2019 China Open (Beijing) - WTA Premier Mandatory Thread

[D-Lite]

Lovely hug at the net between two of the nicest players on tour.

True sportsmanship.

Nice to see Barty having Kvitova's number the past 2 meetings considering she lost twice to her in Aus.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Nice win for Bertens over Svitolina.

Overtakes Bencic for #9 in the race to Shenzhen. A win over Barty would see her overtake Serena and Kvitova for #7.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Ouch, these withdrawals in Tianjin..

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1179934468879970304

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Wow what a match point. 24 shot rally.

Wozniacki has blown 4 match points. Insane.

From 6-1 to 6-5.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Wozniacki fights back from a break down in both sets to knock out Kasatkina.

Defending champ is back into the Beijing SF!

 

[Aussie Darcy]

That's 10 straight matches that Caroline has won in straight sets in Beijing

2018:
Bencic
Martic
Kontaveit
Siniakova
Wang
Sevastova

2019:
Davis
McHale
Siniakova
Kasatkina

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Caroline getting some much needed points. Defending champ, 1000 points come off and she was down to #35 in the world. Now at least at #30.

Was only at #57 in the race before this week, now up to #43

Up to #24 in the live rankings, down from 19 but was looking at dropping to #35.

Also up to #35 in the race, was at #57 before this week.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Looks like the YE#1 ranking is now between Barty and the winner of the Osaka/Andreescu match.

Pliskova doesn't appear to be playing any tournament before the YEC and is 1000 points behind Barty so won't catch her.
Halep is maybe the other threat, she's 1300 points behind Ash but she's on the entry list for Moscow. Has an injury cloud over her though.
Andreescu and Osaka are the threats. Neither are playing any tournaments pre YEC but both alive in Beijing so the winner has a shot.
Kvitova is over 1800 points behind Ash and she's only playing Linz (WTA international) so can't get enough to overtake her
Same story for Svitolina. She is playing Premier Moscow but is over 2300 points behind Barty.
Serena - non starter in the discussion.
Bertens can't quite get there even if she wins Beijing and Moscow and the YEC.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Very keen for this Andreescu v Osaka match.

Honestly happy with either player winning.

Let's have some great play from both players!

 

[helixx]

hype!!

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Osaka on a 7 match winning streak
Andreescu on a 17 match winning streak

One coming to the end.

Might be a controversial choice but I think Osaka might win this?

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Andreescu fighting early.

Osaka was 40-0 up. Now break point Bianca.

And she breaks. Man, Bianca is good.

 

[helixx]

Naomi broken from 40:0. Deadly slices from Bianca did the job

 

[helixx]

Bianca longest winning streak by teenager since Maria S. <3

 

[James P]

I legitimately have a hard time imagining Bianca losing to anybody right now, but Osaka is on the shortlist of people who could knock her down.

 

[helixx]

i was expecting it to be more competitive

double break

 

[mike danny]

Osaka's BH is not working. Bianca's DTL is clicking though She seems to be crushing her mentally too, punishing every mistake or softer ball.

 

[mike danny]

Minor blip or first sign of comeback?

 

[helixx]

naomi 2bb for 5:5. was down 5:2. good stuff

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Wow. From 5-1 to 5-5. Osaka delivering and Bianca just not.

 

[James P]

What an odd set. Welp, Bianca wins it 7-5.

 

[Dolgopolov85]

What an odd set. Welp, Bianca wins it 7-5.

Was kind of like Graf-Seles AO 99. Where Graf was off to a flying start and looked all set to win the first set when she went horribly off the boil and lost eight straight games. The scoreline was an odd 7-5 6-1 for Seles. Luckily for Andreescu, she regrouped just in time to clinch the first set, helped also by bad play from Osaka in those last two games.

 

[DRII]

Osaka's knee is obviously still bothering her.

she hasn't moved well since the beginning of the summer.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Osaka fighting hard now.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Holy **** that lob was in! Double break points for Osaka!

 

[Aussie Darcy]

4 games in a row for Osaka and she'll serve for the 2nd set. What a juicy 2nd set.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Huge serving and Osaka forces a 3rd!

 

[ScentOfDefeat]

I think only casual fans will forget this first encounter between the two young Slam champions.
Dedicated tennis fans will certainly not.
Great quality.

 

[James P]

Top tier match. Slam final caliber. Great win by Naomi.

 

[spystud]

That’s funny, trying to determine “dedicated” fans.

 

[DRII]

what a match...

I'm sure we'll be seeing plenty more from these two...

very evenly matched right now.

 

[DRII]

Naomi is like, uhm can I go now...


LOL

 

[sumithar]

Naomi Osaka is like, hey I was the cats' whiskers after the last USO, don't be so quick to anoint someone else! I liked how she dealt with Bianca's moonballs

 

[I Am Finnish]

What a last game DRAMA!!!! INTENSE!!!!

great fight from drama queen at the final game but unfortunately soon or later the winning streak will come to an end
You cant win it all hope she will skip moscow & win WTA finals
COME ON LETS GOOOOO!!!! DRAMA QUEEN!!!!!!


Osaka both a break down in set 2 and 3 but she fought back well deserved win

 

[MugOpponent]

Not too surprised. I kinda felt like Bianca might have some difficulty serving it out and while she's certainly good enough to get breaks, getting them a power server like Osaka is a tall task.

I honestly thought Bianca was going to find a way when she kept saving match points.

 

[ScentOfDefeat]

That’s funny, trying to determine “dedicated” fans.

