Bally gets the 2010 season under way!

Tiny exaggeration there!

Naomi Cavaday had the chance to chalk up the first British win on the pro tours yesterday in the qualies for the $220k WTA tournament in Brisbane, Australia and made an excellent start against the second qseed taking the first set 6-2 before going down in 3; so that's and for Naomi; shame she couldn't quite upset the big odds (Naomi was the lowest ranked in the qualifiers) but still a good work-out in the run-up to the Aussie Open qualies...

So it was Elena Baltacha who has today notched that first British win in the first round of qualifying at Auckland, New Zealand. It was a scrap in the first two sets with Bally dropping the first 4-6 and taking the second by the same score before stepping it up to ease through the third 6-1

Still two more rounds of qualifying to go yet to get to the Main Draw but Bally is the 4th qseed and so should get there according to the rankings; two of the qualifier slots in the MD have seeds in the draw for R1 and two don't. 'Twould be great if Bally could get that first WTA level win of 2010 under her belt here...

Sadly, Katie O'Brien won't be doing it here as she went down in Q1 1-6 5-7; not quite able to turn her slow start around in time

Bally wins again!

Another day, another win in three sets for Elena Baltacha!

Her 30 year old French opponent in Q2, Severine Bremond Baltrame, may be ranked 151 now but she has been as high as #34 so will know a thing or two. 6-1 4-6 6-3 will do nicely, Bally!

Next up is Stephanie Dubois of Canada, ranked 105; the winner will face, in R1, either 4th seed Schiavone of Italy, 5th seed Razzano of France, unseeded Olaru of Roumania or (probably the easiest R1 although the top seed, Pennetta of Italy, probably awaits in R2) unseeded Suarez Navarro of Spain.

Go, Bally!

Bally makes the Main Draw!

Bally won most of the vital points in a close fight to come out with an apparently easy win 3&1 over Dubois. Impressive!

The draw for the qualifier slots was kind giving Bally the lowest ranked opponent, Olaru ranked world #72, in R1 with a likely R2 against Wickmayer of Belgium, seeded 3.

Good luck tomorrow, Bally

Sarah Borwell opens her 2010 account!

A doubles specialist these days, GB #1 Sarah Borwell has a fairly new regular partner in Raquel Kops-Jones of the USA and they have wasted no time in opening their account at WTA level this year

A R1 win here over German pairing Georges and Malek by the nailbiting margin of 10-8 in the Match Tie-Break has earned them 70 rankings points and a likely QF against the 3rd seeds, Italian pair Pennetta and Schiavone. Excellent, Sarah! And good luck

On to Hobart?

Bally went down to Olaru by the surprising margin of 2&2 but it was a useful week 1; and Sarah & Raquel gave it a very decent go before going down 6-7 4-6. So more than on the week...

On to Hobart and Sydney then

Excellent news from Sydney is that Sarah and Raquel have made the cut for the Main Draw of higher tier WTA event there with a very winnable first round draw and the prospect of facing the world #1 pairing in round 2. Go, Sarah!

Meantime, Bally has been making excellent inroads in the Hobart qualies breezing her way through Q1 and Q2. Go, Bally, too!