The 2019 tennis season begins....

[Janik]

Evo even got a write up in the New York Times recently, which seems a bit unusual. He was making no excuses for his faults in that, either. He did give Wawrinka a good match, but lost in the end in three. The other British Men's result was a disappointingly heavy defeat for Norrie against Auger-Aliassime, which leaves just Kyle Edmund standing. He won't play until Sunday as his half of the Men's draw is playing second (indeed his opponent is yet to be determined).
As for the Women, Konta was the only player to make the start line but she has reached R3 after a very comprehensive win against Hsieh (0&2). That is three straight wins in that match-up, each heavier than the last, so I'm going to cautiously file that as Jo has figured it out. Her next opponent is likely to be Kiki Bertens.

As for everyone else, the headline act on International Women's Day will be a Women's singles match appropriately enough as Azarenka beat Lapko in R1 to set up the hoped for showdown with Serena. Both of them mothers, of course. There will also be a big match involving a Williams tomorrow as Venus beat Petkovic to earn herself a tie with Kvitova.

The doubles draws for Indian Wells are also out. The Women's side is already underway, and indeed British interest is already over as the sole entry, Watson/Arruabarrena were beaten just (11-9 in a match breaker) in R1 by Muguruza/Suarez Navarro. There are four pairs with Brits involved in the Men's. J.Murray/Soares are seeded #2 and are joined by Edmund/N.Skupski, Inglot/Skugor and Salisbury/Ram.

[Seven Saxon Kings]

Really pleased to see Evans back and competing so well, a talented player and one who is very fun to watch. He has been incredibly open and humble about his mistakes. Hope he can give it a good go against Stan tonight, their match at the US Open in 2016 was a classic. Very unfortunate at Delray Beach that an umpiring mistake robbed him of the title.

[Janik]

Comfortable wins for Evans over Rubin (1&1) in Men's final qualifying and Konta over Parmentier (2&3) in main draw R1 yesterday. The 'reward' for both are extremely tough matches next up. Evans has drawn Wawrinka, who at his best is above Dan's level. But is he close to that? As for Jo, she next plays Hsieh who is not a world beater, but she is almost perfectly set up to be a Konta-beater. The Taiwanese has the sort of funky game, all slices and dinks, that Johanna really struggles with. She likes pace on the ball coming towards her and a reliable height of bounce, and that is precisely what she won't be getting. That said, Konta has coped with it well on their last two meetings, with two straight set wins.

[Janik]

Boulter lost to Golubic, and is not at the head of the queue for a Lucky Loser spot either as three higher ranked players (Sorribes Tormo, Zvonereva and Jakupovic) also lost in final qualifying. Evans beat Bemelmans, and now plays Rubin for a spot in the main draw.

The Men's main draw is also out. Cameron Norrie has a section replete with new talent. He counts as that, but his R1 opponent is man (teenager) of the moment Felix Auger-Aliassime, who has been given a wild card. The winner of that plays arguably the leading Next Gen player currently, Stefanos Tsitsipas. Kyle Edmund's R2 opponent will be either Nicolas Jarry or Frances Tiafoe.


Non-British items of interest include Serena Williams to play the winner of the all Belarussian contest between Vera Lapko and Vika Azarenka in R2. The last Azarenka-S.Williams match was the final here three years ago that Azarenka won. There is also a spicy section which features Petra Kvitova vs the winner of Venus Williams and Andrea Petkovic. Also on the Women's side, Naomi Osaka's no.1 ranking is on the line as she is the defending champion. Osaka is still the favourite to retain her spot, as she starts effectively over 300 points ahead of Kvitova and further in front of Simona Halep, Karolina Pliskova (who is a real outsider to jump back to the top here) and Sloane Stephens.

On the Men's side, a potential R3 match-up is Novak Djokovic vs Nick Kyrgios, which could be tasty if the Aussie's head is right. Also, there is the potential of Zverev vs Zverev as Mischa plays Martin Klizan for the right to play Sascha in R2. The Men's champion won't defend as Juan Martin del Potro has withdrawn with a knee injury.

