Week 41 - ITF ($25K) - Kalgoorlie, Australia Hard

Peter too · Tennis legend

Week 41 - ITF ($25K) - Kalgoorlie, Australia Hard

SMC1809 · All-time great

L16: MURRAY (GBR) / WHYBOURN (GBR) Vs XU (CHN) / ZHANG (CHN) (3)
L16: BOBUSIC (AUS) / JONES (NZL) Vs SOUTH (GBR) / WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) (2)

SMC1809 · All-time great

According to a post on TF, Stephanie Bengson d. Lisa Whybourn 46 75 63. cry

steven · Tennis legend

Now comfirmed on ITF

- Bengson is 24, so not it's not as if she's an under-ranked teenager, making that a very odd result.

steven · Tennis legend

Ah, further investigation reveals that it's not only in the US that you can come up against under-ranked ex-US college 'ringers' - http://www.collegetennisonline.com/LongBeachStateUniversity-W-Tennis/Player.aspx?plId=44948

The odd thing is that it looks like she left college 2-3 years ago but didn't start playing on the pro tour until February this year.

-- Edited by steven on Tuesday 11th of October 2011 12:08:45 PM

SMC1809 · All-time great

L16: SOUTH (GBR) / WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) (2) defeated BOBUSIC (AUS) / JONES (NZL) 6-4 4-6 [10-4] smile

adz1983 · Intermediate Club Player

steven wrote:
Ah, further investigation reveals that it's not only in the US that you can come up against under-ranked ex-US college 'ringers' - http://www.collegetennisonline.com/LongBeachStateUniversity-W-Tennis/Player.aspx?plId=44948
The odd thing is that it looks like she left college 2-3 years ago but didn't start playing on the pro tour until February this year.

-- Edited by steven on Tuesday 11th of October 2011 12:08:45 PM

There is a slight assumption here that anyone who plays college tennis is going to be a decent player. Bear in mind there are 4000+ universities and colleges in the US so imagine the variable standards from one to the next.

Compare to the UK (although not known for strong sporting prowess at university) you almost always find that the top sporting achievements come out of Loughborough, Bath, Birmingham and London Met seems good for tennis. Whereas a less well known university such as Edge Hill you are unlikely to find these types of sporting achievements.

I'm not sure Long Beach State University is particularly well known for sport so really this is a surprising result for Lisa.

Especially when you read through her oppo's biography which although extensive doesn't really have any outstanding results within it. She seemed like a big fish in a very small pond.

-- Edited by adz1983 on Tuesday 11th of October 2011 01:49:04 PM

-- Edited by adz1983 on Tuesday 11th of October 2011 01:50:14 PM

steven · Tennis legend

LOL I wasn't trying to assume that anyone who plays college tennis is going to be a decent player. However it is generally the case that players just out of college are under-ranked for their age simply because they haven't played as many tournaments on the pro tour as their contemporaries who gave college a miss, and that's what I was referring to, though this player is a more unusual case because it looks like she waited a couple of years after leaving college before starting to play ITFs.

steven · Tennis legend

R1: SOUTH, Melanie (GBR) 5 291 beat HUBACEK, Alenka (AUS) 765 by 6-3 7-6(2)
R1: WEBLEY-SMITH, Emily (GBR) 4 291 beat TANG, Hao Chen (CHN) Q 1178 by 0-6(!) 6-2 7-6(2)
R1: MURRAY, Samantha (GBR) 469 lost to LITVAK, Lena (USA) 395 by 6-3 4-6 6-0
R1: WHYBOURN, Lisa (GBR) 424 lost to BENGSON, Stephanie (AUS) WC 1090 by 4-6 7-5 6-3 bleh

R2: SOUTH, Melanie (GBR) 5 291 v SHLOMO, Keren (ISR) 509 (CH 386 in 2009)
R2: WEBLEY-SMITH, Emily (GBR) 4 261 v BOBUSIC, Bojana (AUS) 374 (= CH)

Bobusic has handed Emily a couple of nasty straight sets defeats on this trip already so let's hope it's 3rd time lucky!

-- Edited by steven on Wednesday 12th of October 2011 12:01:47 PM

philwrig · Hall of fame

Not been a great downunder trip for our girls so far, it would be nice if Em could spring a surprise in her next round. Fancy Mel to make progress into the quarters.

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

Me too if she's fully fit

SMC1809 · All-time great

R2: Melanie SOUTH (GBR) (5) defeated Keren SHLOMO (ISR) 7-5 6-1 smile
R2: Bojana BOBUSIC (AUS) defeated Emily WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) (4) 6-4 6-3 cry

QF: Casey DELLACQUA (AUS) (1) Vs Melanie SOUTH (GBR) (5)

Bengson, who beat Lisa in R2, took out the 6th seed Ozgen too.

SMC1809 · All-time great

QF: OZGEN (TUR) / STARR (AUS) defeated SOUTH (GBR) / WEBLEY-SMITH (GBR) (2) 6-3 6-4 cry

steven · Tennis legend

That's the 3rd time Bobusic has beaten Emily in straight sets in the course of this trip

- her 7 games today the most she's got.

Former world no. 39 Dellacqua (now WR 205) has a 4-0 H2H against Mel, but all four of those matches were before Dellacqua hit her career high in 2008.

Shhh · Challenger level

Casey DELLACQUA (AUS) (1) defeated Melanie SOUTH (GBR) (5) 6-3 6-2