[ma re]

(WC) Yang def. Tang 7:6, 6:3
(7) Garcia def. (WC) Zhu 6:3, 6:3
winner plays (3) Vekic or Honcova


Seeds number 1, 2, 4, 5, 6 and 8 all safely through, as well as T. Bacsinszky.

[Dan_Doe]

Originally Posted by networthy

I don't see the New Delhi tournament, or any $125K's for that matter, on the ITF calendar through the rest of this year

http://www.tennisforum.com/showthread.php?t=468580
http://www.tennisforum.com/showthread.php?t=468899

[chingching]

Originally Posted by ma re

Nothing is inherently wrong with playing qualies, but being ready and focused for a whole of 3 quali rounds might be a challenge for someone of Donna's age and experience level, which we witnessed in NY. And since she showed in Tashkent that she has what it takes to beat a top 100 player, it migth be a safer route to serious points. Besides, by the time AO starts, 40 or even 65 points won't matter too much for her ranking. If she bombs out in R1 it's not the end of the world, she doesn't lose a lot of points by not going through qualies and gets a new tennis experience of sorts. Especially if she bombs out to a big name

I guess that's true but think about it this way:
The chances of Donna winning R1 is about 1/3 or 2/5 right. The chance of her winning R1 in Qualifying is About 3/4 or 4/5. She will be very highly seeded and it would give her a great chance to qualify. She should be better by the time she plays in Australia then in the US Open, and she go quite a difficult draw there. Even though it would sound stupid in the short run, I think that playing 25Ks to guarantee you make MD of a Grand Slam when Qualifying would be more beneficial to her development, is not the best move for a 16 year old But your points are the most valid I have seen

[binky-GOAT]

Originally Posted by chingching

I guess that's true but think about it this way:
The chances of Donna winning R1 is about 1/3 or 2/5 right. The chance of her winning R1 in Qualifying is About 3/4 or 4/5. She will be very highly seeded and it would give her a great chance to qualify. She should be better by the time she plays in Australia then in the US Open, and she go quite a difficult draw there. Even though it would sound stupid in the short run, I think that playing 25Ks to guarantee you make MD of a Grand Slam when Qualifying would be more beneficial to her development, is not the best move for a 16 year old But your points are the most valid I have seen

Not really, a chance to play against the best on the big stage is the best way for improvement. Doesn't matter if she wins or loses.

Winning isn't everything when you're young, look at Federer he had very poor senior results before he turned 18, but he played against Rafter and Aggasi when he was 17 (lost easily both times).

[chingching]

Originally Posted by Asadinator

Not really, a chance to play against the best on the big stage is the best way for improvement. Doesn't matter if she wins or loses.

Winning isn't everything when you're young, look at Federer he had very poor senior results before he turned 18, but he played against Rafter and Aggasi when he was 17 (lost easily both times).

Look at Ash at Wimbledon for example.
She was in great form coming into the tournament. She chose to take a last minute MD WC. She lost Rnd 1.
If she had played qualies, she would have won her 3 matches definately and may have even carried this into a MD win. I know winning isn't everything but Donna right now is not at the level to take that risk.

[ma re]

Just imagine folks, AO R1: S. Williams vs D. Vekic I actually think Donna would be thrilled with that draw - talk about a challenge!

P. S. Money is also a factor; Donna's father recently talked about the trouble of financing and astronomical expenses, so risking a R1 loss which gets you almost $21k, might sound better than risking a surprising QR1 loss which can barely get you $3k.

[binky-GOAT]

Originally Posted by chingching

Look at Ash at Wimbledon for example.
She was in great form coming into the tournament. She chose to take a last minute MD WC. She lost Rnd 1.
If she had played qualies, she would have won her 3 matches definately and may have even carried this into a MD win. I know winning isn't everything but Donna right now is not at the level to take that risk.

I think it's great Ash got the chance to play against Vinci. It is no certainty that a young player can win 3 rounds in qualies. In fact I was hopping she would get tough opponents in her GS 1st rounds, like the player ma re said. She also played against Kvitova. In the long run these are much better than facing challenger level scrubs in qualies, I mean you can just player challengers to play those people.

Look at Federer again, lost all his 4 GS matches in 1999. But it was valuable experience. In fact Roger lost twice in the 1st round of Wimbledon, before beating Sampras in 4th round in his 3rd try.


As I said winning isn't everything. I knew Donna had big potential even when she lost the final of $25k and everybody wrote her off.

[juan pablo]

Originally Posted by ma re

P. S. Money is also a factor; Donna's father recently talked about the trouble of financing and astronomical expenses, so risking a R1 loss which gets you almost $21k, might sound better than risking a surprising QR1 loss which can barely get you $3k.

They choose astronomical expenses traveling all around Asia ten times in one year.

[chingching]

Originally Posted by ma re

Just imagine folks, AO R1: S. Williams vs D. Vekic I actually think Donna would be thrilled with that draw - talk about a challenge!

P. S. Money is also a factor; Donna's father recently talked about the trouble of financing and astronomical expenses, so risking a R1 loss which gets you almost $21k, might sound better than risking a surprising QR1 loss which can barely get you $3k.

That's very true. I was going to mention that but I assumed Donna's federation payed for stuff like that That is kind of upsetting I mean Ash has plenty from federation but also money collecting with her WCs and I know I talk about her a lot but I know that Anett's parents pay for non of her coaching and only her part of the travel, at least that's what I heard. And she gets to keep her prize money!!!

Originally Posted by juan pablo

They choose astronomical expenses traveling all around Asia ten times in one year.

That's very true. I am sure that a return flight to Uzebekistan and staying in Korea for a month costs a lot more than hostelling it and flying RyanAir around Europe

[ma re]

It's interesting to see how much she'll need to defend in order to ensure MD on all four slams next year.

- from the start of the year until the start of AO: 0 pts
- between AO and RG: 150 pts
- between RG and W: 8 pts
- between W and USO: 68 pts

From today's perspective, doesn't seem like a tough task. The hardest part (by a huge margin), will be the last trimester, but if she now reaches that mark around 108 or inside that, it'll make her 2013 a lot easier from many aspects.

[tennismaster8820]

It's stupid to critisize her schedule and what a surprise it comes always from same jelaous people.

I remember Honcova from one match somewhere when she lost 57 in third against Lisicki so she certainly can play well.
Still if Donna will be consistent without many UEs it should be enough.
Good luck!

[cro123456]

This chingching guy is such a hypocrite.
Talking about Donna playing GS qualies would be more benefical for her development,
but playing weaker 25K's for 12 months now, was NOT benefical for her development, that was WHORING for him.
What a dumbass.

[vladekCRO]

She put 25K Seoul on her schedule (official site)

[BlueTrees]

I don't see much wrong with playing the $25K As long as she wins it though And hopefully it would get her into Top 100. I would say reaching a final would be fine, but she's lost too many $25K finals now

Anyway, focusing on $100K Suzhou this week, her 2R match against Honcova is at 11am tomorrow

[networthy]

Donna up to 118 in TBE's ranking thread. That would be a new CH ranking (though she can still be overtaken by several lower-ranked players).

If she wins her next match, it'll be ~112