britishtennis.net/stats.html

I see Robson beat Date-Krumm in straight set, 6-4 6-4. That's a good win for Robson and she next faces another winnable match against Dominguez Lino.

Poor Andy. Monfils withdraws from his 1st round match v Murray so the lucky loser gets a place in the main draw. The lucky loser is Mr Karlovic.

He just has all the luck

Not a bad record against Dr. Ivo though

What's up with Monfils?

Knee troubles according to the BBC, but then again they said Murray was getting straight through to the 2nd round so I'd take that with a pinch of salt. Down to 45 in the world is Gael now.

That's a shame, he has certainly had bad luck this season

Monfils had the trainer on a couple of times when he lost to Simon last week, and has only just made his comeback from his knee injuries. Seems he may have made it too soon unfortunately.

Karlovic, ugh. Hope Murray's returning is sharp.

Come on Laura

well not too hard for Murray in the end, came through a tough first set TB 9-7 and then broke Karlovic in the second which was always going to be enough. Didn't see the match, but going from stats his serving looks sharp enough (no BPs faced, and when was the last time Murray ever won 80% plus of points on second serve?).

A slightly disappointing defeat for Laura Robson, seems she never quite got into the match, maybe she's just starting to feel the effects of a long season (certainly since the Olympics she's played a lot of matches)? Could do with a bit of rest, and then some work on that ball toss.

Is Japan on TV and, if so, anywhere to watch highlights?

I think it is on Sky from Thursday.

carrieg4 wrote:I think it is on Sky from Thursday.

It is indeed

Thanking you both

I see Fleming / Hutchins won their first match in China beating Chang/Zhe 6-3 6-2. They now face no.3 seeds Lindstedt /Tecau for a place in the quarter finals.

Good spot carrieg4

They're building on a great 2012, with both of them up and around their career best ranking too.

Definitely good to see them doing well.

Ah good to hear it's on Sky

Hev and Laura are in a tournament this week:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_HP_Open_%E2%80%93_Singles

I like to check the progess (or otherwise, usually) of the British men players in the rankings every Monday, however, the ATP site doesn't appear to have been updated this week. I can't see that a top level tournament is still unfinished so anyone any idea as to why the rankings haven't been updated?

Watson through round 1 in straight sets (6-4 6-4) against Hercog (wr 81) with either Medina Garrigues or Giorgi next - winnable but not easy.

Laura seeded #8 for this tournament, and the other seed from her quarter lost in the first round. If she continues her good recent form, reaching the semi-final against Stosur should be within her scope, and would see her getting very close to the top 50 in the rankings.

Have updated the title of this article so it makes more sense as an ongoing thread to track the progress of GB players.

Good news for both Watson and Robson

Yes, I was just thinking that, before you made the change!

Like this thread, thanks Carrieg

Robson through 4 and 2 against Danilidou, and with her next opponent being the winner of the match between a wild card and a qualifier, she should be favourite to at least make the 3rd round.

Heather Watson has won her doubles match today, playing with the evergreen Kimiko Date. Wonder how these partnerships get going. Heather - "Hi, Kimiko. Fancy playing doubles with me?" Date - "Yeah, go on then."

Fleming / Hutchins defeat no. 3 seeds Tecau/ Lindstedt 6-4 7-5 to reach the last 8 at Shanghai

Robson won 1st set against Zhou at Osaka. But then Zhou is ranked 221.

Robson comes through 6-4 6-4. Not a great win I guess, but gets the job done, and a very winnable next round too. Good win for Watson earlier today as well, I think Robson's recent success has really spurred her on. Good to see...

Flutchins defeat Lindstedt/Tecau every week it seems. They still have an outside chance of getting to the O2.

Good to see both Hev and Laura into the quarters.

I've had a look at the Robson match in detail and it's quite worrying. Laura was 5-0 up in the first set and serving for it but lost 4 games in a row before eventually serving it out at the 3rd time of asking (ironically with a love service game).

Set 2 was slightly better although she was broken once and needed a 5th match point on her own serve.

I wouldn't call it worrying yet, but it does seem she's having problems at closing sets and matches out. Whether it's a lack of focus (thinking "job done" and relaxing too much) or a case of tensing up, it's undoubtedly something she needs to work on.

Good win for Watson against Medina Garrigues, who is ranked well inside the top 50, especially after losing the first set on a TB. Her next match against Parmentier is definitely winnable, although it depends on how her opponent reacts to her good win in the last round (straight sets against Zheng, #2 seed) - could inspire the French woman or could be followed by a flat performance.

Robson keeps winning the matches even if she drops a few service games and appearing to struggle to close out sets and matches. Should be a strong favourite for the next round, but then is likely to face Stosur in the SF, which will definitely be tough - she was competetive in the USO, but still lost in straight sets.

A look of juniors/youngsters get fazed serving for the match or on match points. They suddenly get nervous when realising they're about to win, its a funny mentality that comes over as they start to get tight at the thought of closing the match. It usually just comes down to experience in handling the moment along with some psychology on treating each point the same no matter what point it is in the match. This is what the top players are the best at...infact its why they're the best per se. - nothing tends to distract them from crossing the line. Laura will get there...greats of the past have had similar issues at that age, including Federer who sought sports psychology help to stop him from panicking.

Hev won her match but Robson was defeated in 3 sets (tie-break in the 3rd). Next up for Hev is Doi.

Very good tournament for Watson - her best yet at WTA level? Doi is certainly an opponent she can beat and so emulate Laura's performance from a couple of weeks ago of reaching the final of a main tour event.

Shame for Laura as I suspect making the semi-final might have been enough to get her up to #50, but she'll now be a few tens of points short.

It is encouraging for British women's tennis though that we have the youngest player in the top 100 and about the 5th youngest, both of whom are doing a good job of climbing the rankings and consolidating their position within the game.

Good on Watson. Robson's surge seem to have spurred Heather on. She does not have Robson's bıg weapons but she ıs a fıghter. Fınal wıthın reach for her I suspect.

The whole thing is winnable for Hev. As good as Stosur is, she's only won 3 titles in all and is a notorious choker.

Heather loves matches when they are close scorelines, total opposite of past British women I have to say. Can easily see her top 10 somewhere down the road.