2014 WTA China Open - Beijing - Discussion

[Marius_Hancu]

Hello, everyone,

​

The last of of the two major WTA stops in China.

The tournament where Simona Halep is expected (mostly by her fans) to really come back on circuit, after the surprising early exits at the USO and in Wuhan.

BTW, Happy 23, Simona!

WTA Premier.

Over $5million in prize money, second only to Indian Wells, I believe. With $918,000 first prize, perhaps the factual no-shows are going to be considered crazy. They should be.

OK, the draw is out, even at the WTA site:
http://www.wtatennis.com/SEWTATour-Archive/posting/2014/1020/MDS.pdf

A well-balanced draw. The only seeds, the SFinalists in Wuhan. Surprising, but deserved.

Now that Bouchard is running again full speed, is Halep going to redeem herself here, or is she going to continue being post-Roland_Garros-Wimbledon tired?

Well, they might meet in the QFs: a dandy, that.

Is Serena going to play hard or going to become dizzy again? How about Sharapova?

Is Kvitova going to confirm her new-found HC form, or what?

So, finally, who is going to take the first edition of this rich tourney?

And the big question: who's going to qualify for Singapore?

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Shilin Xu 6 2 0
Sabine Lisicki 4 6 6

The great Chinese hope goes again blank in the third.
Lisicki next for Bouchard.

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Interesting 1R matchups:

Kaia Kanepi
Maria Sharapova (is she still with you-know-who, who's in Beijing too?)

Ekaterina Makarova
Garbine Muguruza

 

[Bryan Swartz]

And the big question: who's going to qualify for Singapore?

Kerber will be the odd one out unless she wins the title here basically. Should be a great event.

 

[Marius_Hancu]

I told you about it:

Ekaterina Makarova 6 8 6 6
Garbine Muguruza 7 10 4 4

Classy Garbine is out, makes me sad

 

[Marius_Hancu]

strong dismissal:

Coco Vandeweghe 4 3
Agnieszka Radwanska 6 6

 

[Marius_Hancu]

from the Dead and 3 MPs

Andrea Petkovic 2 7 10 6
Monica Niculescu 6 6 8 4

man, Niculescu makes you earn it

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Kaia Kanepi 4 1
Maria Sharapova 6 6

easier than expected, Shara's in form

'they still together??

 

[ScottleeSV]

Muguruza will be kicking herself.

Another shocker from Heather Watson. She's definitely peaked, sadly.

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Halep on center. All-black dress. Let's see.
vs Strychova (#30 or so)

Halep breaks for
2-1 Halep, break up
just length and precision from Halep for now, no tricks
Halep breaks again at love
4-1 Halep

great care in shots, not rushing at all
several great DTLs

6-1, 1-0 Halep
keeping long balls until S is suffocated, that's what Halep does today

 

[MichaelNadal]

Muguruza will be kicking herself.

Another shocker from Heather Watson. She's definitely peaked, sadly.

No harm in getting beaten by Queen Vee

 

[Nostradamus]

where are the men?

 

[Marius_Hancu]

tomorrow's OP

http://www.atpworldtour.com/scores/schedule.aspx?year=2014&eventid=747

Tough ones:

Camila Giorgi (ITA) v [13] Lucie Safarova (CZE)

[Q] Belinda Bencic (SUI) v [9] Ana Ivanovic (SRB)

[10] Jelena Jankovic (SRB) v Alize Cornet (FRA)

14] Flavia Pennetta (ITA) v Christina Mchale (USA)


Also in 2nd R, but not tomorrow:
E. Svitolina vs. M. Sharapova
Does anyone see an upset here?

 

[Chico]

Ana to continue what she started in Japan.

 

[Marius_Hancu]

That was a shocker yesterday:

Lin Zhu 6 3
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 3 3 Ret.

