ITF W15 Nonthaburi - How will a 15-year-old recover from a double bagel?

Scouting Time

The tennis season did end for the main tours, but it's still in full swing at ITF level. Personally, I like this time of the year just as I like the Grand Slams as you can pick up some information of players you usually don't have the time to do research on. Today's preview features the first round match in Nonthaburi, Thailand between Yexin Ma and Erika Andreeva.

Teenage Volatility

Russian Erika Andreeva is a talented prospect. The 15-year-old is currently ranked 53rd in juniors. This year, she won two Grade 2 events, in Plovdiv, Bulgaria and Gladbeck, Germany. On her way to the titles, she beat quality opponents like Yepifanova, Timofeeva or Toth, who are all ranked higher than her.

Last week, Andreeva competed in her first ever ITF pro event in Nonthaburi. Both the Russian and her first round opponent Mai Napatt Nirundorn from Thailand ensured their place in the main draw by their junior rankings. Andreeva beat Nirundorn 4-6 6-3 6-1 to book her place in the second round. Only a few weeks back though, she lost to the same opponent 2-6 4-6 in juniors, which is a perfect example for the performance fluctuations of teenagers.

Transition to Pro Tennis

The joy of winning her first match as a pro has also been short-lived as she got crushed by Meiqi Guo in round two. The Chinese showed no mercy and handed Andreeva a double bagel. Guo is not overly talented, but she managed to break into the top 500 this year. The same goes for Andreeva's opponent today, Yexin Ma.

Just like Guo, Ma entered the top 500 for the first time late this season. Over the last few weeks, she pretty much beat everyone she was supposed to beat and only lost to players like Xun, Omae, Ivakhnenko, all inside the top 300, or Garland, who I rate as a future top 50 player. I watched a little bit of Ma's match against Garland a few days ago and even though she lost 4-6 1-6 in the end, I saw some good sequences from Ma. The Chinese doesn't have the worst serve and hits a flat ball, trying to be on the front foot in rallies. That just wasn't possible against an even bigger ball striker in Garland, but her style will pose a problem for Andreeva as I'm not sure if the 15-year-old has enough power to oppose.

Altogether, I think Ma should be the favorite in this matchup. This is mainly because she's more solid and presents more power than most of Andreeva's opponents in juniors. The Russian is yet to show that she can gain a foothold on the pro tour and a win against Ma would surprise me at this point.