2021 WTA Chicago Fall Tennis Classic

Steffi-forever

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The 2021 Chicago Fall Tennis Classic is the 1st edition of the event on the 2021 WTA Tour due to the cancellation of the Asian tournaments because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.The event will take place at XS Tennis and Education Foundation in Chicago, United States from 27 September to 3 October 2021

*There was a previous Chicago tournament on the WTA between 1971 and 1997 known as The Ameritech Cup (1995-1997), Virginia Slims of Chicago (1971-1978, 1983-1994) and the Avon Championships of Chicago (1979-1982). It was abolished in 1997 where Lindsay Davenport beat Nathalie Tauziat 6-0, 7-5 to win the title.
The tournament was classified as Tier III in 1988-1989, Tier I in 1990 and Tier II until 1997, and was played on indoor carpet courts.
 

fundrazer

G.O.A.T.
Thinking Cornet over Yastremska tomorrow. Odds are nice for Cornet. Yastremska has been super inconsistent since her return, and is 1-6 on hard courts I think. Strange thing in her matches though is in a lot of them she is dropping the first set, winning the 2nd, and never winning the third set.

Of course, Cornet is also a bit of a choker, but she's been in some better form recently I think. I think I am going to take this one, but waiting to see on the odds for the rest of them. From tomorrow's matches I am looking at Kostyuk and Kudermetova in particular. Thinking about Vondrousova too, but her matchup is one of the tougher ones.
 

Harry_Wild

G.O.A.T.
Clijsters v. Hsieh will be, um, something. If Kim even makes it to first ball.

"I've been practicing for a long time so I'm excited to start playing matches again," Clijsters told reporters during her pre-tournament press conference in Chicago. "That's the reason I'm here, to play more matches so I can slowly build my level and get more match rhythm and match routine under my belt.
"I feel like in practice I'm doing a lot of things well and I'm getting fitting and stronger. Now it's just a matter of trying to get enough matches."
The four-time major champion has described her decision to return to the tour as "her marathon". While her friends are training to run marathons before they turn 40, Clijsters is pounding the pavement on tour."

https://www.wtatennis.com/news/2272...-andy-murray-as-comeback-kicks-off-in-chicago

Kim suppose to be in pretty good shape! I think she could win it! Weak player list, no Serena, no Ash, no Osaka, no Sabelanka, no Halep! I do not expect her to however since it only her 1st match after a long layoff!
 
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fundrazer

G.O.A.T.
Cornet probably needed to build up a bigger lead considering she had chances in all of Yastremska's service games. As it is, she only converts one and isn't able to hold her on serve at 3-2.

3 straight games for Yastremska. Cornet was probably an inch or two away from having 2 more chances, one Yastremska had a backhand winner clip the line at 15-30.
 

fundrazer

G.O.A.T.
Kimmie doesn't look to be in great physical shape, but her ballstriking is maybe going to be too good for Hsieh.

2-0 after a double fault from Hsieh.
 

ScentOfDefeat

G.O.A.T.
Did anyone notice Garcia losing to Hontana (on her debut)?
A sorry sight: straight sets loss, a bagel in the second, and match point was a double fault where the second service landed outside the baseline.
What is going on with Garcia?
 

James P

G.O.A.T.
With a few more matches, Clijsters will be moving back up to her top 20 rankings in near future!
I think it's going to take a lot more than "a few more matches," hyperbole aside. Won't judge her on one match, but doesn't bode well that she's unable to win a match against someone barely inside the top 100. Someone similarly aged, as well.
 

Harry_Wild

G.O.A.T.
I think it's going to take a lot more than "a few more matches," hyperbole aside. Won't judge her on one match, but doesn't bode well that she's unable to win a match against someone barely inside the top 100. Someone similarly aged, as well.
Serena and RF probably resent your comment!
 

Harry_Wild

G.O.A.T.
I think it's going to take a lot more than "a few more matches," hyperbole aside. Won't judge her on one match, but doesn't bode well that she's unable to win a match against someone barely inside the top 100. Someone similarly aged, as well.

High of 23 in the world!
 

fundrazer

G.O.A.T.
Oooof. Bad calls by me today. Now Kostyuk 2-0 is kaput. Up a set and a break, gives it up. Serving at 3-4 15-0 and serves 3 doubles in a row and then a backhand error to let Kozlova serve for the set.

Cashout was probably the play after she won the first set....Kozlova playing decently well and Kostyuk had to come back from down a break to push it to a tiebreaker. Looked like Kozlova was mailing it when she gave up the break in the 2nd set though.

0/2 after a 6/7 week last week. Good start!
 

fundrazer

G.O.A.T.
Didn't go on Vondrousova either and she's cruising. 6-2 set and Tomljanovic doesn't really seem to have a way to get the ball past her.
 

fundrazer

G.O.A.T.
So what's on the table tomorrow...

My bet against Zhang Shuai last week didn't pan out as she really pushed Putintseva in that one. Unfortunately for her, I don't think she's going to be able to do the same tomorrow. Azarenka has never lost to her, and I would expect another straightforward win. Under 19.5 games and 2-0 in a parlay.

Maybe a little riskier, but I'm also going with Martincova in straights over Osorio Sorrano. Colombian is not great on hard courts (destroyed by Jabeur in the US Open 0 and 1) and Martincova has shown some good form lately.