Zhu next for Halep -- guarantees center court, facing a Chinese

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Halep Off To Confident Start in Beijing
http://www.wtatennis.com/news/article/4178563/title/halep-off-to-confident-start-in-beijing

The full match is here:
Barbora Zahlavova Strycova vs Simona Halep R1 Beijing 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8ay7fIqxL8
in English

 

[ScentOfDefeat]

Halep Off To Confident Start in Beijing
http://www.wtatennis.com/news/article/4178563/title/halep-off-to-confident-start-in-beijing

Dude, I hope you're not jinxing Halep with all this coverage of her.

I really hope not.





Just kidding.

 

[pound cat]

I told you about it:

Ekaterina Makarova 6 8 6 6
Garbine Muguruza 7 10 4 4

Classy Garbine is out, makes me sad

I don't understand your scoring...

Mararova 6 6 6
Mugaruza 7 4 4

 

[Marius_Hancu]

I don't understand your scoring...

Mararova 6 6 6
Mugaruza 7 4 4

1 TB was included

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Ana to continue what she started in Japan.

Playing Belinda Bencic tonight and that might be a challenge

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Huge stadiums:

15,000
(National Tennis Stadium / Diamond Court)

10,000
(Lotus Court / Center Court)

4,000
(Moon Court / Court 1)

2,000
(Brad Drewett Court/ Court 2)

Ivanovic plays Bencic on Lotus court, which is spectacular but empty :-((

 

[JJGUY]

Ana took the 1st set 6:2, had the early break on the 2nd, leading 2:0 comfortably

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Ana took the 1st set 6:2, had the early break on the 2nd, leading 2:0 comfortably

Yes, no problems for her.

 

[cc0509]

Playing Belinda Bencic tonight and that might be a challenge

Please. Ana, who is no Steffi Graf, is making Bencic look average out there. I don't see what is so special about Bencic at all. She looks like another good player amongst many good women players.

 

[fundrazer]

Playing Belinda Bencic tonight and that might be a challenge

Nope. I am disappointed

 

[Chico]

Ivanovic - Bencic 62 61

An easy routine win for Ana. Expected better effort from Bencic.

 

[powerangle]

lol Aneres is playing so ********ly. A mess.

 

[JJGUY]

Serena grunting loudly now, you know what that means!

 

[JJGUY]

down to 0:5 and facing two set points at 15:40, Serena won 7 games in a row and took the first set 7:5, I swear I heard the collective "whew" sound around the world!

 

[Vanhool]

down to 0:5 and facing two set points at 15:40, Serena won 7 games in a row and took the first set 7:5, I swear I heard the collective "whew" sound around the world!

There was one in Hawaii!

 

[iri10]

Soler Espinosa finally stops the bleeding after 8 straight lost games.

Incidentally, if Serena had managed to bagel her in this set, it would have been the first time a woman won 13 straight games in a match in the Open Era. Oh well.

 

[Marius_Hancu]

down to 0:5 and facing two set points at 15:40, Serena won 7 games in a row and took the first set 7:5, I swear I heard the collective "whew" sound around the world!

that was something indeed

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Ivanovic - Bencic 62 61

An easy routine win for Ana. Expected better effort from Bencic.

Me too ...

 

[powerangle]

Par for the course in the end.

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Halep wins in doubles too. This is the kind of work she needs to come back in form, but let's see some volleys in singles now.

 

[Josh Lyman]

If Lisicki can keep the UEs down, she has a good chance of hitting through Genie.

 

[Josh Lyman]

Huge stadiums:

15,000
(National Tennis Stadium / Diamond Court)

10,000
(Lotus Court / Center Court)

4,000
(Moon Court / Court 1)

2,000
(Brad Drewett Court/ Court 2)

Ivanovic plays Bencic on Lotus court, which is spectacular but empty :-((

Even Li Na has not cultivated a culture of tennis in China.

 

[JJGUY]

you are not going to see a full stadium in the early rounds, they are just habitually not buying "those" tickets no matter who is playing.

