Doble and Garside qualify for Ladies World Championship main draw
Ranger and Tan muster late fightbacks in losing causes
The second day of qualifying matches at the 2025 Ladies World Championship in Newport took place on Sunday, with two places in the main draw up for grabs.
In the first qualification pathway, Xanthe Ranger took on Nicola Doble, the latter having received a bye through the first day of qualification. Doble was mixing up her selection of left-handed serves to good effect, keeping Ranger on her toes and having to constantly make late readjustments on the return of serve. Her side walls and railroads were particularly effective, often drawing Ranger into a difficult volley. As the set developed, Ranger was more willing to play out longer rallies, but Doble’s late swinging ground strokes and out-of-nowhere volleys were more often than not able to produce winners. Doble won the first set easily, dropping just two games.
Ranger put some pressure back on Doble at the start of the second set, aiming at the upper half of the dedans and drawing more errors from her opponent. She battled to a two game lead, before Doble fought back to 2-all. The play was now very aerial, with long volley battles between the players which suited Ranger as it meant the rally-ending error could come from either end of the court, as opposed to the first set when there was a lot more shots low into the corners. Ranger won the next three games before a long fightback by Doble characterised by some tight calls on short chases, some desperate tambour play and numerous bounces off ledges and bandeaus. Doble was able to carry the momentum into the deciding game, earning two match points and a last gallery chase. Ranger barely survived the first, with her shot narrowly missing the second gallery post to be called chase off, but could not hold on for the second. Doble secured qualification into the main draw and a matchup with her doubles partner Saskia Bollerman.
The second qualification pathway was between Australian Jo See Tan and Briton Jess Garside, both of whom had had comfortable victories in their first round matches. Garside was attacking from the start, targeting her shots barely an inch over the net, and in doing so snatched an early lead. Tan quickly had to adjust to match Garside’s aggression, with the match quickly descending into an all out slogging duel. The first set hinged on the fifth game — at 3-1 to Garside — with a long series of tense deuces and several changes of ends. Both were firing in short, low balls and both were searching for a serve that would prevent the other from doing so. Eventually, Garside took the game on the back of a couple of small errors from Tan. Garside powered on to set point before Tan was able to channel her frustration into a counterattack. It was too little, too late for the Australian, as Garside was eventually able to find the final point she needed.
Garside carried her form into the second set, notching up two quick games before Tan could respond. Her pressure was unrelenting, with Tan’s defenses too often giving Garside easy balls to attack on the next stroke. In particular, Garside found plenty of reward attacking Tan’s left-handed backhand, the Australian often at full stretch hence unable to control the ball on to the tambour. At 1-4 down, Tan had nothing to lose, so freed up her game and, helped by a long run at the service end, started rolling off grilles to bring the scoreline back to 4-5. Tan held off the first match point in the tenth game, beating a chase better than 4, but Garside won the second by beating a chase of 1 and 2 on the floor. In doing so, she qualified to face compatriot Tara Lumley in the main draw.
The main draw for the Ladies World Championship starts on Monday, with Saskia Bollerman and Tara Lumley entering the competition. Lea Van Der Zwalmen will receive a bye to the semi final and Claire Fahey will receive a bye to the final.
Match results:
Sunday 25 May:
10:00 AM: Nicola Doble def Xanthe Ranger 6/2 6/5
11:30 AM: Jess Garside def Jo See Tan 6/1 6/4
Upcoming Matches (all times EDT):
Monday 26 May:
10:00 AM: Saskia Bollerman vs Nicola Doble
11:30 AM: Tara Lumley vs Jess Garside
Tuesday 27 May:
4:00 PM: Winner 26 May 10:00 AM vs Winner 26 May 11:30 AM
Wednesday 28 May:
5:00 PM: Lea Van Der Zwalmen vs Winner 27 May 4:00 PM
Thursday 29 May:
2:00 PM (Doubles Semi Final 1): Claire Fahey & Tara Lumley vs Jo See Tan & Jess Garside
3:30 PM (Doubles Semi Final 2): Nicola Doble & Saskia Bollerman vs Lea Van Der Zwalmen & Margaux Randjbar
Friday 30 May:
5:00 PM (World Championship Challenge): Claire Fahey vs Challenger TBD
Saturday 31 May:
2:00 PM (World Doubles Championship Final): Winner Semi Final 1 vs Winner Semi Final 2