WTA week of 1/9; Adelaide 2 500 & Hobart 250

[spystud]

Iga out of Adelaide.

Full draw

Petra v. Rybakina & Pavs v. Teichmann in about 2 hours.


Hobart draw

Not much to say about this one.

 

[coolcamden]

Mugu v Bsquare. Go Swiss!

 

[spystud]

Sheesh, TC is gonna show Sloane v. LLD from Hobart instead of the Adelaide matches.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Watching Kvitova v Rybakina.

2011 & 2014 Wimbledon champ vs the 2022 Wimbledon champ.

 

[coolcamden]

Sheesh, TC is gonna show Sloane v. LLD from Hobart instead of the Adelaide matches.

Yup. I turned it off.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

This has been an absolute on fire Kvitova. Rybakina playing well but Petra is zoned in.

She breaks and will serve for the straight sets win.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Wow, Petra Kvitova in style with a masterclass win against Wimbledon champ Rybakina.

6-3 7-5.

86% of 1st serves won.

 

[coolcamden]

Petra just beat ER. I sometimes wonder how Elena Wimbledon last year.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Petra now 3-0 to start 2023, Kvitova gave #3 Jessie Pegula her only loss at the United Cup winning 7-6 6-4, then defeated Siegemund in straights. Now Wimbledon champ Rybakina.

Absolute serving masterclass that was. Never faced a break point and only lost 6 points on serve in the 2nd set.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Petra just beat ER. I sometimes wonder how Elena Wimbledon last year.

Played lights out that tournament. It really should've been Jabeur who should've won the final. had the easier opponents on paper in the QF (unseeded Bouzkova) and SF (unseeded Tatjana Maria) while Rybakina faced unseeded Tomljanovic in the QF and then 2019 champ Halep in the SF.

 

[Purestriker]

Martincova’s kit is a full size too small. I don’t see how she is breathing.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

As mentioned on the other thread, with defending champ Barty retired along with former champ Serena and then Osaka withdrawing. Only 2 former champs left in the AO draw: Kenin and Azarenka.

So who are the top contenders for the title?

Swiatek. Dominant #1 who holds 2 slams, the favourite.
Pegula. Had an incredible week in the United Cup winning the title with USA including easily defeating Swiatek.
Sabalenka. Also had a great week, winning Adelaide.
Gauff. I don't think she'll be making the SF or more but she's the 5th betting favourite, comes off her title in Auckland. Made the RG final last year.
Kvitova. She is looking really good. 2x slam champ and a finalist at the AO, she can always show up.
Garcia. Finished 2022 in style with a title in Cincinnati, US Open SF and then biggest title of her career by winning the WTA Finals. She's looking to emulate Wozniacki who won the 2017 YEC and then backed it up to win the 2018 Aus Open.

Jabeur is up next but i'm not confident if she's injury free as she didn't look good in her Noskova loss.

Then the odds get weird with Krejcikova and Rybakina next favourites. Then a 7 way split of: Andreescu (huh?), Anisimova, Bencic, Sakkari, Kontaveit, Kudermetova and Zheng Qinwen.

 

[ktx]

This Sloane match is painful. All she has to do is keep the ball in and she can barely do that. I was hoping with her new coach we’d see more energy but she’s just so blah.

 

[Purestriker]

This Sloane match is painful. All she has to do is keep the ball in and she can barely do that. I was hoping with her new coach we’d see more energy but she’s just so blah.

She has been tough to watch since she won the USO.

 

[ktx]

TC switched to Collins-pliskova for any of you on the states who couldn’t deal with the prior match.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Do not know who on earth told the bookies that Pliskova was the betting favourite for this match.

Collins was literally the AO finalist last year. Yes she lost 1R last week but that was in 3 tight sets to the Wimbledon champion Rybakina, not a bad loss at all. Meanwhile Pliskova last week was easily beaten by Ostapenko.

Silly.

 

[Kralingen]

Do not know who on earth told the bookies that Pliskova was the betting favourite for this match.

Collins was literally the AO finalist last year. Yes she lost 1R last week but that was in 3 tight sets to the Wimbledon champion Rybakina, not a bad loss at all. Meanwhile Pliskova last week was easily beaten by Ostapenko.

Silly.

Collins and Kvitova were obvious favorites here. These Adelaide courts have been really quick favoring big servers and returners (see Noskova/Sabalenka). They both love a surface that’s quick without being too high bouncing, it keeps their backhands somewhat low but also sliding which is really tough to deal with.