Teichmann over Kanepi in straights. More confident in this one. Teichmann has been pretty solid since that Cincinnati run, and overall I don't expect her to have too much trouble with Kanepi. Kanepi been serving decently well, but that's about it from what I've seen.
 

fundrazer

G.O.A.T.
Didn't quite expect this good of a start for Teichmann. Kanepi is hanging in some of these rallies pretty well and looks to be hitting a decent ball. Maybe a few too many unforced errors though.
 

fundrazer

G.O.A.T.
One thing I'll say about this tournament though. A lot of close calls or even cases where the umpire has to overall line calls. Maybe they have a challenge system on the "stadium" court, but I don't like the fact that they don't have anything for the outer courts.

Back to the Teichmann match. One of those cases where if her level drops off too much then she may find herself in trouble. Should definitely get through this first set, but it looks like Kanepi will get at least one of the breaks back.
 

fundrazer

G.O.A.T.
Teichmann collapsing. Was up 5-0 and now it's 5-4 with Kanepi serving to even things.

More errors from Teichmann and not as many from Kanepi.
 

fundrazer

G.O.A.T.
More complicated then it probably should have been, but Teichmann wins the first set in a tiebreaker. Helped out by some Kanepi double faults in the breaker. Think she had two, including on Teichmann's second set point.
 

Moose Malloy

G.O.A.T.
One thing I'll say about this tournament though. A lot of close calls or even cases where the umpire has to overall line calls. Maybe they have a challenge system on the "stadium" court, but I don't like the fact that they don't have anything for the outer courts.

Back to the Teichmann match. One of those cases where if her level drops off too much then she may find herself in trouble. Should definitely get through this first set, but it looks like Kanepi will get at least one of the breaks back.

This tournament was only announced last month because the asian swing was cancelled. There is no challenge system on any courts. There aren't even any lights(hence 9 am start)
I think its a bit unrealistic to expect Hawkeye, this tournament is a one-off, it won't be back next year, doubt they had any funds or time to install such a costly system.. Doubt there are many sponsors. Basically no promotion so most fans in area don't know it exists. It will almost certainly lose money, players should be grateful they have an opportunity to earn some points and cash. Covid may permanently downsize both tours, its not feasible to constantly cancel and create new tournaments on short notice to replace them and expect them to succeed.
 

fundrazer

G.O.A.T.
Coco has been a terrible player this year, thus her playing a terrible match isn't all that surprising. She did play a few good matches last week or so though, which was the only reason why I didn't take Linette in straights. Although it was probably still a good play since Linette has been pretty good this year.

Meanwhile, Teichmann up a break in the 2nd after saving 3 chances on her own serve. Aaaand she consolidated for 4-2 and just got first point on Kanepi's serve. Hopefully she can turn the screws and just finish it.
 

fundrazer

G.O.A.T.
Well now Kanepi throws in a clunker service game and gets broken at love. Teichmann serving for it. Only thing is that it sounds like the end she'll be serving from is the trickier one with the sun. It did look like she was trying to alter her service toss to account for it though. Was going for more kick it looked like and it seemed to work when she got the ball up high to Kanepi forehand.

Definitely want to close it out right now though instead of going to a breaker.
 

fundrazer

G.O.A.T.
Damn...that ended up being a lot tougher than I thought. Kanepi did come up with some good tennis at times though. Just had some really bad moments in the first set breaker and especially in the latter end of this second set. Was broken her last two serve games or two of the last 3. Not sure. Really good from Teichmann to not lose her composure though after dropping leads in the first set and again in the 2nd.

I'm happy to get on the board myself too. Was worried about this one cause Kostyuk also lost from a set and a break up.
 

fundrazer

G.O.A.T.
Martincova a bit sloppy in this one. Squandered an early break lead and might be doing the same again. Way too many unforced errors.

She's gonna be able to break pretty reliably in this match, but no reason to throw away points with such poor errors. Especially considering your opponent is not going to hurt you that much in any of the rallies.
 

fundrazer

G.O.A.T.
Anisimova dishes out a bagel. Nice. Was wondering if she'd build on her US Open form. Had the tough loss to Pliskova there but showed signs of her old self.

Meanwhile, Osorio Serrano avoids going down the double break. Martincova hasn't had a lot of pressure on her serve in a while though. Doesn't seem bothered at all by these slices that Maria mixes in either.
 

fundrazer

G.O.A.T.
I'm even having to sweat this one out. lmao.

Chances for double break, doesn't convert. Drops serve at love. Match point at 5-4 on Osorio Serrano's serve, loses 3 points in a row. Pushed to deuce on her service games but holds. 6-5 now. Maria has settled on her serve though and hasn't made any double faults in a while.

Well there's double fault #11
 

fundrazer

G.O.A.T.
Well Martincova breaks for the match. 2-0 on the day is a good turnaround from yesterday. Just waiting on that Azarenka one now. And in the meantime I need to work on writing these test cases for work :laughing:

Have Yastremska and Mertens on one of my monitors though. That one could be a sloppy match...I didn't touch it. Will shift to the Azarenka match when it comes on.
 

fundrazer

G.O.A.T.
Good from Mertens to go up the double break. Cornet should have been in this exact spot yesterday.

Also potentially a bunch of Giorgi pickers going to lose in the sudden death pool. Ruse was doing really well at some of the lower tier events this summer. Forget if she got through qualies for US Open or not.
 

fundrazer

G.O.A.T.
Well now...even I didn't see that coming. Zhang totally donates her first service game to Azarenka. I'm not going to complain though!
 
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