Azarenka being discounted but has almost a bye to the final

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NadalAgassi

Guest
It is funny how almost everyone is discounting Azarenka after starting the year in unbeatable mode for awhile. I can see how she has been brought down the earth and it has been shown she isnt all that after some thumping from Serena and Sharapova ,and some other defeats. However when one looks at her draw she practically has a bye to the final. Radwanska is her projected semifinal opponent, her lapdog. Her projected quarterfinal is Stosur, probably a better clay courter, but another of her epic lapdogs. The other seeds in that half- Bartoli, Lisicki, are mostly a joke on clay, and no threat to make it all the way. I dont see anyone in that half who can beat her really. So based on that she shouldnt be discounted, she really is almost into the final before the tournament even begins and then she only needs one big match. It is amazing how unbalanced the womens draw ended up, much more than the mens even.
 
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Warmaster

Warmaster

Hall of Fame
Reminds of 2007, where Henin had to play Serena in the QF all the time.

Especially the US Open was crazy. I think she had to win against Serena and Venus in the QF and SF only to get Kuznetsova, who had a complete cakewalk draw, in the final :) Talk about an unbalanced draw.


OT: Azarenka should make the final and that makes here a favorite for the title.
 
C

Colin

Professional
Yeah, she lucked out in that the two best clay-courters this season, Sharapova and Serena with two titles each, have to face each other in the quarters. Then that person would potentially face the winner of a rematch of last year's final with Li or Schiavone.

Still, you have to say the winner of that Serena-Sharapova quarter would be the favorite along with Azarenka, unless Stosur gets hot on that side.
 
G

Gizo

Hall of Fame
Yes that 2007 US Open draw was crazy. The 4 best players in the world at the time, Henin, Venus, Serena and Jankovic were all in the top half of the draw, while the bottom half was laughably weak.

Everyone thought that the defending champion Sharapova would storm through her cakewalk draw and reach the final, but she lost in the 3rd round to Radwanska.

The Henin-Venus semi-final from the top half was an incredibly high quality match, while the Kuznetsova-Chakvetadze semi from the bottom half was one of the worst matches ever seen in the latter stages of a women's grand slam which both players deserved to lose.

I agree that Azarenka has a great chance of reaching her second straight slam final. She is pretty consistent and reliable at beating the players she should beat.
 
T

tistrapukcipeht

Professional
NadalAgassi said:
It is funny how almost everyone is discounting Azarenka after starting the year in unbeatable mode for awhile. I can see how she has been brought down the earth and it has been shown she isnt all that after some thumping from Serena and Sharapova ,and some other defeats. However when one looks at her draw she practically has a bye to the final. Radwanska is her projected semifinal opponent, her lapdog. Her projected quarterfinal is Stosur, probably a better clay courter, but another of her epic lapdogs. The other seeds in that half- Bartoli, Lisicki, are mostly a joke on clay, and no threat to make it all the way. I dont see anyone in that half who can beat her really. So based on that she shouldnt be discounted, she really is almost into the final before the tournament even begins and then she only needs one big match. It is amazing how unbalanced the womens draw ended up, much more than the mens even.
Click to expand...

You demean and hate so many players, pick up a racquet and go play tennis instead of hating everybody, they all have achieved in tennis what you'd never be able to.
 
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NadalAgassi

Guest
tistrapukcipeht said:
You demean and hate so many players.
Click to expand...

Yes which is why I start a thread specifically to say a certain player is being underrated and overlooked unfairly. Now go back under your bridge. What are you anyway, TMF's 20th new username, LOL!
 
cc0509

cc0509

Talk Tennis Guru
NadalAgassi said:
It is funny how almost everyone is discounting Azarenka after starting the year in unbeatable mode for awhile. I can see how she has been brought down the earth and it has been shown she isnt all that after some thumping from Serena and Sharapova ,and some other defeats. However when one looks at her draw she practically has a bye to the final. Radwanska is her projected semifinal opponent, her lapdog. Her projected quarterfinal is Stosur, probably a better clay courter, but another of her epic lapdogs. The other seeds in that half- Bartoli, Lisicki, are mostly a joke on clay, and no threat to make it all the way. I dont see anyone in that half who can beat her really. So based on that she shouldnt be discounted, she really is almost into the final before the tournament even begins and then she only needs one big match. It is amazing how unbalanced the womens draw ended up, much more than the mens even.
Click to expand...

Azarenka has fizzled a little in the past couple of months. Sharapova defeated her on clay in Stuttgart, Serena defeated her on clay at Madrid and Azarenka gave Cibulkova a walkover on clay in Rome due to a supposed injury.
Clay is one of Azarenka's weakest surfaces (along with grass.) I can totally see why people are not picking her as the favorite to win the FO. Hard to pick her as the favorite when Serena is around.

