Tennis: All Purpose Tennis Thread XIII

[kihei]

In a set that seemed destined for a tie breaker as neither player had much luck with the other's first serve, Bublik upsets the apple cart by breaking Shapo on his first opportunity for the set, 7-5. Shapo looked pretty polished that set while Bublik looked like Bublik--tangled in his feet at one moment, hitting an ill-advised drop shot the next moment, then hitting a blazingly brilliant return of serve followed by a few second serves zipping in at occasionally 212 kph. The guy has a loosey-goosey game if there ever was one.

 

[Tuggy]

Denis and Bublik going the distance.

 

[discostu]

Looks like Denis couldn't get it done today.

As mentioned earlier, these are nice tune ups, but he needs big performances in the two Master events, so hopefully he can take a week off and focus on his game.

Let's see if Vasek can pull off another upset.

 

[kihei]

Definitely looks like Bublik is for real. That's a huge win for him. I keep thinking, man, he has to get rid of those school-yard, low percentage shots that he seems to favour at the damndest times, but, you know, he's always going to be a thrill ride and I would hate to see him tone down too much. Fun player to watch,

 

[Tuggy]

Funny that we were just discussing this:

 

[JetsWillFly4Ever]

Definitely looks like Bublik is for real. That's a huge win for him. I keep thinking, man, he has to get rid of those school-yard, low percentage shots that he seems to favour at the damndest times, but, you know, he's always going to be a thrill ride and I would hate to see him tone down too much. Fun player to watch,

Kind of reminds me of what I say about the guy he was playing against haha.

 

[discostu]

Funny that we were just discussing this:

That's pretty big. Good on DAZN for grabbing the rights when they did, but our two major sports broadcasters really had a duty to step up to the plate once Bianca established herself as a major sports star in this country.

I doubt we'll see the dollars involved, but I'm wondering what they had to pay up to land this.

 

[Tuggy]

Felix is the last hope in Marseille!

 

[Say Hey Kid]

Match of the Day: Simona Halep vs. Elena Rybakina, Dubai final

 

[Tuggy]

Good win for Felix. SF tomorrow against Simon.

 

[kihei]

Damn good thing Felix was playing Gerasimov and a wonder it took him so long in the first set to catch him. Felix seems to consider 30-love advantages on serve somehow unsportsmanlike. Before you know it is 30-30 or worse. Drives me nuts.

 

[kihei]

Felix up to his escape artist tricks again, breaking for 5-4 just when Simon was serving for the set....and, voila, he breaks a disgruntled Simon again and takes the set 7-5. Hard way around as per usual.

 

[discostu]

Felix - Tsitsipas final. Shame its not televised. I'm curious to see if Felix is still in his head or not after Tsitsipas won their last outing.

 

[kihei]

Felix wins a close second set from Simon in, get this, an uneventful tiebreaker. When Felix is flowing, he makes the game look so easy (a Roger Federer trait, too---just sayin').

 

[Tuggy]

Another final for Felix...gonna be tough.

 

[discostu]

Thiem loses in the QF in Rio to a guy ranked outside of the top 100, and at 25.

I know this point of the season is still a bit of a tune up period, but if Thiem is supposed to be the guy that could end Nadals dominance on clay, he probably shouldn't be losing matches to qualifiers.

 

[MsMeow]

Thiem loses in the QF in Rio to a guy ranked outside of the top 100, and at 25.

I know this point of the season is still a bit of a tune up period, but if Thiem is supposed to be the guy that could end Nadals dominance on clay, he probably shouldn't be losing matches to qualifiers.

Everyone beyond Rafa and Djokovic right now is a toss up, it seems. Thiem keeps looking like he might be ready to step up and then something like this happens.

 

[discostu]

Everyone beyond Rafa and Djokovic right now is a toss up, it seems. Thiem keeps looking like he might be ready to step up and then something like this happens.

Yeah, it's only one loss, but it seems to be the general pattern, and why the big 3 feel like they'll continue forever. Medvedev is another who was so hot last year, but has been pretty mediocre to start.

With Roger out for months, this should be the chance for someone to step up. It'll be interesting to see what develops from the two Masters events coming up.

 

[discostu]

Pospisil wins the Marseilles doubles title with Mahut. I didn't realize that they've teamed up before and won a title at Rotterdam a number of years ago.

If Pospisil is going to play doubles frequently, can't ask for a better partner than Mahut. We'll see if they continue with this partnership going forward.

 

[discostu]

Not to be for Felix. Tsitsipas wins in straight sets, and per the score, seems like he's gotten over his mental block against Felix.

Raonic is still alive, with his SF match against Opelka shifted to this morning, with the winner playing in the afternoon final.

 

[kihei]

Felix, as his style lately, almost evened the first set when Tsitsipas was serving for the set, but Stefanos held off the challenge calmly and then pretty much cruised in the final set. He has beat his nemesis twice in a row now, and anyone who has played tennis knows that is no mean feat. Congrats to him and to the hard work he has put in to accomplish these wins.

 

[kihei]

Interesting semi-finals match up in Rio. Coric, undergoing a crisis of confidence lately, versus Garin, who has always struck me as something of a Coric clone. Anyway, the clone wins in straight sets as Borna fails to hold his nerve serving to take the second set to a tie breaker.

 

[kihei]

Raonic goes from love-5 in the second set tie breaker to 6-5, but loses it anyway so Opelka who forces a third set. Pretty entertaining match, not just servebots at play.

 

[kihei]

In the third set Milos just wore down and Opelka did a good job of keeping the pressure on, earning two service breaks, 6-3 to win the match.

 

[kihei]

Garin and Opelka both end up winning their respective Championships. That gives Garin two in a row on clay, and Opelka gets his second win of his career.