2016 WTA Eastbourne

[spystud]

48-player Premier, starts today (Sunday).

Draw pdf

Aga/Vinci/Bencic (defending champ)/Bacsinszky top 4 seeds, but top 16 all get 1st-round byes.

Strycova/CoCo (if she doesn't withdraw) play each other again immediately after their Birmingham SF. Belinda had a thigh injury last week, we'll see how long she sticks around too.

 

[spystud]

Strycova/CoCo (if she doesn't withdraw) play each other again immediately after their Birmingham SF.

And the winner of this gets Aga. Could be interesting...

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Some real good first round matches:
Rise of the youngsters. Kasatkina v Ostapenko.
Cornet v Wozniacki. So weird seeing Caro unseeded in such a large draw.
Strycova v Vandeweghe.


Great potential R2 matches:
Makarova v Vinci
Petko v Errani
Gavrilova v Pliskova
Wozniacki or Cornet v Stosur
Strycova or Coco v Aga

 

[spystud]

Woz/Babos/Mladenovic all win early.

 

[spystud]

Ostapenko closes out the day.


And Keys/Strycova/CoCo all withdraw, draw is updated in OP.

 

[fundrazer]

I hope Belinda's feeling okay. I don't think she'll be defending her title, but I'd like to see her win a few matches and have some confidence for Wimbledon.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Good win for Caro over Cornet. Can definitely see her beating Stosur who's always been quite mediocre on grass. Crazy that Caro will be unseeded at Wimbledon. First time since 2008 I think I read somewhere.

 

[spystud]

Lost a bunch with rain today.

Elena Vesnina (RUS) d Heather Watson (GBR) | 6 - 2 | 6 - 3
[Q] Monica Puig (PUR) d [WC] Naomi Broady (GBR) | 6 - 1 | 6 - 1
Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) d [WC] Tara Moore (GBR) | 7 - 5 | 6 - 4
Andrea Petkovic (GER) d [L] Saisai Zheng (CHN) | 5 - 7 | 6 - 2 | 6 - 4
Eugenie Bouchard (CAN) d [Q] Varvara Lepchenko (USA) | 6 - 1 | 6 - 2

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Great win for Bouchard after an embarrassing loss last week. Let's see how she goes next round. Got lucky in drawing Begu as a seed but who knows with Genie.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

This match between Kvitova and Babos is so close. Petra hitting the lines so well.

And Babos double faults to give Petra a 5-4 lead in the TB. 2 serves for Petra now.
Back on serve with such a good point by Babos! 5-5
Match point Kvitova. Babos serve though

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Petra wins, yet again with a stunning winner just getting on the line. So good by the 2x Wimbledon champ.

 

[hawk eye]

The Woz playing well against Stostur atm and 6-2 3-0 in front.

 

[ScentOfDefeat]

Nothing like a match against Stosur to bring any player's confidence back.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

It's not hard to beat Sam on grass. She's always been shocking, her Wimbledon match last year against Coco was one of the worst matches I've seen.

Surprised she even bothered to play in Eastbourne.

Good draw for Caro now, with Keys' withdrawal she faces a qualifier in the 3R (Puig) and unsure what's after that.

 

[PeteD]

Konta up a set, survives 1st game of second set.

 

[spystud]

Vesnina beats Bencic in two breakers to close the day.


All of today's results in one easy link...

http://www.wtatennis.com/scores-and-stats

 

[Gytha]

I just wanna see Konta get more than 1 win in a row lol.

edit - Oh, Kvitova next

 

[Aussie Darcy]

So many seeds out

Vinci out to Makarova (not a bad loss, Makarova former top 10 recent years)
Errani out to Petko (also not a bad loss, Petko former top 10 recent years)
Defending champ Bencic loses to Vesnina. (Vesnina won the title here in 2013 so not a bad loss I guess)
Pavs out to Brengle (Pavs is inconsistent, no defense there)
Suarez out to Doi (this one is a shock?? anyone catch this one?)
Stosur out to Caro (not a bad loss, Caro former number 1 and Stosur sucks on grass)
Safarova out to Friedsam (surprised, what happened here?)
Bacsinszky out to Mladenovic (not too bad, Kiki is on a roll lately)
Kuzzy out to Bondarenko (also a shock?)
Begu out to Bouchard (also not a shock, Bouchard was the fav to win that one)

Only 5 seeds make it to the 3R lol.

 

[PeteD]

Stosur out to Caro (not a bad loss, Caro former number 1 and Stosur sucks on grass)

Stosur played like she was in a fog half the time, popping meatballs as for hitting practice.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Errani hasn't won a match since Charleston in April.
2.5 months..
6 match losing streak.

 

[Mainad]

So many seeds out

Vinci out to Makarova (not a bad loss, Makarova former top 10 recent years)
Errani out to Petko (also not a bad loss, Petko former top 10 recent years)
Defending champ Bencic loses to Vesnina. (Vesnina won the title here in 2013 so not a bad loss I guess)
Pavs out to Brengle (Pavs is inconsistent, no defense there)
Suarez out to Doi (this one is a shock?? anyone catch this one?)
Stosur out to Caro (not a bad loss, Caro former number 1 and Stosur sucks on grass)
Safarova out to Friedsam (surprised, what happened here?)
Bacsinszky out to Mladenovic (not too bad, Kiki is on a roll lately)
Kuzzy out to Bondarenko (also a shock?)
Begu out to Bouchard (also not a shock, Bouchard was the fav to win that one)

Only 5 seeds make it to the 3R lol.