[Janik]

w/c 4th April

ATP and WTA Tours

And so to this week, and Indian Wells. The Women’s qualifying of this started yesterday, with a three-set win for #6 Katie Boulter against Allie Kiick but defeat for #18 Heather Watson against Sara Errani. Watson is in another slump; she last won a singles match in the qualifying at Hobart. As for Boulter, i) it’s good her retirement from Acapulco doesn’t appear to be serious and ii) if she beats #14 Viktorija Golubic she will join Jo Konta in R1. Konta plays Pauline Parmentier for the right to face Hsieh Su-wei.

The Men’s qualies start today. Dan Evans is the 10th seed for it. He will have to overcome Ruben Bemelmans and either #18 Yannick Maden or Noah Rubin if he wants to join Kyle Edmund and Cameron Norrie in the main draw. Edmund is seeded #22 so gets a bye in R1, Norrie’s draw is TBC.

The doubles draws are yet to be published so I don’t know which Brits will be playing this, but J.Murray/Soares are due to the be the #2 seeds for the Men’s.


I may go back and add Challenger stuff if to these if I get a chance in the next day or so.

[Janik]

w/c 18th February

WTA Tour

The biggest prize money event of the week was on the Women’s Tour, as they changed Emirate to Dubai which was a Premier 5 this year. That is equivalent to a lesser Masters Series in the less intricate structure that the Men use. Once again there was a weird wild card for a less heralded Brit in qualifying, Eden Silva being handed the chance to play. She won the first set against veteran Lucie Hradecka but then won only three more games after that.
There was another WTA event going on as well as the big beast in the gulf, with a lesser field assembling in Budapest. Heather Watson made the main draw cut, but lost in R1 in a final set tie-break to Anastasia Popatova.

Watson’s trip to the Danube wasn’t all pointless though as, in tandem with local player Stollar, they made the final. That wasn’t so left field, Watson/Stollar were the #3 seeds for the event. In the title match they player unseeded pair Alexandrova/Zvonereva, who won 10-7 in a match break.

In general news, it was a brilliant week for former top 10 player Belinda Bencic in Dubai. After a couple of straightforward wins against Hradecka and countrywoman Stefanie Voegele, Bencic was in trouble in R3 against #8 Aryna Sabalenka as the Belarussian got to match point on six occasions. However Bencic survived them all, mostly through her own clutch play rather than Sabalenka misses and then, of course, converted her first chance at 8-7 in a deciding set breaker. That proved a spark as Bencic then beat #3 Simona Halep, #6 Elena Svitolina and #2 Petra Kvitova back-to-back-to-back to claim her second career Premier 5 title, and first since 2015 (that is both Premier 5 and any full tour crown). Bencic beat four straight top ten players on both occasions, though in 2015 they weren’t all three-setters. After an injury ruined couple of years, this title put her back in the top 25. Bencic is still only 21, so this could be the start of a full renaissance.
Over in Hungary, #1 seed Alison Van Uytvanck achieved a rare feat in defending her title from 2018.

ATP Tour

And another three events again for the Men, two at ATP250 level and one ATP500 in Rio which is still taking play on the clay of the Jockey Club rather than on the hard courts used for the Olympics. British singles involvement was limited to Cameron Norrie, who beat #6 seed Dusan Lajovic in R1 but then lost to Jaume Munar in Round 2 in an extremely tight match where all sets went to 5-all and was eventually settled by a deciding set tie-break. Norrie’s defeat was rather a pity as Lajovic wasn’t the only seed to fall in R1; in fact seven of the eight did and the final one, Joao Sousa, only lasted one match further! This was an opportunity missed to pick up a decent-sized title.
Of the ATP250s, the event in Marseille was Brit-free, but Dan Evans entered the qualifying in Delray Beach. He lost the first set to Dominik Kopfer in Q1 but came back to win the next two, which was the start of a ‘run’. Evo beat Donald Young to qualify and then came back from a set down to take out #3 seed Frances Tiafoe, the defending champion of this event and an Aussie Open Quarter-Finalist a few weeks back, 7-5 in the third. A comfortable win against wild card Lloyd Harris and a tighter one against #6 Andreas Seppi set up a Semi-Final with John Isner (#2). Dan dropped the first set again (all of them 6-3) but again fought back to win in three, breaking Isner a number of times along the way. That put him through to his second Tour level final, and first since the drugs ban. He took on Moldovan Radu Albot, who was playing in his first ever title match. The first two sets were shared 6-3 a piece (Evo losing the second rather than the first by that score this time) and the match went all the way to a deciding set break, which in turn went on beyond 6-all. Evo had three match points for his first ever title but didn’t convert and it was Albot who triumphed in the end, 9-7.

