2021 WTA Western & Southern Open Cincinnati

[volleyandfun]

Game is on, WOW, what a line up!

Here is the draw

2021 Western & Southern Open – Women's singles - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Once the qualies are in, I'll make a poll.

 

[dumb-person]

1, 3 and 4 sections are great and stacked

second with Svitolina and Swiatek weaker and very open so i can see Sakkari or Jabeur winning it

 

[volleyandfun]

1, 3 and 4 sections are great and stacked

second with Svitolina and Swiatek weaker and very open so i can see Sakkari or Jabeur winning it

If you consider results from Montreal, nothing is predictable.

 

[fundrazer]

Maaan. Fk me. Riske is cursed for me. Bet for her, she loses. Bet against her, she wins. Never again. In hindsight there were much better choices too. Namely that Krejcikova match. Blaaah.

Looks like Badosa had a nice fightback against Martic, 11-9 in third set breaker. Good for her.

 

[HarveyPitnik]

Maybe it's just me, but I'm not happy that Olympic finalists meet here in the first round!?!

 

[Deleted member 771911]

Someone completely random no doubt, but maybe has sprung up on the radar a time or two over the last decade.

 

[ttwreader]

Tokyo Olympic women's final rematch:

Marketa Vondrousova vs Belinda Bencic

Last match of the day today on Stadium 3.

 

[volleyandfun]

Drying up the courts now, play will soon resume.

 

[volleyandfun]

Maybe it's just me, but I'm not happy that Olympic finalists meet here in the first round!?!

American conspiracy !

 

[fundrazer]

Saw who I thought looked to be Tursunov in Kontaveit's box, and sure enough they seem to have partnered up! I like both of them so I hope he's able to coach her to some good wins.

 

[ttwreader]

After winning Montreal a couple of days ago, Giorgi lost in straight sets to Pegula 1st round in Cincy.

 

[flyingboris]

Tokyo Olympic women's final rematch:

Marketa Vondrousova vs Belinda Bencic

Last match of the day today on Stadium 3.

Getting started now.

Edit: .... aaaaaand done, Bencic wins 6-3 7-5

 

[fundrazer]

Sloane seems to be spinning in all of her first serves. Injury related or just going for consistency?

 

[fundrazer]

Nice choke by Sloane in that breaker. Up 6-3, first point she gets a pretty easy forehand and sends it wide. Had 4 set points in total I think.

 

[elkwood]

Anyone else catch the catty vs Yastremska match.

 

[ttwreader]

Cori Gauff vs. Naomi Osaka

Second match on Center Court (not before 11:00AM EDT)

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

Here for the juicy match Gauff vs Osaka.

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

Anyone else catch the catty vs Yastremska match.

Yastremska really giving IDGAF energy after all that she been through lol. She be like "I survived covid TWICE and got banned from competition that lifted, I really don't care"

Catty mouthing "What a b" lol.

 

[fundrazer]

Mertens may end up being a doubles specialist soon. Wouldn't be a bad loss losing to Rybakina, but some poor singles results lately. Had that one final in Dubai earlier in the year I guess..

Set and a break down to Rybakina. 3-6, 0-1.

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

Kerber finally snatch a win against Svitolina after 5 years!

 

[ttwreader]

Gauff's up a break. 5-4 1st set.

 

[Mr.Lob]

Golf takes the first set.

 

[ttwreader]

1st set for Gauff.

 

[Devil_dog]

Coco looking crisp.

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

Girl, it doesn't work (Naomi 2nd serve super aggressive return).

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

Mertens may end up being a doubles specialist soon. Wouldn't be a bad loss losing to Rybakina, but some poor singles results lately. Had that one final in Dubai earlier in the year I guess..

Set and a break down to Rybakina. 3-6, 0-1.

She will be Vesnina in this gen maybe. Still competing in singles but big titles come from dubs.

 

[ttwreader]

Coco broke again. Naomi is in trouble.

 

[Mr.Lob]

Osaka breaks back

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

Osaka finally stops standing midway service line and baseline when receiving.

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

Important hold for Gauff, 3-all.

 

[Mr.Lob]

Golf over par. Double fault gives Osaka a chance to serve for set

 

[ttwreader]

Coco's serves were too bad. Many DFs.

 

[Mr.Lob]

Osaka lazy on that Golf floater

 

[Mr.Lob]

Osaka takes 2nd set

 

[ttwreader]

Osaka lazy on that Golf floater

That looks funny

 

[Pavla]

These rain interruptions are driving me nuts.