Re Azarenka's quarter of the draw, that looks fairly routine but it is the second quarter where it will be interesting to see what happens. Radwanska may be defeated on clay as clay is not her best surface (although she just won Brussels.) Ivanovic, Venus, Kerber, etc. are all talented players in that quarter.
I personally think there could be an upset and Azarenka may not make it to the finals, we will see.
 
N

NadalAgassi

Guest
cc0509 said:
Azarenka has fizzled a little in the past couple of months. Sharapova defeated her on clay in Stuttgart, Serena defeated her on clay at Madrid and Azarenka gave Cibulkova a walkover on clay in Rome due to a supposed injury.
Clay is one of Azarenka's weakest surfaces (along with grass.) I can totally see why people are not picking her as the favorite to win the FO. Hard to pick her as the favorite when Serena is around.

Re Azarenka's quarter of the draw, that looks fairly routine but it is the second quarter where it will be interesting to see what happens. Radwanska may be defeated on clay as clay is not her best surface (although she just won Brussels.) Ivanovic, Venus, Kerber, etc. are all talented players in that quarter.
I personally think there could be an upset and Azarenka may not make it to the finals, we will see.
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Honestly pretty hard to imagine Venus or Ivanovic making the final. Kerber is the only other one you mentioned who I could see maybe doing it, but hard to see her beating Azarenka in a slam semi.

Yeah you are right Azarenka has come off the boil, or perhaps more accurately better players have found their games, and clay isnt her surface. However she got the biggest dream draw to the final she could have hoped for.
 
cc0509

cc0509

Talk Tennis Guru
NadalAgassi said:
Honestly pretty hard to imagine Venus or Ivanovic making the final. Kerber is the only other one you mentioned who I could see maybe doing it, but hard to see her beating Azarenka in a slam semi.

Yeah you are right Azarenka has come off the boil, or perhaps more accurately better players have found their games, and clay isnt her surface. However she got the biggest dream draw to the final she could have hoped for.
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Azarenka and Kerber have only played once before and it was in IW 2012 on HC where Azarenka won. Hard to know what would happen if Azarenka and Kerber meet in the SF if both make it that far. Kerber has achieved a lot since the USO 2011. She went from a ranking of 90 something to number 10.
 
1

1970CRBase

Guest
To place Aza with all the mugs and all her pigeons on her side of the draw. Should be practically foolproof right? One point, Brianti would have been 5-0 up in the second. All the rigging in the world doesn't guarantee smooth sailing. Even 4-0 down I thought Aza could still stick her crap back together but this result is a very big boost to everybody in Aza's half, seeing how vulnerable Aza really is. The bottom half also shows whom they don't want to win; another Li or Serena win seems most undesirable to them. And once Woz spiraled down as was inevitable, she's suddenly not getting her cup cakes in slams anymore either.
 
Bud

Bud

Bionic Poster
It was almost a bye-bye from the tournament :D

Down a set and 0-4... that was quite a comeback from Azarenka vs Brianti in the first round
 
Tanya

Tanya

Hall of Fame
Bud said:
It was almost a bye-bye from the tournament :D

Down a set and 0-4... that was quite a comeback from Azarenka vs Brianti in the first round
Click to expand...

Oh please, she shouldn't have been in that predicament in the first place. It isn't like Brianti played lights-out tennis, she was merely able to capitalize (and only for a set and a half) on an Azarenka error fest. When Victoria finally managed to hit some sort of consistent stride in the second half of the match Brianti could do nothing.
 
1

1970CRBase

Guest
1970CRBase said:
To place Aza with all the mugs and all her pigeons on her side of the draw. Should be practically foolproof right? One point, Brianti would have been 5-0 up in the second. All the rigging in the world doesn't guarantee smooth sailing. Even 4-0 down I thought Aza could still stick her crap back together but this result is a very big boost to everybody in Aza's half, seeing how vulnerable Aza really is. The bottom half also shows whom they don't want to win; another Li or Serena win seems most undesirable to them. And once Woz spiraled down as was inevitable, she's suddenly not getting her cup cakes in slams anymore either.
Click to expand...

Dirty tricks, nothing but more dirty tricks after that brazenly rigged mens and womens draw. To schedule this match for the night when they KNEW it would become nothing but a crap shoot regardless of how the players were playing. People, particularly the Serena haters, are so crowing they've forgotten that while it looked light on their screens, in reality it should have been impossible to see the ball on court for the players at 9 pm in Paris. They've removed the principal threat (to themselves) of winning the tournament, now to get rid of Li, the second least wanted winner.
 
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