L128: Anne Keothavong WR 108 v Vesna Dolonts (ex-Manasieva) RUS WR 101 (=CH)
H2H: 2-0, both in 2008.
L128: Elena Baltacha v (Q) Sloane Stephens (USA) WR 138 (=CH)
H2H: 0-0
L128: (Q) Heather Watson v (WC) Stéphanie Foretz Gacon (FRA) WR 140 (CH 62 in 2003)
H2H: 1-2, but Heather has improved each time, from a straight sets loss in 2010 to a tight 3-set loss at the start of this year then a 6-2 5-7 6-4 win in Memphis in February.
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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
Hope Heather can get on a court which has some sort of cameras on it, the bbc have been following her all week and did a piece with her before the qualies, plus she is playing a french woman!
Foretz though is in good form at the moment, having qualified and reached the second round of Strasbourg. I would have to make her marginal favourite to beat Hev, also being on home soil.
Sloane has been impressive in qualies, is playing on her best surface and is on the upgrade, so will be tough for Bally even if fully fit.
Sloane is pretty good on clay. She won the Trofeo Bonfiglio in 2009 (beating Laura Robson on the way), won a $50K on clay last week and beat Oudin in Estoril after qualifying in April.
Three players in the draw and three 1st round oppononts ranked outside the top 100.
Can't ask for much more than that
I have to agree with you here, Tony. Yes, each opponent has some real merits and dangers that can be pointed to but overall for a French Open Main Draw 1st Round this is a tremendous draw and has to be seen as such.
We could not have really envisaged having such a good chance of getting at least one player through to R2.
I'll say right now that I consider Elena and Heather as favourites for their matches.
-- Edited by indiana on Friday 20th of May 2011 03:40:23 PM
Three players in the draw and three 1st round oppononts ranked outside the top 100.
Can't ask for much more than that
I have to agree with you here, Tony. Yes, each opponent has some real merits and dangers that can be pointed to but overall for a French Open Main Draw 1st Round this is a tremendous draw and has to be seen as such.
We could not have really envisaged having such a good chance of getting at least one player through to R2.
I'll say right now that I consider Elena and Heather as favourites for their matches.
-- Edited by indiana on Friday 20th of May 2011 03:40:23 PM
I agree that both Elena and Heather are marginal favourites to win whilst Anne will be a marginal second favourite.
I think it's worth clarifying the distinction between my stating that this is an excellent draw and saying that we should expect two or three victories. The fact is that the opponents to all 3 British girls also have what they would consider good first round draws.
It is a cliche but also true that there are no easy draws in a grand slam but you can't get much better than three draws offering a genuine chance of victory.
Three players in the draw and three 1st round oppononts ranked outside the top 100.
Can't ask for much more than that
I have to agree with you here, Tony. Yes, each opponent has some real merits and dangers that can be pointed to but overall for a French Open Main Draw 1st Round this is a tremendous draw and has to be seen as such.
We could not have really envisaged having such a good chance of getting at least one player through to R2.
I'll say right now that I consider Elena and Heather as favourites for their matches.
I agree that both Elena and Heather are marginal favourites to win whilst Anne will be a marginal second favourite.
I would agree with that but the bookies don't fancy Elena's chances very much - the probability of each of them winning based on the bookies odds is currently:
52% Hev
42% Anne
32% Elena
Or in other words:
7% chance of all 3 winning
31% chance of 2 winning (38% for at least 2)
43% chance of 1 winning (81% for at least 1)
19% chance of all 3 losing
-- Edited by steven on Saturday 21st of May 2011 11:14:15 AM
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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
From her BBC sport column (http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/13396398.stm) it's clear that Bally considers herself favourite for the first round match. That's good enough for me to maintain my initial assessment.