Beau Knows
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There is still an outside chance that Nadal and Federer could play in the WTF final for the #1 ranking, really feels like that's how the year ought to end. Federer needs to win Basel to keep that possibility alive.
Tennis: All Purpose Tennis Thread X
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If that is the case, I am really going to be conflicted. I'd love to see Roger back at #1, but I still think I would prefer to see Nadal take his first WTA title.
Sugita, a hard-working player with virtually no power who has been on a bit of a roll lately, is an intriguing opponent for Shapovalov right now, a good yard stick to measure the state of Denis' game late in the year.
1st set: Remarkably easy 6-4 win for Sugita, whose lacklustre serve was never even close to being threatened. Denis looks low energy and joyless. He has a wrap-around bandage around his right knee which may or may not be effecting his groundstrokes which are the pits right now. Looks like he needs to go home and rest up for next year. The bloom seems definitely off the rose.
2nd set: And just like that an early break and landing a few good groundstrokes seems to wake Denis up and he recovers some of his zip, 3-love....and closes it out 6-2. Groundies still inconsistent but serve is much better and return of serve is way, way better. Denis can beat this guy without needing a top gear, but he has to be steadier off the ground.
3rd set: From mopeycakes to wonder boy in two sets. I like his chances this set....Despite continued backhand woes, Denis goes up 3-1. The rest of his game is looking solid at the moment....everything was going swimmingly and then Sugita claws back with a well-earned break, 4-3 back on serve...Sugita is slow to pick up on the obvious--whenever he hits consistently to Denis' backhand, he wins point; whenever he hits consistently to Denis' forehand, he loses points, now 4 all.....Fittingly the match goes to a tie breaker.....an aggressive Shapovalov easily takes it for the match, 7-3.
Very nice comeback. Boy, that backhand needs some work, though.
1st set: Remarkably easy 6-4 win for Sugita, whose lacklustre serve was never even close to being threatened. Denis looks low energy and joyless. He has a wrap-around bandage around his right knee which may or may not be effecting his groundstrokes which are the pits right now. Looks like he needs to go home and rest up for next year. The bloom seems definitely off the rose.
2nd set: And just like that an early break and landing a few good groundstrokes seems to wake Denis up and he recovers some of his zip, 3-love....and closes it out 6-2. Groundies still inconsistent but serve is much better and return of serve is way, way better. Denis can beat this guy without needing a top gear, but he has to be steadier off the ground.
3rd set: From mopeycakes to wonder boy in two sets. I like his chances this set....Despite continued backhand woes, Denis goes up 3-1. The rest of his game is looking solid at the moment....everything was going swimmingly and then Sugita claws back with a well-earned break, 4-3 back on serve...Sugita is slow to pick up on the obvious--whenever he hits consistently to Denis' backhand, he wins point; whenever he hits consistently to Denis' forehand, he loses points, now 4 all.....Fittingly the match goes to a tie breaker.....an aggressive Shapovalov easily takes it for the match, 7-3.
Very nice comeback. Boy, that backhand needs some work, though.
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What little I have seen of the WTA finals in Singapore has been terrific. With the exception of the sputtering Ostapenko, the other seven women have been playing highly entertaining, gutsy tennis. The ATP final will be lucky if the level of play is as high.
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He qualified for the ATP Tour Final and wants to focus on that solely which is understandable.
A tip of the cap to Venus who has made it to the WTA semifinals with a tough straight set win over Muguruza. For the first seven games, I thought Garbine was going to run away with it but she couldn't hold on to a 4-3 lead and Venus pounced. The second set was more of the same for Muguruza as twice she could not hold on to service breaks. Very deserving win for the 37 year old Venus as she struggled but never panicked.
Wozniacki, Williams and Pliskova now in. Fourth spot will be given to either Halep or Garcia depending on Friday's outcomes.
Wozniacki, Williams and Pliskova now in. Fourth spot will be given to either Halep or Garcia depending on Friday's outcomes.
Garcia wins in three sets and Svitolina upsets Halep, so Garcia is into the semis. With Svitolina's win, all eight women won at least one match in the three match round robin stage of the WTA finals. Pretty damn impressive.
Later: Only saw extended highlights of the matches, but Garcia's win was incredible. She got bageled in the first set, unable to get many first serves in; she won the second set after being down a break; and she came back from 5-3 in the third set, despite going down love-40 in the ninth game.
Later: Only saw extended highlights of the matches, but Garcia's win was incredible. She got bageled in the first set, unable to get many first serves in; she won the second set after being down a break; and she came back from 5-3 in the third set, despite going down love-40 in the ninth game.
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Garcia in another dandy, this time with Venus, 3-3 in the third set. Venus is currently flying through her service games but Garcia is hanging in there....Venus gets the timely break, gets a little nervous, goes down love-40 on serve, but wins the next five points for the match.
She will face Wozniacki in the finals, who beat Pliskova in straight sets. Both women thoroughly deserve to be in the final, and it should be a good one.
Pliskova should listen to her elders. Navratilova gave her hell for semi-tanking in a meaningless match against Ostapenko, saying that winning is a habit and shouldn't be treated cavalierly. That came back to haunt Pliskova today whose intensity dropped after losing a very tight first set breaker (Pliskova recovered from a 6-1 deficit only to blow three set points of her own before losing 11-9). Wozniacki, on the other hand, has shown a lot of grit all week.
She will face Wozniacki in the finals, who beat Pliskova in straight sets. Both women thoroughly deserve to be in the final, and it should be a good one.