Even Li Na has not cultivated a culture of tennis in China.

 

[JJGUY]

Cornet took the first set 7:5, I beleive JJ had the early break tho. Is Cornet determined to meet Serena for the 4th time this year?

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Confirming good form:

Jelena Jankovic 5 6 4
Alize Cornet 7 3 6

Kailin Zhang 4 1
Shuai Peng 6 6

Shuai Zhang 1 4
Caroline Garcia 6 6

Garcia plays again Venus tomorrow

Tomorrows OP:
http://www.wtatennis.com/SEWTATour-Archive/posting/2014/1020/OP.pdf

Lots of courts.

To watch on streaming:
Sharapova Svitolina - on National
Serena Pironkova - on National
Halep Lin Zhu - on Lotus
Bouchard Lisicki - on Moon

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Halep Zhu Lin tight
5 - 5 after Halep being a break up
Halep seems to have a hip/thigh prob
Now Halep breaks again and serves for the set
7-5 Halep

2nd set
Halep thigh bandage
break up, then loses it
3-2 Zhu, on serve
commentators wait a retirement by Halep, if she loses the set
but Halep breaks back
4-3 Halep, break up
6-4 Halep, the Chinese beat herself to the end, but
Halep hung in, perhaps things aren't so bad for her

Next Petkovic for Halep, and she better be ready

Zhu Lin, 20, has lots of power, a bit random now, might be a new Li Na

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Elina Svitolina 2 2
Maria Sharapova 6 6 Good result for her

Andrea Petkovic 6 6 Next Halep
Madison Keys 2 3

Roberta Vinci 6 6
Agnieszka Radwanska 4 4 LOOK HERE, Easier for Kvitova/Makarova
but Radwanska seems to have quite a cushion wrt Masters

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Bouchard is 1-2 to Lisicki, break down
both long sleeved, like Halep, seems cold
Lisicki slices a shot, too low for Bouchard

4-1 Lisicki after a new break
Bouchard seems low on power and inspiration, and Lisicki goes for it
great lob from Lisicki, plus ace for
5-1

Bouchard 6 DFs!!
5-2 Lisicki
Bouchard might be too tired after Wuhan

Bouchard has a bandage now applied to her left upper thigh
she's
6-2 2-0 down

Lisicki breaks again for
5-4, serving for the match
6-4 Lisicki

Bouchard is out and I wonder what her chances for Singapore are right now
Bouchard was unfortunately tired and hobbled
while Lisicki played a great match, including great serving

I'm looking at the live racing points and it seems that
mathematically speaking

Ivanovic and Wozniacki might overcome Bouchard

Kerber not even if she wins Beijing

but Radwanska losing means Bouchard has qualified
http://live-tennis.eu/wta-race
great performance for her in the end

 

[MichaelNadal]

C'mon Venus!!

 

[fundrazer]

Hmm. Didn't realize Lisicki was playing. Catch the last two games and Sabine only had to work for like 1 point. Would be awesome if she could win a tournament like this, but I can't recall her ever having a good result against a top player away from Wimbledon. Other than when she beat Wozy to win Charleston many years ago.

 

[DRII]

C'mon Venus!!

she got her revenge!

 

[Marius_Hancu]

Tomorrow's OP
http://www.atpworldtour.com/scores/schedule.aspx?year=2014&eventid=747

Kvitova is coming back: tough match against Shuai Peng
Sharapova vs Navarro, to whom she recently lost

Halep scheduled to play doubles -- we'll see if she does it, after the leg troubles today.
Serena has a break too.

 

[MichaelNadal]

she got her revenge!

Played pretty well too. I hope she goes deep here!

 

[Chico]

Ivanovic - Oprandi 64 62

Ivanovic continues with quality tennis.

 

[Brian11785]

This part of the season has been Aga's the past three seasons. A bad sign that she's losing early at all these events. Particularly to the likes of Vinci.