 

[Deleted member 771911]

I think Osaka probably wants out of there tbh

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

Was an okay match. Teichmann could beat Naomi in the next round.

 

[Devil_dog]

Azarenka changed her grunt, didn't she? I kinda like it. lol

 

[Mark-Touch]

Ruud slays the giant!

 

[flyingboris]

Jabeur Swiatek getting started. Who takes it? I'm thinking Jabeur.

 

[Mark-Touch]

Jabeur Swiatek getting started. Who takes it? I'm thinking Jabeur.

Good call. What's the story with Swiatek? Is she a one trick pony on clay?

 

[flyingboris]

Good call. What's the story with Swiatek? Is she a one trick pony on clay?

Not sure, I just recently saw Jabeur play really well, and get the sense that Swiatek can still get a little bit lost/disheartened. I'm sure she'll grow out of that, but for now she comes across as a little shaky sometimes.

 

[Kralingen]

Good call. What's the story with Swiatek? Is she a one trick pony on clay?

You know, it’s probably not that she’s a one trick pony on clay as much as she is just a really poor server at this stage. She hits like 50% first serves in and her serves are easily attackable for strong baseliners, and she has to expend a ton of energy on her service games as a result.

On clay this isn’t an issue bc she a) can break back just as easily and b) the relative serve advantage is lessened for everyone. Overall she still does have a great potential but the serve is going to either turn her into a perennial World #1 or doom her to clay success only. I fear it’s going to be the latter.

 

[volleyandfun]

You know, it’s probably not that she’s a one trick pony on clay as much as she is just a really poor server at this stage. She hits like 50% first serves in and her serves are easily attackable for strong baseliners, and she has to expend a ton of energy on her service games as a result.

On clay this isn’t an issue bc she a) can break back just as easily and b) the relative serve advantage is lessened for everyone. Overall she still does have a great potential but the serve is going to either turn her into a perennial World #1 or doom her to clay success only. I fear it’s going to be the latter.

During her 2018 junior Wimbledon run she was serving 10x better, hitting aces left and right.
Back then she was hitting 115mph serves.
I don't know what happened since, her serve is terrible now.

 

[Kralingen]

During her 2018 junior Wimbledon run she was serving 10x better, hitting aces left and right.
Back then she was hitting 115mph serves.
I don't know what happened since, her serve is terrible now.

Prof pic relevant lol

It was definitely acceptable possibly even good at the ‘20 French Open. She seems to have very little confidence in following it and if she’s broken once it’s almost a guarantee she will fall apart a bit and get broken again in the match.

Hope she can sort it because I really do enjoy her game and think she has massive potential.

 

[dumb-person]

Not sure, I just recently saw Jabeur play really well, and get the sense that Swiatek can still get a little bit lost/disheartened. I'm sure she'll grow out of that, but for now she comes across as a little shaky sometimes.

Unfortunately one trick pony. Lack of reliable serve, return and forehand that can sustain power and depth. She will be good on clay, unlikely she will be a thing outside.

 

[jmnk]

It's not really a serve problem, it's a head problem - which might be actually even worse. She was playing doubles about an hour after her singles match and she was serving way better. I mean she is never going to win a lot of points on her serve outright - but at least it was a decent offering during the doubles match. When playing singles she _knows_ her serve is bad, she misses a ton of first serves, that makes her tense even more, which causes her to serve even worse, which affects her entire game. During doubles Mattek seems to be a great help for help mental wise, she keeps Iga loose. It also seems Iga is not that used to playing with fans around, and if things do not go well it just snowballs. it's a problem, hard to say what will happen.

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

Jabeur can beat anyone on tour it seems. She's very Kuznetsova-esque but more explosive.

 

[volleyandfun]

It's not really a serve problem, it's a head problem - which might be actually even worse. She was playing doubles about an hour after her singles match and she was serving way better. I mean she is never going to win a lot of points on her serve outright - but at least it was a decent offering during the doubles match. When playing singles she _knows_ her serve is bad, she misses a ton of first serves, that makes her tense even more, which causes her to serve even worse, which affects her entire game. During doubles Mattek seems to be a great help for help mental wise, she keeps Iga loose. It also seems Iga is not that used to playing with fans around, and if things do not go well it just snowballs. it's a problem, hard to say what will happen.

Agree, this crying stuff after losing a match (Konjuh in Miami, Badosa in Tokyo)
She has all these coaches and they are not doing their jobs.