On to this week, and there are two grassy events for both the ATP and WTA.
Let’s start with the ATP, which has play in Germany, the event on a lovely court in Stuttgart and Rosmalen (aka 's-Hertogenbosch and Den Bosch) in the Netherlands which has hosted a pre-Wimbledon warm-up for years. Roger Federer isn’t defending his Stuttgart title this year as he was busy playing on clay for once, which leaves Sascha Zverev as the top seed. He has a potentially fascinating R2 match coming up against fellow German Dustin Brown, if Brown can get through his R1 match (Brown has already qualified).
Apart from that, interest probably centre on Nick Kyrgios’ playing singles again (he faces Matteo Berretini in R1 and is also playing doubles w/ Reid this week). Other stories are the latest step on the comeback trail for Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, who is already into R2, and how the coterie of talented Canucks do, Milos Raonic, Dennis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Alliasime being the #6, #7 and #8 seeds respectively. On a British front, Bambridge/O’Mara play the Doubles.
Over in Holland, Stefanos Tsitsipas is the top seed and biggest name in the Men’s draw. One notable thing is happening in the Doubles though – Jamie Murray is playing with Neal Skupski (they are the #3 seeds) for the first time since they hooked up after Murray ended his previously successful but recently foundering partnership with Bruno Soares. It has also split up the Skupski brothers team (Ken should ask Andy Murray if he is at a loose end for some tournaments!) and also the longstanding Marach/Pavic pairing as Marach will now play with Soares. But not this week as Bruno pairs with Peers to be top seeds in Stuttgart. Makes love triangles seem easy and straightforward… Also in the Dutch doubles (Men’s) are #4 Salisbury/Ram, fresh from making the QFs in Paris, and Inglot/Krajicek (not that one! An American called Austin K).
“Men’s” are Rosmalen is a joint ATP/WTA tournament. The Women’s draw has some big names in it, such as Kiki Bertens, looking to put her French Open ruining bug behind her, Aryna Sabalenka, looking to do the same with her latest Slam defeat vs Anisimova and Elise Mertens. They are the top three seeds. Sabalenka has a fascinating R1 match against Aussie wild card Destinee Aiava to play. No Brits are involved in this in singles or doubles as the WTA has a British-located event in Nottingham.
The Tournament Director in Nottingham (Rebeccas James) did a good job assembling her field, with a number of talented grass court specialists signed up. Too good in fact, as defending champions Ash Barty, runner-up Jo Konta and Marketa Vondrousova were all overworked after Paris and have scratched from the event. D’Oh! She must be looking with somewhat green eyes at Rosmalen, where Amanda Anisimova has not pulled out. She still has some good players, with the top three seeds now being Caroline Garcia, Donna Vekic (champion in 2017) and Maria Sakkari. And, of course, lots of Brits, some of whom litter Garcia’s path. Naiktha Bains will make her Tour singles debut against the Frenchwoman in R1 (all of Bains Aussie wild cards were to the qualies only), and the winner of that plays Tara Moore (who came through qualifying) or Maia Lumsden (a wild card) in R2. Moore is a previous Quarter-Finalist in Beeston while for Lumsden it is also a first ever WTA match. The other wild card has gone to Katie Swan, who will play Bernarda Pera in R1. Hopefully she is in a better head space than recently. There are still two more Brits playing, Heather Watson and Harriet Dart not needing a helping hand to be involved. Watson has landed a tough draw against Sakkari in R1 whilst Dart plays Vera Lapko.
Moore was the only Brit to make it through Nottingham qualifying. She beat #2 Martincova and benefitted from a retirement from Gatto-Monticone. Otherwise Freya Christie, Eden Silva and Sarah Beth Grey also lost in Q1. All four needed wild cards to enter. Christie w/ Bains and Silva/Grey play the doubles, again via wild cards.
