WTA week of 02/05 - Abu Dhabi (500) and Linz (250)

coolcamden

Hall of Fame
Quinwen [29] v Daria [8]. I guess I knew she had a chance, but 6-1 6-2 is a bit more of a beatdown than I expected!
A lot of people on her are quick to call a new face the next ATG, (read the posts on A Parks), but the next great player is very hard to come by, especially with the recent parity in the women’s game. I feel QZ has all the tools to be really good. Speed, power, skills, strength, mental attitude. There are holes, but I see her going far.
 

coolcamden

Hall of Fame
BSquare FTW.
Bút BMH played like crap tho. Bencic basically didn’t need to do anything, just don’t blow it. And she didn’t.
Now QZ and Samso. 2 explosive power players… Samso may be a little more steady, a LITTLE….
 

ScottleeSV

Hall of Fame
Sakkari...sigh

Tough one to call tomorrow in Abu Dhabi. Samsonova leads the h2h 3-0 but Bencic looks the better player this week. Coin toss. Or maybe just slightly for Samsonova still.
 

coolcamden

Hall of Fame
Feel for Maria. Not like she’s a slacker, she works soooo hard. Lost to Petra who’s hardly a shadow of her former self, not that her earlier form was Top 5 caliber. PM even lost to Putintseva and even lesser opponents.
 
What a comeback by martic, good to see her win with her different game.
The sakkari adidas top would also look good on a few other players that have similar great fitness.
 

Pass750

Professional
Tie break of the year! What a save from Bencic. Three MP saved and 2 were long rallies.
Painful to watch that for Samsonova, so many chances to win it. Bad luck with ball that hit net and somehow Benic got, even there Benic was in no man’s land but Samsonova didn’t hit lob long enough.
 

ScottleeSV

Hall of Fame
That was a terrific final. Painful one for Samsonova.

Bencic still hitting rally balls that are too soft and short for me but her mental strength is definitely getting better as she gets older.

Really enjoyed that tournament. Can't even think what it's replaced (?).

Edit - it replaced St Petersberg where I think Bencic lost a final once. Fitting.
 

coolcamden

Hall of Fame
2 interesting facts. LS had been undefeated in Finals. 4-0 on all the Finals she’d been in, until now.
BSquare is 2-0 in tournaments wins in 2023 so far, tied with Saby!
 

ScottleeSV

Hall of Fame
Just watched Samsonova's match points again. On the 2nd one, a Bencic rally ball clips the net on its way to Samsonova. Then later in the rally, Bencic lands one on the baseline. On the 3rd MP, Samsonova hits the top of the net and it dribbles over, but Bencic scurries forwards and barely shovels it back.

Samsonova lost by milimetres.
 

Pass750

Professional
Just watched Samsonova's match points again. On the 2nd one, a Bencic rally ball clips the net on its way to Samsonova. Then later in the rally, Bencic lands one on the baseline. On the 3rd MP, Samsonova hits the top of the net and it dribbles over, but Bencic scurries forwards and barely shovels it back.

Samsonova lost by milimetres.
Yep, that’s going to hurt for awhile. On the one that hit net and dribbled over, Samsonova still had Benic in no man’s land but chose to hit a lob that was not deep enough.
 

robyrolfo

Hall of Fame
...Kostyuk

Have to admit, the top did stand out.

Pretty much anything would stand out on her. She is an amazing physical specimen.

I see a lot of fuss being made about what a good player Kostyuk is. She has a solid game, but she's now gone 0-12 against top 10 players, and is 2-20 against top 20 players over the last 2-3 years that she's been on the main tour. She's been languishing around the top 50 for the best part of 18 months now and made 0 (Zero) main tour or challengers finals either.
I can see potential there, but there's something stopping her making that jump into the top 20-30.

Well the vast majority of the WTA is so inconsistent these days that it all seems rather random. That said, the whole situation in Ukraine could have been weighing on her the past 12 months. Especially early in the war, she seemed to be taking it rather hard, and her match against Azarenka seemed particular tough for her. (BTW, why did the tennis world seem to take notice of Azarenka's deplorable behavior before, during and after that match? I used to kinda like Vikka, but no more).

Yummy Potato just makes it past the finish line. :)

Can I ask who Potato is?

Kasatkina need to hire a serve coach as Sabalenka did last year. Her serve undoes everything she achieved.

Is the serve what is causing her problems? She's also completely baffling in terms of results and inconsistency.
 
Top