The runners-up in both the singles and doubles finals in Delray Beach were British, as the Skupski boys made the title match of the team event. They meant another pair of brothers in that, and an altogether more famous and successful set as the Bryan brothers proved too strong. The match was the #1 vs ##2 seeds. The Skupskis didn’t drop a set prior to the final.
Over in Rio, Bambridge/O’Mara won a round but then lost to the #2 seeds in the QFs, whilst Norrie played on a wild card with Sousa, but lost in R1.

Skipping back to the massacre of the seeds in Rio, the final pitted two young players in their first event title match, Laslo Djere (23) and Felix Auger-Aliassime (18). Canadian Auger-Aliassime had got in to the event with a wild card, but like Evans in Delray Beach his run came up just short as Djere took the crown. Auger-Aliassime’s scalps included #2 Fabio Fognini in R1 (a very good win on clay, that) and Pablo Cuevas in the Semis (also a notable victory).
Stefanos Tsitsipas beat Mikhail Kukushkin in the final in Marseille. That was his second career Tour level title, if we don’t count the Next Gen championships where he beat de Minaur.


w/c 25th February

ATP Tour

For the fourth consecutive week, the well served male players had three events to chose between. Two of them were even at ATP500 level, in Acapulco and their turn in Dubai. The other tournament was an ATP250 in Sao Paulo, which is the Brazil Open (the previous week in Rio was the Rio Open).
The big British news in singles was Cameron Norrie’s run in Mexico as he picked up wins against Yoshihito Nishioka, #4 Diego Schwartzman and Mackenzie McDonald to reach the Semis. There he played Sascha Zverev which proved a bridge too far, the German winning in straight sets. Despite the defeat it was a good week for Norrie both in isolation and in the wider context that the points gained have lifted him inside the top 50 for the first time. That is a level that, if he can maintain, means playing the 6-round Master Series events.
The other Brit playing singles was James Ward, who once again entered the qualifiers of an event, this one in the Gulf, and once again exited immediately.

More Brits were active on the doubles court, with varying levels of success. Let’s start with the bad. J.Murray/Soares were the top seeds in Acapulco, but lost in R1. As did N.Skupski, who was playing with Millman. Déjà vu for Neal, as his opponents were the Bryans again. The Bryans went on to lose to the Zverevs in the QFs, who took the title. Brothers do it best (hint, hint, Andy!).
Also out in R1 were Inglot/Skugot in Dubai. This partnership seems to have stalled, rather. However, there was significant success in this event for another Brit as Joe Salisbury paired up with American Rajeev Ram and won the title, beating Inglot/Skugor’s conquerors MacLachan/Struff in the title match. This was a third career Tour title for Salisbury and a second ATP500 in fairly quick succession after also winning in Vienna at the back end of 2018. It has lifted his world ranking to #21, which means playing Masters Series and Slams.
Salisbury/Ram were seeded #4 in Dubai, as were Luke Bambridge and Jonny O’Mara in Sao Paulo. They won through to the final as well, but were beaten in the title match by Delbonis/Gonzalez. Bambridge and O’Mara are now both in the top 50 of the doubles rankings, which means there are now 6 Brits in that echelon (#6 J.Murray, #21 Salisbury, #27 Inglot, #34 N.Skupski, #44 Bambridge, #50 O’Mara).