And now, to confuse matters further, as well as the WTA International with it’s 32 woman draw (and $250k prize pot), there is also an ATP Challenger going on in Nottingham at the same time. This is again a $125k with a 48-player main draw. The main draw wild cards for this are Dan Evans, Jack Draper, Paul Jubb, Evan Hoyt and Liam Broady. They join by right entrants Jay Clarke and James Ward in R1. Or R2 in Evo’s case, as he clearly didn’t need a wild card to enter being a top 100 player, and only had to use one as playing was a post-entry deadline choice. Indeed Evans is the top seed for the event (all 16 Men’s seeds get R1 byes). Once again the qualifying draw is just 4 man/2 place, with Ryan Peniston and Lloyd Glasspool wild carded in. Actually, I’m wondering now if this means the Surbiton one was not a lack of entries but the planned structure – 48 men straight in, expect the lowest ranked two who face two extra wild cards. If Peniston and Glasspool win through they will play each other in R1 proper, making it effectively a mini-tournament, the prize of which is taking on #2 Bernard Tomic in R2.
Doubles in the Challenger is poor abandoned K.Skupski w/ Smith (Aus) as a seeded pair (#3) and Evans/Glasspool, Hoyt/Johnson and Broady/Clayton as wild cards.
And finally, in addition to the event at Full Tour level this week and the Men’s Challenger, there is an ITF $100k in Manchester at the Northern Tennis Club.
Katy Dunne was the only Brit to claim a main draw place by right of ranking. She will be joined in that by wild cards Naomi Broady (ranked #406 these days, the top 100 seems a while ago), Gabriella Taylor, Alicia Barnett and Emily Webley-Smith. These five might yet welcome Emily Appleton and Samantha Murray to the party, as both of these are into final qualifying and also Katarzyna Pitak, whose Q1 match was delayed by rain. Alice Gillian, Holly Hutchinson, Scarlett Hutchinson, Aleksandra Pitak, Kimberly Alinafe Mpukusa, Ellie Tsimbilakis, Victoria Allen and Lillian Mould will not be invited, as all lost in Q1.
Let’s start with the ATP, which has play in Germany, the event on a lovely court in Stuttgart and Rosmalen (aka 's-Hertogenbosch and Den Bosch) in the Netherlands which has hosted a pre-Wimbledon warm-up for years. Roger Federer isn’t defending his Stuttgart title this year as he was busy playing on clay for once, which leaves Sascha Zverev as the top seed. He has a potentially fascinating R2 match coming up against fellow German Dustin Brown, if Brown can get through his R1 match (Brown has already qualified).
Apart from that, interest probably centre on Nick Kyrgios’ playing singles again (he faces Matteo Berretini in R1 and is also playing doubles w/ Reid this week). Other stories are the latest step on the comeback trail for Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, who is already into R2, and how the coterie of talented Canucks do, Milos Raonic, Dennis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Alliasime being the #6, #7 and #8 seeds respectively. On a British front, Bambridge/O’Mara play the Doubles.
Over in Holland, Stefanos Tsitsipas is the top seed and biggest name in the Men’s draw. One notable thing is happening in the Doubles though – Jamie Murray is playing with Neal Skupski (they are the #3 seeds) for the first time since they hooked up after Murray ended his previously successful but recently foundering partnership with Bruno Soares. It has also split up the Skupski brothers team (Ken should ask Andy Murray if he is at a loose end for some tournaments!) and also the longstanding Marach/Pavic pairing as Marach will now play with Soares. But not this week as Bruno pairs with Peers to be top seeds in Stuttgart. Makes love triangles seem easy and straightforward… Also in the Dutch doubles (Men’s) are #4 Salisbury/Ram, fresh from making the QFs in Paris, and Inglot/Krajicek (not that one! An American called Austin K).