I'm aware that nagging me with minutia is one of your favourite pastimes here, and that you can hardly resist a chance to find a problem/controversy where there is none to be found, but could you perhaps - for once - try to read me without presupposing a bad intention on my part?
It would be very useful for you, because I know you dislike long posts, and perhaps then I wouldn't need to explain myself to you as if I was talking to a 5-year-old.
But here it goes:

I do not assign a moral value to being dedicated or otherwise, nor do I think people should be more dedicated to watching tennis, everyone has their preference(s) when it comes to sports, hobbies or anything else.
One thing is for sure: some people watch and follow tennis more closely than others - I would call these dedicated fans.
Not better fans, not more valuable fans, just more dedicated.
And yes, I think those fans will be most likely to remember this match because they follow the sport more closely than a casual fan, who will most likely only take notice when they meet in Slam semifinals or finals.
You willingly "misunderstand" me because you don't like me - I get it.
We all get it.

Now go bother someone else.

 

[chicagodude]

Nice win for Bertens over Svitolina.

Overtakes Bencic for #9 in the race to Shenzhen. A win over Barty would see her overtake Serena and Kvitova for #7.

Nice (and somewhat unexpected) win for Kiki and a big step towards a final berth again. If she manages to beat Barty (a tall order but who knows) she is virtually guaranteed a spot as I the only way for both Bencic and Svitolina to overtake her would be if Bencic wins Moscow and Svitolina also goes pretty far.

But, if Kiki loses top Barty, all comes down to Moscow as Bencic, Kiki, and Svitolina are all slated to play there (looks like Bencic asked for and received a WC).

 

[mike danny]

Not too surprised. I kinda felt like Bianca might have some difficulty serving it out and while she's certainly good enough to get breaks, getting them a power server like Osaka is a tall task.

I honestly thought Bianca was going to find a way when she kept saving match points.

I honestly find this tendency of not consolidating leads a bit worrying. She pushes so hard to get the break and then backs off on her own serve. And I wouldn't consider Osaka a great returner, many were Bianca's mistakes. It happened at USO as well, she was lucky Serena could not capitalize the comeback in the second set.

Probably it's something that she will overcome by experience, but it's one of the first things to improve from now on.

 

[ibbi]

Can't believe I missed this blockbuster faceoff (Not talking about Barty-Kvitova) Was it really good?! Tell me everything!

If Bianca's streak had to end then it's good I guess that it ended against a legit class player, and not in some damp squib on her part.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Osaka on a 7 match winning streak
Andreescu on a 17 match winning streak

One coming to the end.

Might be a controversial choice but I think Osaka might win this?

Looked a good choice. Go Osaka! Halts Andreescu’s winning streak.

 

[MugOpponent]

I honestly find this tendency of not consolidating leads a bit worrying. She pushes so hard to get the break and then backs off on her own serve. And I wouldn't consider Osaka a great returner, many were Bianca's mistakes. It happened at USO as well, she was lucky Serena could not capitalize the comeback in the second set.

Probably it's something that will be overcome by experience, but it's one of the first things to improve from now on.

I think that's true and while I love Bianca, she does play a lot of high leverage service games where she finds herself in danger but manages to escape through mental toughness. The real strength is that she breaks easily so she's always in a set even when it doesn't appear to be the case.(see the Bencic SF) Truthfully in retrospect, Osaka isn't a great match-up for her at all because Osaka has the serve and the power to hit through Bianca better than nearly any player I can think of. Still it took everything Osaka had to advance to come from behind a set and down a break twice.

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

I think only casual fans will forget this first encounter between the two young Slam champions.
Dedicated tennis fans will certainly not.
Great quality.

Sadly it's play on unfriendly hour for me and it's a different feeling watching replay of a good match it seems.

 

[Beacon Hill]

Bianca just missed a backhand return winner down the line to break back to 5-5. She likely has a better than 50/50 chance of winning the match if that goes in. It was a very close match.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

We're close to another blockbuster match, this time in the final between French Open champ Barty and Aus Open champ Osaka.

The two have played twice before but both matches were before their slam winning days (Aus Open 2018 and Nottingham 2018).

I'd be happy with any of the four possible finals:
Barty v Osaka
Barty v Wozniacki
Bertens v Osaka
Bertens v Wozniacki

The Beijing draw has unfolded quite nicely unlike Wuhan which no offense to the players but got quite boring after the 3R.

 

[I Am Finnish]

Bianca just missed a backhand return winner down the line to break back to 5-5. She likely has a better than 50/50 chance of winning the match if that goes in. It was a very close match.

The return error I knew it was end of the road

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

We're close to another blockbuster match, this time in the final between French Open champ Barty and Aus Open champ Osaka.

The two have played twice before but both matches were before their slam winning days (Aus Open 2018 and Nottingham 2018).

I'd be happy with any of the four possible finals:
Barty v Osaka
Barty v Wozniacki
Bertens v Osaka
Bertens v Wozniacki

The Beijing draw has unfolded quite nicely unlike Wuhan which no offense to the players but got quite boring after the 3R.

Anyone other than Wozniacki for me.

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

The return error I knew it was end of the road

Flying backhand of Osaka give me life tho.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Anyone other than Wozniacki for me.

I’m just so happy to see her back, I really started to think she was done and near retirement. Don’t think she is winning another slam but if she can get back to top 10 and still win titles I’ll be very happy.

 

[CrackedRacquet]

I’m just so happy to see her back, I really started to think she was done and near retirement. Don’t think she is winning another slam but if she can get back to top 10 and still win titles I’ll be very happy.

Is she back though? I think she had an extremely kind draw to the SFs here.

I expect Naomi to dispatch her comfortably..

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Is she back though? I think she had an extremely kind draw to the SFs here.

I expect Naomi to dispatch her comfortably..

Yes her draw was easy but she's still won 4 matches in a row, all in straight sets. One against Kasatkina who had won their last 2 meetings.
Considering some of her recent losses include: Zhang, Swiatek and Kudermetova. Making a Premier Mandatory SF is pretty good.