Pliskova should listen to her elders. Navratilova gave her hell for semi-tanking in a meaningless match against Ostapenko, saying that winning is a habit and shouldn't be treated cavalierly. That came back to haunt Pliskova today whose intensity dropped after losing a very tight first set breaker (Pliskova recovered from a 6-1 deficit only to blow three set points of her own before losing 11-9). Wozniacki, on the other hand, has shown a lot of grit all week.
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Until Venus committed four unforced errors to lose 6-4, the first set was superb, fighting tennis from both players. Wozniacki, hitting an uncharacteristically high number of winners for her (10), broke Williams three times in all, but couldn't hold on to her own serve either. Venus looks really good, though. In the recent past, she has looked creaky and stiff-limbed on occasion, an impression exacerbated by her slow, deliberate, energy-saving movement between points, but today her game is flowing--all depth, wide angles and net charging. To Caroliine's immense credit, she weathered all that pressure very well.
2nd set: Caroline quickly moved out to a 5-love lead as Venus looked like she was tiring. Then serving for the set, Caroline was the victim of the Chair overruling a point that Venus had not challenged. Wozniacki lost concentration and before you knew it, it was 5-4 Venus serving and back to playing incredible tennis. But Wozniacki broke her for the seventh time of the day to win the game, the match and the Championship.
This was one of the greatest weeks in WTA history. Too bad that few in NA and Europe saw it. Congrats to both players, but especially Caroline whose hard work and tenacity really paid off this week.
2nd set: Caroline quickly moved out to a 5-love lead as Venus looked like she was tiring. Then serving for the set, Caroline was the victim of the Chair overruling a point that Venus had not challenged. Wozniacki lost concentration and before you knew it, it was 5-4 Venus serving and back to playing incredible tennis. But Wozniacki broke her for the seventh time of the day to win the game, the match and the Championship.
This was one of the greatest weeks in WTA history. Too bad that few in NA and Europe saw it. Congrats to both players, but especially Caroline whose hard work and tenacity really paid off this week.
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With thousands of his countrymen hanging on every point, Roger loses an uncharacteristic set to del Potro in Basel. Both players were playing very well until the ninth game when Roger broke Juan Martin with two consecutive brilliant passing shots. Then, surprisingly, Roger could not hold serve and the match eventually went to a breaker. Roger went up 3-love in the breaker and then lost six consecutive points and eventually the set. The main culprit has been his forehand which alone has been responsible for 13 unforced errors by my count.
2nd set: A cranky Roger, still misfiring, settles down enough to take the second set on a late service break, 6-4. Beselogians, or whatever the hell they are called, seem besides themselves with delight.
3rd set: Roger won. He seems preordained to win this kind of match.
2nd set: A cranky Roger, still misfiring, settles down enough to take the second set on a late service break, 6-4. Beselogians, or whatever the hell they are called, seem besides themselves with delight.
3rd set: Roger won. He seems preordained to win this kind of match.
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Hadoop
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What a topsy turvy year in the WTA. Thought Venus would be victorious, but maybe Wozniacki winning is pretty fitting as well given all the talk about how much of a marathon the season is in this day and age.
Hadoop
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Mladenovic makes it ten straight first match losses in a row, this time a heartbreaker, 7-6 in the third set to #22 ranked Rybarikova. Amazing she is still ranked #10 in the world.
Later: Watched a replay of the match. Well, she's not crying anymore. That's good. Mladenovic seems more resigned than anything at the moment. Her strokes still look good, but mladingly inconsistent. Her serve, though, is the real problem. She always had a very weak, highly inadequate second serve, but now her first serve is all a tangled mess with her hitting too many serves into the middle of the net. She should shut it down for the year and go back to the drawing board.
Later: Watched a replay of the match. Well, she's not crying anymore. That's good. Mladenovic seems more resigned than anything at the moment. Her strokes still look good, but mladingly inconsistent. Her serve, though, is the real problem. She always had a very weak, highly inadequate second serve, but now her first serve is all a tangled mess with her hitting too many serves into the middle of the net. She should shut it down for the year and go back to the drawing board.
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Rafa clinches YE #1.
Still shocked this day has come again. Said it before, but I never expected him to get back to this height.
Still shocked this day has come again. Said it before, but I never expected him to get back to this height.
Del Potro gets the win today to move back into the top 10 and is a win away from pretty much clinching his spot in the WTF.
And this happened today...
And this happened today...
Hadoop
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I thought he was playing too much on hard courts. You think he would have figured it out by this time.
Meanwhile, Isner knocks off a decrepit looking del Potro in three sets. Juan Martin looks like he may have developed a hip problem. At the rate injuries are piling up, I haven't completely given up on my chances of making the London field. I mean, somebody has to play Roger.
Later: There seems some serious speculation that Rafa may not be able to play London.That would be terrible news as I can't imagine a better chance of him winning than this year.
Meanwhile, Isner knocks off a decrepit looking del Potro in three sets. Juan Martin looks like he may have developed a hip problem. At the rate injuries are piling up, I haven't completely given up on my chances of making the London field. I mean, somebody has to play Roger.
Later: There seems some serious speculation that Rafa may not be able to play London.That would be terrible news as I can't imagine a better chance of him winning than this year.
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So with the loss Del Potro fails to qualify for the WTF.
Which means we will see one of Carreno Busta, Isner or Sock...
Which means we will see one of Carreno Busta, Isner or Sock...
Hadoop
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Pavel Buchnevich
Drury and Laviolette Must Go
Sock into the top 10. I said at the beginning of the season that he could make the top 15, he's made the top 10. Third youngest in the top 10 after Zverev and Thiem.
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