ITF W100 Dubai, UAE (Dec 2-8, 2024)

[jayakris]

The Dubai W100 is next week.

Though Shrivalli, Sahaja and Ankita only barely squeezed into the qualifying entry list when it came out last week, there have been some withdrawals and now the three of them should be in the upper one third of the qualifying field, on ranking. I think Ankita will get seeded at around the 6th thru 8th spots, based on this week's ranking of #291. #304 Shrivalli and #310 Sahaja will be just outside the seeded spots, somewhere around the 10th thru 12th spots in the qualies.

As of now, Rutuja who is a couple of spots out from qualifying should also squeeze into the qualifying list (assuming she will travel from the Asian AO wildcard event in China, to Dubai in the next couple of days).

[sameerph]

Yes, also Prarthana is in doubles entry list with Arianne Hartono, also Ankita with a Kazak player is in the double entry list.

[jayakris]

Lots of withdrawals from the bottom of the qualifying list. Rutuja is also well inside the qualifying cut now. So four Indians in the qualies there. Hope one or two will make it in.

[Dinesh]

Rutuja withdrew.

[jayakris]

As of now it looks like Ankita, Shrivalli and Sahaja will probably be 4th, 6th and 7th seeds in the qualies if the 2 main draw SE spots clear.

[jayakris]

Ankita is the 3rd seed in the qualies, playing Ekaterina Shalimova (RUS,603)

Shaja is the 6th seed, playing Rada Zolotareva (RUS,709)

Shrivalli would have been the 6th seed, but she is not in the draw. Wonder if she got a main draw wildcard in the last minute.

[jayakris]

Yes. Shrivalli did get a main draw wildcard! I just got it confirmed.

[sameerph]

Both Ankita and Sahaja lost in Q1 against Russians.

Ankita retired at 5-7, 0-1 down, she was up 5-3 but lost 5 straight games and than retired. Ankita has been playing too many weeks without a break.

Sahaja lost 46 61 57 against 16 year old Russian who is ranked in ITF juniors top 100, I watched Sahaja's match and one big change was her coming in to the net a lot and finishing off points. That was a big drawback for her earlier. So, working with Harsh Mankad over the last 1 month they seem to have worked on that area. Her rest of the game looked a lot rusty. She finally seemed to have got a measure of her opponents game when she led 4-2 in second set but than suddenly lost steam, made a lot of errors overhitting the balls and won only 1 of next 6 games to lose the match.

Maybe being her first match after 5-6 weeks we can excuse that but once she gets her rest of the game on track after some tough matches, he this improved net game will help her a lot in crunch matches.

[sameerph]

[R1] Shrivalli Rashmika Bhamidipaty (IND,376) vs. (LL) Amandine Hesse (FRA,289)

Decent draw for Shrivalli. She gets one of the lowest ranked players in first round.

[Dinesh]

^^^ Yeah but Hesse will win this match.

[jayakris]

^^^ What? Let us not be that pessimistic, Dinesh! ... I believe Vishal Uppal is there with her. Hopefully, the coach can help boost her morale and get her to a win.

[jayakris]

[R1] (WC) Shrivalli Rashmika Bhamidipaty (IND,376) l. (LL) Amandine Hesse (FRA,289), 16 36

I guess Dinesh had the right read on this. Our players just can't get a win these days

[ericcw]

Curious what made you call this result, Dinesh? Hesse is close to 32, on her way down while Shrivalli is an upcomer.

[Dinesh]

^^^ This result was pretty obvious given that SRB is in a rut with a mere 1 win in her last 5 tournaments, whereas Hesse had upset #178 Korpatsch who finished last season in the top-100, just last month. A 31-year-old Hesse, who is also a mother of a 2-year-old daughter, has played and won more matches this season compared to SRB, so she is, by no means, on her way down.

[prasen9]

Hesse was still higher ranked than SRB. So, really, this was expected.