In the interest of our discussion in this thread, it is how soon Ishikawa goes down vis a vis Ito & Hirano, doesn’t even matter who/what she looses to.
Do not say “poor Hayata”, Hayata MUST NOT avoid the chinese, if she cannot even win over the qualifier to get into the main draw, then she has absolutely NO CHANCE against the top CNT, other then by fluke. Always seek out the chinese to do battle with, and learn in the process. January 2020 is only an artificial line, Hayata is only 18, look beyond this line and grow for the future.
Bide your time Hayata, many happy and fulfilling years ahead. Godspeed.
Heading into Korea Op, competing points Ito7605, Hirano 7435, Ishikawa 6640.
For Korea Op, each round gain is 180 pts. ie R32 540, r16 720, 1/4 final 900.
With Ishikawa's chance to play T2 Diamond, Ito is now only 965 pts ahead of Ishikawa, but WITHOUT the benefit of World Cup, where the minimum score would be 1020, 1/4 F 1275.