“Men’s” are Rosmalen is a joint ATP/WTA tournament. The Women’s draw has some big names in it, such as Kiki Bertens, looking to put her French Open ruining bug behind her, Aryna Sabalenka, looking to do the same with her latest Slam defeat vs Anisimova and Elise Mertens. They are the top three seeds. Sabalenka has a fascinating R1 match against Aussie wild card Destinee Aiava to play. No Brits are involved in this in singles or doubles as the WTA has a British-located event in Nottingham.
The Tournament Director in Nottingham (Rebeccas James) did a good job assembling her field, with a number of talented grass court specialists signed up. Too good in fact, as defending champions Ash Barty, runner-up Jo Konta and Marketa Vondrousova were all overworked after Paris and have scratched from the event. D’Oh! She must be looking with somewhat green eyes at Rosmalen, where Amanda Anisimova has not pulled out. She still has some good players, with the top three seeds now being Caroline Garcia, Donna Vekic (champion in 2017) and Maria Sakkari. And, of course, lots of Brits, some of whom litter Garcia’s path. Naiktha Bains will make her Tour singles debut against the Frenchwoman in R1 (all of Bains Aussie wild cards were to the qualies only), and the winner of that plays Tara Moore (who came through qualifying) or Maia Lumsden (a wild card) in R2. Moore is a previous Quarter-Finalist in Beeston while for Lumsden it is also a first ever WTA match. The other wild card has gone to Katie Swan, who will play Bernarda Pera in R1. Hopefully she is in a better head space than recently. There are still two more Brits playing, Heather Watson and Harriet Dart not needing a helping hand to be involved. Watson has landed a tough draw against Sakkari in R1 whilst Dart plays Vera Lapko.
Moore was the only Brit to make it through Nottingham qualifying. She beat #2 Martincova and benefitted from a retirement from Gatto-Monticone. Otherwise Freya Christie, Eden Silva and Sarah Beth Grey also lost in Q1. All four needed wild cards to enter. Christie w/ Bains and Silva/Grey play the doubles, again via wild cards.
And now, to confuse matters further, as well as the WTA International with it’s 32 woman draw (and $250k prize pot), there is also an ATP Challenger going on in Nottingham at the same time. This is again a $125k with a 48-player main draw. The main draw wild cards for this are Dan Evans, Jack Draper, Paul Jubb, Evan Hoyt and Liam Broady. They join by right entrants Jay Clarke and James Ward in R1. Or R2 in Evo’s case, as he clearly didn’t need a wild card to enter being a top 100 player, and only had to use one as playing was a post-entry deadline choice. Indeed Evans is the top seed for the event (all 16 Men’s seeds get R1 byes). Once again the qualifying draw is just 4 man/2 place, with Ryan Peniston and Lloyd Glasspool wild carded in. Actually, I’m wondering now if this means the Surbiton one was not a lack of entries but the planned structure – 48 men straight in, expect the lowest ranked two who face two extra wild cards. If Peniston and Glasspool win through they will play each other in R1 proper, making it effectively a mini-tournament, the prize of which is taking on #2 Bernard Tomic in R2.
Doubles in the Challenger is poor abandoned K.Skupski w/ Smith (Aus) as a seeded pair (#3) and Evans/Glasspool, Hoyt/Johnson and Broady/Clayton as wild cards.
And finally, in addition to the event at Full Tour level this week and the Men’s Challenger, there is an ITF $100k in Manchester at the Northern Tennis Club.
Katy Dunne was the only Brit to claim a main draw place by right of ranking. She will be joined in that by wild cards Naomi Broady (ranked #406 these days, the top 100 seems a while ago), Gabriella Taylor, Alicia Barnett and Emily Webley-Smith. These five might yet welcome Emily Appleton and Samantha Murray to the party, as both of these are into final qualifying and also Katarzyna Pitak, whose Q1 match was delayed by rain. Alice Gillian, Holly Hutchinson, Scarlett Hutchinson, Aleksandra Pitak, Kimberly Alinafe Mpukusa, Ellie Tsimbilakis, Victoria Allen and Lillian Mould will not be invited, as all lost in Q1.
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