2017 WTA Tour - Premier & International

[Wolfs]

Excluding Brissie


Shenzhen - Features No 3 Aga Radwanska, No. 4 Halep, No. 10 Konta, and then we got Bacsinszky. Jankovic v. Halep first round

Auckland - Features both Williams sisters, Wozniacki and Pavs. Other players include Lucie Safarova.

 

[BobbyMorri]

Serena in massive trouble v Brengle/wind.

Was down a set and a break, but has since broken back to make it 5-4 in the 2nd.

 

[BobbyMorri]

Serena loses it in 3 sets with a DF. didnt cope with the wind at all. Venus retired earlier on in the day.

 

[Wolfs]

Geez Serena.

 

[Drummond]

Watching Shenzhen on Fox, court speed noticeably quicker than the Aussie events. Always shocked at how heavy and clean Giorgi strikes the ball despite her small stature.

 

[ozgamer]

A big deal was made about Serena visiting NZ. Just a bit of a PR disaster this one.

 

[BobbyMorri]

Watching Shenzhen on Fox, court speed noticeably quicker than the Aussie events. Always shocked at how heavy and clean Giorgi strikes the ball despite her small stature.

if she had another tactic bar smashing the ball every shot, she would be a top 16 player.

 

[JackNah_8]

A big deal was made about Serena visiting NZ. Just a bit of a PR disaster this one.

Already they lost their star player

 

[Amazing Bombers]

Hobart qualifying started yesterday. Last few years they streamed a few matches, so hopefully they do the same this year.
Barty only got a wildcard into qualifying interestingly. She beat Su Jeong Jang and top 100 ranked Nicole Gibbs and will play Alexandrova or Ozaki for a spot in the main draw. Rogowska was the only other aussie to get a win in qualifying having an impressive and surprising victory over Karumi Nara. She faces Vickery next.

 

[Firestarter]

Arina one step away from Sydney MD.

 

[BobbyMorri]

Hobart qualifying started yesterday. Last few years they streamed a few matches, so hopefully they do the same this year.
Barty only got a wildcard into qualifying interestingly. She beat Su Jeong Jang and top 100 ranked Nicole Gibbs and will play Alexandrova or Ozaki for a spot in the main draw. Rogowska was the only other aussie to get a win in qualifying having an impressive and surprising victory over Karumi Nara. She faces Vickery next.

Barty won today in 3, then withdrew from the next round. which is quite queer(see below). She will still play doubles with Casey.

Hobart has been hit by a lot of withdrawals (again). 4 at this stage. if a player does well in the first week, quite often they quit this tournament. Will be interesting to see what Cornet does after the Brisbane International. She is the defending champ.

basically, it means there is no point playing the next stage of qualies apart from ranking points.

everyone will get through(i dont know about Barty though).

 

[Amazing Bombers]

Barty won today in 3, then withdrew from the next round. which is quite queer(see below). She will still play doubles with Casey.

Hobart has been hit by a lot of withdrawals (again). 4 at this stage. if a player does well in the first week, quite often they quit this tournament. Will be interesting to see what Cornet does after the Brisbane International. She is the defending champ.

basically, it means there is no point playing the next stage of qualies apart from ranking points.

everyone will get through(i dont know about Barty though).

Hmm I would have suggested that qualies start next week but I saw she already has a wildcard for the Australian Open so not sure there unless she wanted to rest up.

 

[BobbyMorri]

well, that sucks. WTA would be the reason i think.

 

[BobbyMorri]

Now, Cornet has withdrawn. bad back......

yeah sure. 5 withdrawals now.

 

[ozgamer]

Now, Cornet has withdrawn. bad back......

yeah sure.

Plíšková DID stomp all over

edit: oh and Plíšková has just withdrawn from Sydney to a thigh injury

 

[pepsi]

Tournaments before the AO are basically to get players match ready for the slam. If they play enough matches in the first week, there is no need to play the week before melbourne. Unfortunate as it is for the Sydney and Hobart organisers, it's the reality.

 

[ozgamer]

Tournaments before the AO are basically to get players match ready for the slam. If they play enough matches in the first week, there is no need to play the week before melbourne.

Unless your name is Nick Kyrgios and you are exho'ing all of the way to Melbourne Park.

Unfortunate as it is for the Sydney and Hobart organisers, it's the reality.

Bigger shame for Sydney because it's a WTA Premier for the women just like Brisbane (a better opportunity for 2nd tier players mind you - looking at you Genie). At least the Sydney men's draw is considerably weaker than Brisbane from the getgo (perfect for a 250 vulture like Thiem ).

 

[BobbyMorri]

Tournaments before the AO are basically to get players match ready for the slam. If they play enough matches in the first week, there is no need to play the week before melbourne. Unfortunate as it is for the Sydney and Hobart organisers, it's the reality.

yeah, its just annoying. Cornet actually travelled down to Hobart anyway to record a video. I saw Ash Barty at the cricket today as well. she has withdrawn from the doubles as well now.

Osaka is withdrawal number 6.

Jankovic lost first round as well. the tournament has been decimated. but young Aussie Lizette Cabrera got her first WTA and top 40 win.

 

[ChookMFC]

yeah, its just annoying. Cornet actually travelled down to Hobart anyway to record a video. I saw Ash Barty at the cricket today as well. she has withdrawn from the doubles as well now.

Osaka is withdrawal number 6.

Jankovic lost first round as well. the tournament has been decimated. but young Aussie Lizette Cabrera got her first WTA and top 40 win.

But is this really substantially different to what happens at events before other Grand Slam tournaments? Surely events preceding Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open suffer from similar dropout numbers.

 

[BobbyMorri]

I think the aus open is different as it is really early in the tour. Where the other opens have a lot more build up imo. I think this year it has been a lot worse due to so many players doing very well before planning to come to Hobart.

As long as they don't withdraw after the tournament starts, then it just annoying rather than hurting the tournament too much.

Sent from my XT1033 using Tapatalk

 

[Drummond]

Brisbane are the real winners of the AO series. It's enough time before the AO that players can get adequate rest before Melbourne. If players fail to progress far in Brisbane then at least they've got Sydney or Hobart to get match practice. For the more experienced, established players harbouring real hopes for Melbourne, they're not going to risk any injury/fatigue ahead of a slam.

It sucks but with how condensed the AO series is, it's virtually unavoidable these things happen. And like mentioned above, better now than mid tournament.

 

[CHBench]

I vaguely remember there was some discussion a few years ago about moving the AO back a week or two, anyone recall what came of that? I can see that it would screw with the victorian school holidays, but what about from a tour point of view?

 

[Drummond]

I vaguely remember there was some discussion a few years ago about moving the AO back a week or two, anyone recall what came of that? I can see that it would screw with the victorian school holidays, but what about from a tour point of view?

It certainly has some merit. The Indian Wells/Miami double is in March and the majority of top players break between Melbourne and these masters. So it could probably work with relatively minor reshuffling of the calendar, but obviously the attendance in Melbourne would take a huge hit. They're not going to mess with that. They're currently getting roughly 700k people over the fortnight, that'd decrease to at least 500k you'd imagine should it be shifted.

 

[Amazing Bombers]

Nara who lost in round 1 of qualies against Rogowska got a lucky loser spot into the main draw and won the first set against Ozaki 6-0. Quite bizzare.

Jaimee Fourlis recorded a top 100 win against Doi in 3 sets and will take on Flipkens for a spot in the quarter finals.

 

[ozgamer]

Mladenovic loses 6-1 6-2 to something called Mertens