And those others? Well, Roger Federer had been publicly supportive of Hopman Cup partner Belinda Bencic as she marched to the Dubai title the week before, and now it was his turn. After three non-seeds, Federer beat #6 Borna Coric and #5 Stefanos Tsitsipas in the Semis and Final to claim his 100th career Tour level crown.
There was also a notable run in Acapulco as Nick Kyrgios beat Rafa Nadal, Stan Wawrinka, John Isner and Sascha Zverev in consecutive rounds to take his first title in over a year. The points gained shot Kyrgios up from the 70s back to #33, which is much more realistic. There was also something of a “he said, she said” spat with Nadal after the press asked Nadal to comment on Kyrgios and Nadal pointed out the obvious; his attitude has held back his obvious talent.
The champion in Sao Paulo was Guido Pella, who beat Christian Garin. Pella had also beaten Djere in the Semis after Djere had taken out Auger-Aliassime for the second successive week.

WTA Tour

Just the Mexican Open in Acapulco for the girls, and that a shared event at a lower points and prize money level with the ATP. Three Brits played singles in this, Jo Konta (seeded #8) and two Katies, Boulter and Swan. Swan lost in the first round of qualifying to Christina McHale, with both Boulter and Konta getting directly in to the main draw and winning their opening matches in that against Conny Perrin and Laura Siegemund respectively. Boulter went no further than R2 as she retired hurt two games from defeat against #5 Sofia Kenin, whilst Konta beat Vavara Fink before losing in the QFs to Donna Vekic (these two must know each other’s games inside out by now).

Konta was the only one of the Brits to play the doubles, teaming up with her vanquished foe from R1 of the singles Siegemund! They won their opener but lost to eventual champions Azarenka/Zhang in the QFs. That was Vika’s first doubles title in eight years and her first of any sort since completing the singles Sunshine Double in 2016, when she was no.5 in the world. That was soon followed by the baby, and of course the subsequent custody battle that appears to have seriously undermined her Tennis. It was a good week for China as another of their players, Wang Yafan, beat Vekic in the singles final.

[Janik]

It’s been five weeks since the Aussie Open finished, and we are about to launch into the ‘Sunshine Double’ of 96-player Masters Series/Prem Mandatories in Indian Wells and Miami which are pretty clearly the biggest events short of a Slam going. So what have the Brits been up to? And anything else notable going on?


w/c 28th January

ATP Tour
Davis Cup week for the Men, which, with Britain’s wild card into the finals, meant no action. The big news of the various qualifying games (now best of three sets, they really are determined to kill this event) was Switzerland, without either Federer or Wawrinka, being eliminated by Russia. I bet the organisers were delighted by that… The Czech Republic also missed out on the finals, beaten 3-1 in Ostrava by The Netherlands.

WTA Tour
Two events in this week, a Premier in St. Petersburg and an International in Hua Hin, Thailand. Limited British singles action in either, with just Katie Boulter playing the qualifiers in Russia and Naomi Broady doing likewise in the Far East. Broady’s run ended immediately, beaten comfortably by Priscilla Hon. Boulter took down #5 seed Bernarda Pera in Q1 and back that up with a win in Q2 but lost from a set up to Ysaline Bonaventure in final Q. However, none of the losers at that stage were seeds, and Boulter was high in line for a lucky loser spot, getting the second (and last) of these to come up. She played someone who had won their final qualifying in R1, Ekaterina Alexandrova, and lost again. She may well have been knackered – all of Boutler’s four matches were three setters!

