Women's $25K Hua Hin ITF, May/June 2018

[bujilover]

I think KKT will win her R2 match without much struggle. Cako might be tough to beat two times in a row.

[sameerph]

Spot on Dinesh with both your predictions. Pranjala came very close to getting the upset over Cako for second consecutive week though.

[R2] (4) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,264) d. Aleksandrina NAYDENOVA (BUl,507) 76(4) 64

[R2] Pranjala YADLAPALLI (IND,426) l. (6) Jacqueline CAKO (USA,276) 64 36 46

Next,

[QF] (4) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,264) vs. (5) Risa OZAKI (JPN,274)

Ozaki was ranked at #70 at just about a year ago. So, it will be a tough match for Karman.

[Saniapower]

[QF] (4) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,264) d. (5) Risa OZAKI (JPN,274) 3-6 6-2 6-4

Karman was up 4-0 40-15, But the Japanese made it 4-3 mainly due to the unforced errors. At last KKT managed to win on her 2nd MP with a clear ace. It's her serve that bailed her out. Her last 2 service games were too good. She could have bageled her Japanese opponent easily in the 3rd set.

[sameerph]

Yes, she may have a stuttered a bit to finish it but still a very good win by Karman over former top 75 player (recent). This is her first SF this year. So, looks like she is finally getting her form of last year. She had a great serving today with 7 aces.

Next,

[SF] (4) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,264) vs. (8) Victoria RODRIGUEZ (MEX,314)

[jayakris]

Yes, this was really a good win for Karman. Good to see her continuing to get better and more consistent at this level, all the criticisms from saniapower notwithstanding.

[PKBasu]

Excellent win over a good player who was ranked #70 just a year ago. Good to see Karman making good, steady progress!

[jayakris]

[SF] (4) Karman Kaur THANDI (IND,264) l. (8) Victoria RODRIGUEZ (MEX,314), 76(10) 06 36

What happened to KKT after the first set?

[ornatebrute]

She was 3-1 up in the first set and then it started raining. And momentum shifted to her opponent's side :/

[Prakharulz]

I was able to catch the last few games of set 3 and made a couple of observations:
1. She had a strapping just above the ankle on her right leg which she was hitting with her racquet on a couple of occasions (could just indicate frustration)
2. There was a line call on which she had a longish argument with the judge and was quite frustrated thereafter.

Even threw the racquet at the end of the match. Could be purely frustration from her misses or the lines calls or worse case, she might have an injury

Also this was the first time I saw her play, and her serve and shots have decent power. Needs consistency though

[sameerph]

I saw parts of the first set and third set. In terms shotmaking, Karman looked a better player but her opponent was a better retriever and was getting Karman to play the extra ball. She did seem frustrated in the end because she seems to somehow get stuck at SF level. She has made a host of SF's ( at least 8-10) at 25K level but only 1 final. This was a winnable match and title for her. Her opponent Rodriguez went on to win the title with easy win i the final.

[Saniapower]

Karman struggles with the low balls. She either nets them or hits them long. She is weak at the net. She hardly wins points at the net. She cant slice, she cant play drop shots. But I think Karman has better serve than Simona Halep.

[jaydeep]

But I think Karman has better serve than Simona Halep.

Wow, biggest compliment from our friend.

[suresh]

I didn't see the last match but have seen Karman play recently. Her overall game has improved a lot but there are two issues. First, she is way too hard on herself when she messes up instead of moving on to the next point (Jay's no-think strategy would be great for her). Second, she doesn't have a plan B when plan A fails. I expect both issues to go away with more experience and she should cruise into the top 200 and maybe top 100.

And yeah, SP never ceases to surprise.