“Big babe tennis” is making a comeback at this year’s AO, mark my words

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Wonder if Collins is extra motivated this Australian summer after Barty's autobiography where Ash pretty much revealed she didn't get on with Danielle, meanwhile Pat Rafter came out 3 weeks ago and described friction between them and said they had a "spiteful relationship".

 

[Purestriker]

Wonder if Collins is extra motivated this Australian summer after Barty's autobiography where Ash pretty much revealed she didn't get on with Danielle, meanwhile Pat Rafter came out 3 weeks ago and described friction between them and said they had a "spiteful relationship".

Well, Collins seems abrasive.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Well, Collins seems abrasive.

Oh Barty was 1000% correct. I was never a fan of the Trump supporter Collins when she burst onto the scene back at the Australian Open in 2019 en route to the SF.

 

[Purestriker]

Doesn’t seem like Pliskova even wants to be there.

 

[Bill Lobsalot]

Doesn’t seem like Pliskova even wants to be there.

I was gonna say the same thing. She looks lazy.

 

[Purestriker]

Cirstea is grinding, cold sore not going to slow her down.

 

[coolcamden]

Mugu v Bsquare. Go Swiss!

BSquare took down Mugu in 2 sets, very proficient no drama. Made my day especially since Mugu just gets me the wrong way.

 

[Purestriker]

BSquare took down Mugu in 2 sets, very proficient no drama. Made my day especially since Mugu just gets me the wrong way.

She has not been looking great for a while. Not moving as well as she used too and she also seems a little too close to the ball when she strikes.

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

So many LL in the draw, ZQ move thru. Will be interesting to see ZQ vs PK and also seeing Barbs whether she pick up her level from end of last year.

 

[spystud]

Hey, we finally get some WTA action. 6-2, 5-4 for BK over Riske now, Puig on the call.

 

[Purestriker]

Ostapenko’s day kit for today is on point. Who knew a pink collar would go so well with Green and Black? Icon.

 

[coolcamden]

Ostapenko’s day kit for today is on point. Who knew a pink collar would go so well with Green and Black? Icon.

Share the wealth bud! Lol…

 

[coolcamden]

Hey, we finally get some WTA action. 6-2, 5-4 for BK over Riske now, Puig on the call.

I dunno… she has such a high pitch voice. I’m not feeling it.

 

[Purestriker]

Share the wealth bud! Lol…

Only on my TV and I can’t figure out how to paste a photo via mobile.

 

[Purestriker]

Only on my TV and I can’t figure out how to paste a photo via mobile.

I’ll update tomorrow when the photos post online. Will be worth the wait.

 

[spystud]

BK ends it in the breaker.

 

[spystud]

Speaking of awful kits, check out Sofia’s opponent.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1612665706998382592

 

[Purestriker]

Speaking of awful kits, check out Sofia’s opponent.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1612665706998382592

Down goes Ostapenko!

 

[spystud]

Pic from Twitter.

Spoiler

 

[coolcamden]

OMFG!!!!
There are some things you just can’t unsee. I hate you both for making me lose my dinner.

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

What a shock! Linda Noskova lost in Q1 AO.

 

[spystud]

Second set breaker for Vika v. Kudermetova, Vika won the first.

 

[spystud]

VK forces a decider. Not a lot of excitement in this match.

 

[spystud]

VK finally wins. Great talk!

 

[slipgrip93]

What a shock! Linda Noskova lost in Q1 AO.

I missed her qualifying match after having seen some of her outstanding performance in Adelaide1. I wonder if she was worn out , as she may have looked gassed in the adelaide1 final with Sabalenka by the 2nd set.

Nice to see Badosa guiding her forehands in again, with spin. I used to be watching her matches and rooting for her more. Unfortunately (for her overall career), she's not in her early 20's anymore..

 

[ktx]

Ostapenko’s day kit for today is on point. Who knew a pink collar would go so well with Green and Black? Icon.

can't post this without pictures!

 

[ktx]

I for one am happy to see Sonya Kenin winning again. It's about time.

 

[Purestriker]

can't post this without pictures!

@spystud has it above.

 

[coolcamden]

Today is another full of great match ups.

Petra v QZ - power
Krejcikova v Kasatkina - less power. A lot less…
Garcia v Siniakova - prettiness
Alexandrova v Kuder - Ruskie match up
BHM v Anisimova - back to power

And then there DC v Jil-one-L

 

[spystud]

And then there DC v Jil-one-L

TC nice enough to switch to this one. Dani up 5-3.

 

[spystud]

And quickly breaks at love for the set.

 

[spystud]

Good ol' week before a Slam.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1612993490023243776

 

[spystud]

Dani wins in a breaker. Yay, America.