No Brits played Tour level doubles this week, so that just leaves other notable happenings. These were young (18) Ukranian player Dayana Yastremska claiming her second WTA title in Thailand (her first was in Hong Kong at the back end of 2018) and Vera Zvonareva, in on a wild card, rolling back the years in Petrograd, beating Makarova, #5 Goerges and #3 Kasatkina before finally being toppled by #8 Donna Vekic in the Semis. Vekic lost to #2 Kiki Bertens in the final.


w/c 4th February

WTA Tour
This was Fed Cup week for the Women, which we covered in detail up thread. The most remarkable result remains Romania’s win in Ostrava, just the Czech team’s third defeat in nine seasons and their first home loss in nearly a decade. It also meant the Czech Men’s and Women’s teams had lost in Ostrava in consecutive weeks. Let’s never play in Moravia again…

ATP Tour
Events in Montpellier, Sofia and Cordoba (Argentina) in this week, all at the base ATP250 level. The first two on Indoor Hard, the South American one being an outdoor clay court tournament. Brits playing singles? Well, Cameron Norrie was in Argentina, but he lost in R1 to a qualifier, Pedro Cachin. The only other Brit in action was James Ward, but he lost in Q1 of Sofia, admittedly on a final set tie-break which is a bit unlucky.

On the Doubles court, the week’s best run was had by Bambridge/O’Mara, who reached the SFs in Montpellier. The Skupskis were seeded #3 for this event, but went out before their seeding, losing in the QFs (they would have played Bambridge/O’Mara if they had won through to the last four). Also not making their seeding were Inglot/Skugor, who were the #2 ranked pair in Sofia but lost their opening match (11-9 in a match breaker).

And generally? Well, the big news of the week was Juan Ignacio Londero. A 25 year-old Argentinian who had never won a Tour level match, on paper he was an odd choice for a wild card in to the Cordoba event. It turns out the TD knew what he was doing, as Londero beat #5 Nicolas Jarry in R1 and then mashed his way though to the final, beating Norrie’s conqueror Cachin in the QFs and dropping just one game against Delbonis in the Semis. Londero dropped his first set of the week in the title match against Guido Pella, but then won the next two for a remarkable first Tour level title.
Londero wasn’t the only wild card to win a tournament, as due to recent injuries Jo-Wilfred Tsonga needed an invite to enter Montpellier. He made good use of it, beating Humbert, Simon, Chardy, Albot (the only non-Frenchman he faced) and Herbert to win the title. For completeness, #3 Daniil Medvedev beat Marton Fucsovics in the Sofia title match.


w/c 11th February

ATP Tour

Three events for the Men again, an ATP500 on Indoor Hard in Rotterdam, and two ATP250s, one on indoor hard in Uniondale (called the New York Open) and the other on clay in Buenos Aires. British singles involvement in all this was limited again to Cameron Norrie in South American and James Ward, who had made his way over to the States. Neither made the main draws of their event, Norrie (who was the top seed in qualifying) losing to Rogerio Dutra Silva in final q and Ward being beaten by #2 Alexei Popyrin in Q1.

Again, more success was had in tandem as Salisbury made the SFs of Rotterdam in partnership with Ram and Bambridge/O’Mara, seeded #3, won a round in New York. Inglot/Skugor and the Skupskis both lost in R1 though, in Rotterdam and New York respectively. The Skupskis were the #2 seeds in (or near) The Big Apple.

Anything generally notable also happen? Well, Stan Wawrinka made the final in Rotterdam as a wild card, beating Kei Nishikori in the Semis. And #4 Milos Ranoic in R2 and #10 Denis Shapovalov in the Quarters. However Gael Monfils in the final was a step too far. It was about the biggest tournament Monfils has ever won, as he has no Masters Series to his name (three losses in finals) and obviously no slams. He did have one previous ATP500 in Washington three years ago.
It was land of the giants in New York (appropriate) as the Semis consisted of Reilly Opelka, John Isner, Sam Querrey and Brayden Schnur. Schnur was the smallest of the bunch at 6’4”, but he beat Querrey to reach the final as a qualifier. However, the title went to the tallest, 6’11” Opelka, 9-7 in a deciding set tie-break.
Last year’s French Open semi-finalist Marco Cecchinato won the Argentina Open, beating home hope Diego Schwartzman in the final. They were the #3 and #4 seeds respectively. It was Cecchinato’s third career Tour level title, all, of course, on clay.

