[jack21]

Golds and Bai into final round of qualies while hopper and ericksen both failed to qualify in Turkey. Shan is flying up the rankings and will overtake Marija soon, if she keeps this up she may get into AO qualies on her own.

[Vicky88]

Based on performances this year Shannon should be in line for a MD WC at the AO, as she has done much better than Izzy, Sally and Monika. However, I wonder if she would ever be given one, despite not getting one previously. Shannon's ranking is progressing nicely, however have to remember that the higher the ranking goes, the more points it takes to move it.

[TS]

Well Shannon is only 22 so one would think she'd still be considered for a WC (should that ranking keep moving forward).

But hey, TA have snubbed players that age before. Many many times before.

[TS]

Actually Shannon is 23, and therefore above the age limit imposed by TA, so ignore my above post.

*post fail*

[AUSBOY]

Originally Posted by TS

Actually Shannon is 23,

And looks 40!

[Golovinjured.]

[louloubelle]

Youd think she have to get inside the top 200 for a w/c to be awarded to her. Or a good run at the playoff.
I havent seen her play. Is she good enough to be in the top 200?

[TS]

I don't think she is.

But then again several hacks have made top 100, so anything is possible. (I'm not calling Golds a hack btw, I'm just highlight a point).

It seems to me that once a player seems to get on a bit of a roll and wins a few matches she is suddenly deserving of a WC Let's wait and see where she is before we start entertaining the thought. With smart scheduling she's probably capable of getting close! But it's good to see Mirkovic and Golds in the top 300, ready to shake things up as we approach our summer later in the year

[Ben.]

I've seen Golds play before at the 25k event in Ipswich. It was a 1st or 2nd round match against Starr (which Golds won) & from the few points I saw she seemed to hit some decent flat groundstrokes, which seemed to be enough to beat Starr 4 & 2. Serve & movement seemed okay, but I didn't look at those things in close detail. I don't know exactly if she is Top 100 material just from that one match, but I agree with you TS that we should just wait & see before we can clearly define her as a Top 100 player.

But as long as she's producing good results day in & day out (some at the 50-100k ITF events) she could come close to that level.

[Vicky88]

I don't think anyone was suggesting Shannon was a top 100 player, though I have to agree with TS that some players that are ranked in the top 100 I look at and think WTF and why do our girls never progress to those levels.

However, all I am talking about is based on consistent results should these players such as Shannon be overlooked for the youths that seem to be stuck in their ruts and doing very little. Olivia is obviously the exception as she has reached the top 200. The way things are going Sophie, Monique and Olivia should all finish top 200 and with a few more good results top 150 by year end.

The good news is Shannon has qualified for the $75k in Lux, but has drawn the #7 seed Woerhle in the first round.

[OZTENNIS]

Shannon will not get a discretionary Australian Open MD Wildcard. As TS said, she will be over the TA Age Limit come the Australian summer, so unless she wins the AO Playoff, she won't be getting any MD Wildcard.

She has a solid baseline game and a good serve, but movement is (or was the last time I saw her) a key weakness. In addition she has tended, in the past, to 'blow up' which can be somewhat amusing . I would say that she has improved these two factors as well as her consistency to take that step up into the top 300.

But once more, like TS said, why is it after someone has a good couple of tournaments we are suddenly talking about their AO MD WC chances?

Vicky88, sure the likes of Mirkovic, Holland, Wejnert and Peers have been 'stuck in their ruts and doing very little,' for varying amounts of time. But Mirkovic did make the AO final round of qualifying and IMO deserves a shot at the main draw next year regardless of her form at the present time. Holland has beaten two top 200 players in the past 12 months, made a 25k final and a whole host of 25k quarter finals. Wejnert shocked everyone with her runs towards the end of the year following her mid-season slump. Peers is just coming back from injury and her form is expectedly wayward.

[Daniel.]

$25,000 Valladolid 2009 SPAIN Hard

Alison Bai AUS [8]

QR1: Bye
QR2: Won 6/0 6/1
QR3: Won 3/6 6/3 6/4
MDR1: Versus Silvia Fuentes Perez ESP (wc)

DR1: Bai / Peers vs. Ozga / Pavlovic

[Vicky88]

I'll agree Mirkovic had a brilliant start to the year, and I felt that in her age group she does seem to be overlooked in favour of those slightly younger. She does deserve some recognition for her efforts. However, she does seem to have fallen into a real hole since the AO qualies. She has only scored something like 97 points (I think) for the year, and 50 of those came from AO qualifying. So overall has she really done that much?

I think any WCs should be judged on the entire years performance and quite frankly Holland and Wejnert have not brought a lot to the table in 2009. The challengers you are referring to I assume are those $25ks in Australia which were not of a particularly high standard.

All I am saying is that there have been some slightly older players who really are not over the hill at age 23 who have performed consistently throughout 2009 and have gained their points by playing outside of the weak Aussie Challengers. Actually it would be nice if come AO WC talk time that a couple of the players ranked between 100-200 currently have done enough to actually get DE.

[TS]

Nice to see Alison qualify Talk about a forgotten youngster...

[Ben.]

Good to see Alison qualify And Shannon as well too.