Wonder why Sam sucks on grass? I still tend to think of Aussies as natural grasscourt players (although I guess there are not many grasscourts left in Oz apart from Kooyong?).
On the plus side, glad to see Woz beginning to show some form again!

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Wonder why Sam sucks on grass? I still tend to think of Aussies as natural grasscourt players (although I guess there are not many grasscourts left in Oz apart from Kooyong?).
On the plus side, glad to see Woz beginning to show some form again!

Her games more suited to clay, it's funny we have like no clay courts so her being good on that has always puzzled fans. We are usually best on grass or hard court. I always played on hard courts growing up, never grass or clay.

 

[PeteD]

Her games more suited to clay, it's funny we have like no clay courts so her being good on that has always puzzled fans. We are usually best on grass or hard court. I always played on hard courts growing up, never grass or clay.

I grew up on clay, summer camp courts - clay is the cheapest to build and maintain, so that's what we got

 

[ScentOfDefeat]

Ugh, very difficult to watch Bartoli right now.

 

[spystud]

Kristina Mladenovic (FRA) d Anna-Lena Friedsam (GER) | 6 - 4 | 7 - 6 (4)
[Q] Monica Puig (PUR) d Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) | 4 - 6 | 6 - 3 | 6 - 4
Elena Vesnina (RUS) d [Q] Madison Brengle (USA) | 7 - 6 (2) | 6 - 4
[11] Johanna Konta (GBR) d [5] Petra Kvitova (CZE) | 5 - 7 | 6 - 4 | 6 - 0
[12] Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) d [Q] Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR) | 7 - 6 (3) | 6 - 3
[1] Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d Eugenie Bouchard (CAN) | 6 - 3 | 6 - 3

Petko up 1-0 early over Makarova, & Karolina up 6-2, 4-3 over Doi, to be finished tomorrow.


Helluva result for Miss Konta.

 

[Gytha]

Wow, Jo Ko fed Petra a bagel

 

[ScentOfDefeat]

Ugh, Petra. Just retire.

 

[bitcoinoperated]

Wow, Jo Ko fed Petra a bagel

BBC feed cut out after the second set and came back at 4-0 to see her clinch 5-0. Wtf happened?

 

[spystud]

Highlights of Konta's match in this link.

http://www.wtatennis.com/news/article/5672459/title/konta-conquers-kvitova-in-comeback

 

[Aussie Darcy]

While i'm disheartened to see Petra doing bad, it's great to see Konta backing up on her Aus Open SF run. I won't lie, I thought she wouldn't do much after then but she proved me wrong. Premier Mandatory Miami QF, Premier Mandatory Indian Wells 4R, Premier 5 Rome 3R (top 10 win over Vinci), and now bagelling Petra to reach Eastbourne QF!

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Also of course Caroline blew her chance at a good run here and lost to Puig. Puig now faces unseeded Kiki for a spot in the SF. Good points on offer. Could've been Caro..

Aga v Cibulkova should be good, rematch of the Madrid Masters first match where Cibby stunned her on her to way to the final. They've already met on clay (Madrid) and Hard (Indian Wells) this year, now grass!
Kiki v Puig...
Vesnina v Pliskova or Doi. Likely Pliskova. Vesnina having a great year after her premier final earlier!
Konta v Makarova or Petko. Good match either way!

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Also quite an upset with Rodionova/Jurak defeating Hingis/Mirza in straight sets to reach the SF! Will face either 3rd seeds Makarova/Vesnina or unseeded Gronefeld/Peschke
Bottom SF is 4th seeds Babos/Shvedova v 2nd seeds Chan sisters

 

[Aussie Darcy]

New career high for Puig at 38 in the world. Could be higher if she beats Kiki.
Cibulkova back into top 20 at 20th, could be higher depending on how far she goes.
Ostapenko new career high 32nd.

Bencic drops out of the top 10 down 5 spots to 13th as a result of doing a **** job at defending her title points.
Keys jumps to new career high 9th despite doing nothing this week.
Kvitova jumps back into top 10 at 10th despite her bagel.

 

[PeteD]

Puig survives, barely. She sets up points but when she gets a weak return to her forehand, she pushes. Served well and BH was solid.

 

[MatsPhilander]

Came back to find Cibulkova talking about sniffing balls.

 

[yharzu]

I grew up on clay, summer camp courts - clay is the cheapest to build and maintain, so that's what we got

what

 

[spystud]

Has there ever been a tourney just straight rained out? Wouldn't be the worst idea to call this one.

 

[PeteD]

Has there ever been a tourney just straight rained out? Wouldn't be the worst idea to call this one.

Tomorrow supposed to be sunny all day

 

[spystud]

And there's the jinx.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Aga will want to be careful not to be too tired before Wimbledon.

 

[PeteD]

Does the postponement mean Monica will get extra rest or would they put her on tomorrow?

 

[spystud]

Everybody plays.

Friday's OoP

 

[ScentOfDefeat]

Radwanska seems to be cursed this season. The weather screwing up everything for her.

 

[tacou]

Wow what a volley from domi

 

[PeteD]

How do you pick a fave between Konta and Makarova? Two of the loveliest people on tour. Guess I have to go with Konta though, she has that unique serve stance like she's doing English longbow.

 

[ScentOfDefeat]

How do you pick a fave between Konta and Makarova? Two of the loveliest people on tour. Guess I have to go with Konta though, she has that unique serve stance like she's doing English longbow.

It's an awful motion!

 

[PeteD]

It's an awful motion!

It did the job! Photo from last round:

 

[MatsPhilander]

Hilarious challenge.

 

[MatsPhilander]

What the hell is going on?

 

[Gytha]

What the eff is going on?? Tuned in and Jo is crying and someone is screaming??