WTA Tour
Just one event on the WTA in this week, in Doha. They and the tournament in Dubai swap gradings each year, and 2019 was Doha being ‘only’ a Premier level event. It drew an exceptional strong field despite this, with the last direct acceptance being 33rd ranked Barbora Strycova. Yes, that is right, you basically had to be a Grand Slam seed level player to be sure of being involved.! Or at least initially, there were quite a few drop outs.
Doha has had a tradition of rather random wild cards in their qualifying, and this years is probably the pick of the bunch as one went to Emily Webley-Smith, more known for playing ITF level doubles tournaments! It was a bit of a waste of a pick, as Webley-Smith won just three games against Anna Blinkova in Q1. Not that this was an easy draw, Blinkova going on to qualify and oust #7 seed Anastasia Sevastova in the main draw, but it was a heavy loss.

No Brits in the doubles again, so back to the general stuff – the tournament was won by Elise Mertens, who played and beat Kiki Bertens in the QFs and took down World No.1 Simona Halep in the final. Halep said afterwards that she had been tired after the Fed Cup exploits the week before (and also beating Svitolina in three sets in the Semi). That seems reasonable, but she really didn’t have to play whatever the size of the cheque the Emirs had waved at her. Or, if she did have to play, she could have phoned it in and lost her first match. Not Simona’s style, it seems.

[Janik]

I think there are rules about how many ATP250s a top ten player can play (like hardly any). I don't believe Federer gives a monkeys about this record whatever platitudes he has given to the press today, so I really doubt he would be interested in doing that anyway. Particularly if it were to tire him out and further reduce his chances of another Wimbledon/US/Aussie which could, possibly, keep him ahead of Djokovic in the eventual final tally on the title record that really, really maters.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

I assume he would have a very good chance of doing that if he were sufficiently brazen about going on a mission to hoover up ATP 250 series titles in order to surpass Connors' title haul. Whether he does that, or keeps his current balance of big and small events, I hope he does, because it would be nice to see that arsehole Connors lose his record.

[multipleman78]

100 titles for Federer. Where do we rank that achievement in this era?

Does anyone think he can get to 110?

[Janik]

Remember the clip from her training session on the morning of the Australian Open final? Her coach was talking to her and she seemed distant and then threw her bottle away before getting up and walking away while he was still talking. The commentators said it was typical final day nerves but perhaps that was a glimpse into some deep discontent.

Osaka has essentially said this is correct. And also threw several degrees of shade in Bajin's direction, despite saying she wasn't going to do that. I'm guessing the reporters have coaxed and cajoled out of her stuff that she really wasn't intending to make public. See:- https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/tennis/47272040

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

New Davis Cup will prove critics wrong, says Pique. Given my main criticisms are the farcical entry system into an 18-team tournament, the even more farcical "lucky loser" nature of how some quarter-finalists will be selected, and the horrible breaks from tradition of it all (although the implied no doubling up in singles and doubles - now on the same day - is worth looking at), it's going to have to go a long way to win me over. It just looks and feels like the Hopman Cup tbh.

[multipleman78]

Remember the clip from her training session on the morning of the Australian Open final? Her coach was talking to her and she seemed distant and then threw her bottle away before getting up and walking away while he was still talking. The commentators said it was typical final day nerves but perhaps that was a glimpse into some deep discontent.

[Janik]

Oh, and in general news, Naomi Osaka splitting with the coach who had got her to two Slam titles and the number 1 ranking just three weeks after the later achievement is pretty left field. I wonder what happened there?

[Janik]

Fed Cup Draws

Semis:-
France vs Romania
Australia vs Belarus


World Group I play offs:-
Czech Rep vs Canada
USA vs Switzerland
Latvia vs Germany
Belgium vs Spain

USA and Latvia are home by drawing lots.


World Group II play offs:
Russia vs Italy
Japan vs Netherlands
Great Britain vs Kazakhstan
Slovakia vs Brazil

The later two ties venues decided by lot. So Britain's luck has changed.

