Tennis: All Purpose Tennis Thread XIII

[discostu]

Coco Gauff wins her first WTA title. She beat Ostapenko in the finals, and beat Kiki Bertens along the way.

 

[Tuggy]

Vasek is playing the CH in Las Vegas this week and continues his strong play from Asia.

He won his first round match fairly easily.

Shapovalov and Schnur are in Stockholm this week (ATP 250).

 

[Tuggy]

Medvedev wins in Shanghai. He's within striking distance of Federer for #3 in the world.

He's actually ahead of Federer in the race for #3. So if he keeps up his current form, it shouldn't be long until he takes #3.

 

[Tuggy]

Pospisil vs Polansky tomorrow in Las Vegas.

 

[kihei]

Rublev defeats Bublik in three entertaining sets in Moscow. It would not have taken much to see this match going the other way but somebody better soon tell Bublik how potentially good he is because he seems too stupid to figure that out for himself.

 

[Tuggy]

Pospisil destroyed Polansky today.

 

[discostu]

Pospisil destroyed Polansky today.

Polansky was knocking on the door of the top 100 for a while, but really seems to be struggling, at an age where you don't know how many chances he'll have left.

 

[MsMeow]

I'm glad for Vasek, he needs to keep moving up in the rankings.

 

[Tuggy]

Polansky was knocking on the door of the top 100 for a while, but really seems to be struggling, at an age where you don't know how many chances he'll have left.

Yeah, I don't see him getting back to that point.

 

[Incubajerks]

Sinner has arrived!

 

[kihei]

Shapo in straight sets over Popyrin 4 and 6. Didn't see all of the match, but everything looked like it was working well for our guy. He only got his first serve in half of the time but when he did it was deadly. Popryin also coughed up a lot of easy putaways so Shapo's network looked quite efficient and impressive for a change.

 

[Tuggy]

I've given up trying to predict when (if) Denis will get his first title.

Hopefully this is the week.

 

[Tuggy]

Vasek advances in Las Vegas.

 

[Tuggy]

Diez continuing his career best season. Into another CH SF and up to #137 in the live rankings.

 

[Incubajerks]

Sinner has arrived, confirmed!

 

[kihei]

Ridiculously easy first set for Shapo over Stebe in which Stebe took all of six points in roughly 45 minutes of play. Second set was a bit closer but never in doubt, I assume Stebe was fighting an injury because blow outs of this ease and magnitude seldom happen on tour.

 

[discostu]

Pospisil beats Taro Daniel to get a Challenger SF birth. This is a productive week for a few Canadian men players, with Shapo, Diez and Pospisil all getting into semifinals.

 

[Tuggy]

Nice easy wins for both of them.

 

[kihei]

Humbert gets to the semis in Belgium, with a nice, come-from-behind three set win over Pella. Humbert's groundstrokes, especially his forehand (which Pella relentlessly attacked in the final set), can break down under pressure, but for a young guy, he is a good and confident volleyer and, in part because of that, fearless on short balls and weak returns. No sure thing, but he has assets to build upon.

 

[Tuggy]

Diez into the finals.

Vasek and Denis take their shot later today.

 

[Tuggy]

Denis gets his first final!

Time for that first title too

 

[kihei]

Good thing Shapo was playing Sugita, though, or that poor start could have proved much more damaging than it did. Methinks Denis might have underrated his opponent a bit too much.

 

[kihei]

Though Andy pinned Humbert to the baseline for the most part and took away the easy approach shots almost entirely, Humbert was brilliant anyway, taking control from the backcourt for the first set win. Andy, looking obviously the more experienced player, took a gritty second set and then won going away in the third as so often happens when a youngster faces a skilled veteran. Kudos to both players today, though--nice match.

 

[Tuggy]

Vasek cruises into the final.

 

[Tuggy]

Raonic looks like he'll return next week in Vienna. He draws Chung.

Felix and Denis there as well.

Rublev and PCB respectively for them.

Milos and Felix would meet in R2.