Fed Cup 2018 World Group II Play-Off - Japan v Great Britain - 21-22 April

Julia Carrot · All-time great

Fed Cup 2018 World Group II Play-Off - Japan v Great Britain - 21-22 April

Jan · Hall of fame

Good luck to the team!

Samson · Lower Club Player

Osaka just overpowering Heather at the moment. First serve in the first set not great either.

PaulM · Tennis legend

Osaka wins 62 63

PaulM · Tennis legend

Jo clings on to take first set 6-4.

Nara playing very well

PaulM · Tennis legend

Jo missed 2 points for a 4-0* lead and it's now getting tight

*3-2 second set

the addict · Tennis legend

I see that Jo is still persisting with Plan A - no sign of a Plan B yet.
Good hold for 4-2*, so it seems to be working

JonH · All-time great

And jo wins, well done in the end. The big call is whether or not to swap Heather for gabi tomorrow...

Samson · Lower Club Player

Still think Heather much more likely to play singles than Gabi, regardless of her loss today.

the addict · Tennis legend

The fourth tie will be crucial, so I'm sure that Annie would go for Heather and experience rather than send Gabi out for a must-win tie on her debut.

JonH · All-time great

Probably true but Heather just can't win or to be honest perform. I'm probably defeatist but I can't see her beating nara. I rate jo as more likely to beat osaka (although she won't, so probably academic) so I'd keep Heather for doubles and just gove gabi a chance.

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Id go with Gabi, shes in form, fearless and has nothing to lose. Heather is off form and a bit of a bottler these days. By this time next year I expect them to have passed each other in the rankings.

Michael D · All-time great

Jaggy1876 wrote:
Id go with Gabi, shes in form, fearless and has nothing to lose. Heather is off form and a bit of a bottler these days. By this time next year I expect them to have passed each other in the rankings.

Yes, I agree with you Jaggy, I'd probably go with Gabi too for the same reasons... and keep Heather for the doubles, if need be, where she does have more experience than Gabi, and often performs better as she has a partner.

In the doubles I'd probably go with Anna and Heather. Jo doesn't play doubles that often, and she hardly ever goes to the net in singles, so I'm not sure I'd use her. Also, I hope she will have a tiring match against Osaka!

indiana · Tennis legend

So ultimately the first day went pretty much as probably expected.

Day 2 - for me it's certainly Jo and Heather again for singles. Some advantage in saving Heather for just the doubles ( and if would probably be better if her singles was the 3rd rather than 4th match ) is overcome by she just remains for me much more likely to beat Nara than Gabi. Too big an ask to expect Gabi to beat a WR 100 player on this stage when her CH win is 132, whereas Heather can. Not saying she will and needs to get her act together but much more likely. Heather's "off form" comes from a different base to Gabi's "in form".

Gabi does yes come in with the confidence of all these wins at a lower level and could be inspired but I prefer to play the odds here and the odds to me point very much to playing Heather vs Nara

Doubles we deal with if it gets to 2-2. But we're out if it's 1-3.

-- Edited by indiana on Saturday 21st of April 2018 01:53:27 PM

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

It grates on me that I have a feeling this will be decided on the Doubles. Id rather a coin toss. Its one of the reasons I dont really get into Davis Cup or Fed Cup. Id rather see the singles players in the top 100 than any tournament win to be honest. Hopefully this wont count as too much of a distraction for Gabi, it is ideal however that she is ideally placed in Japan to continue with the Hard Court run there for a couple of weeks before presumably heading back for a clay run before French Open.