[Janik]

And, in the end, Romania won. Monica Niculescu was the best player on court. She was so close to the net at times, and the Czechs just couldn't seem to avoid her.

[Janik]

Going right to the wire - one set all in the doubles.

[Janik]

From needing to win one out of two rubbers to requiring two out of two sets for Romania - Siniakova beat Buzarnescu comfortably in the fourth singles rubber, and the Czechs have just taken set one of the deciding doubles on a tie-break.
Once it got to this stage, the Czechs would have been favourites - their pair, Krejcikova and Siniakova, are the current world no.s 1 and 2 (I think the other way around, Siniakova as the no.1) after winning two of the Slams last year and finishing as runners-up in the Tour Finals. Lots of pressure on the Romanians, as Simona Halep has apparently targeted winning the Fed Cup as her main seasonal priority. She has delivered, but it's looking touch-and-go that her teammates are going to back her up. It will be rather painful for Buzarnescu (played two, lost two) if the tie is lost...

Other results were wins for France in Belgium and Belarus in Germany, both matches decided after the third rubber. Aryna Sabalenka lost just five games in total in winning her two singles rubbers, 2&1 against Petkovic* and 1&1 against Siegemund.

* - my autocorrect keeps wanting to replace Petkovic with Petticoat! Gender bias!!!

[Janik]

And indeed it was, Halep winning in three sets after over two-and-a-half hours. Romania, who have never made the Semi, are one rubber away. Now on to (presumably) Siniakova vs Buzarnescu.

One thing that came out of the match that I didn't know - apparently Pliskova and Halep are good friends. Unusual for that to be so of two top ten rivals.

[Janik]

Britain can look forward to the World Group II play-offs draw on Monday, then. It would be typical if they get a home draw immediately after the LTA had forked out to host the Zone I pools.

Meanwhile, at the elite level, the scores after day 1 are as follows:-
Czech Rep 1-1 Romania (Ka.Pliskova bt Buzarnescu, Siniakova l to Halep, both straight sets)
Belgium 0-2 France (Van Uytvanck l to Garcia in three, Mertens l to Cornet in two)
Germany 0-2 Belarus (Maria l to Sasnovich, Petkovic l to Sabalenka, both straight sets with the later tie a dismantling)
USA 1-1 Australia (Kenin l to Barty, Keys by Birrell, each in straight sets)

Pliskova vs Halep tomorrow should be great fun.

[Janik]

Not quite sure how Jo Konta did that. She literally collapsed with exhaustion or stress or a combination of the two at the end of set 2, yet somehow won set 3 6-2. She collapsed again at the end of the match and is now on her seat in tears with her Mum and Dad on court looking after her.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

I'd have gone out in the thunderstorm if necessary to avoid having to see Fulham v Man U.

[Sam]

(If there is a thunderstorm in the next few hours, as per the weather forecast, then obviously I might just be getting up and moving to the sofa to watch Fulham v United instead.)

[Sam]

If there isn't a thunderstorm in the next few hours, I'll be getting up in about seven hours and going to see the qualifying round of the Argentina Open. They're letting folk in free, you see, so we thought it'd be a nice way to spend some of our weekend with my girlfriend's dad and her cousin.

[Janik]

Which she also won to take Britain through the pool and into a play-off tomorrow against Serbia (who surprisingly beat Croatia). However, one does wonder how pyrrhic the efforts of the last two days will prove. Both Konta and Boulter have had back-to-back 2h30+ matches. Boulter, in particular, look close to the ends of her energy reserves midway through the final set against Galfi today. The British physio has a lot of work to do getting these two ready for tomorrow. Serbia will also likely be tired, mind. Their win over Croatia was earned by just two players, Olga Danilovic and Aleksandra Krunic playing the singles and then combining to win the decisive doubles. And each of those rubbers was a three setter, so their players each have six sets in their legs from today, albeit this morning and not this evening. It could be last Woman standing wins...