WTA week of 12/29; Brisbane 500 & Auckland 250

Aussie Darcy

Bionic Poster
Sabalenka under some pressure here but if she can get some big serves she’s done with the match.

Double break points while serving for it.
 

slipgrip93

Professional
I'm looking forward to the outcomes of these Brisbane semifinals. How Andreeva is going to fare vs. Sabalenka.
Polina Kudermetova maybe seems to be another young up'n'comer. She kind of reminds me of Rybakina when she was
breaking out and getting to semis and finals around that age, in the months before the covid started.
 
Last edited:

Aussie Darcy

Bionic Poster
Wow, Ashlyn Krueger is now battling Ajla in Q Adelaide after yesterday's QF lost.
Even worse for Bouzkova. She finished against Sabalenka about 8PM last night and she's already one set in of her qualifying match in Adelaide.

No wonder she's lost the first set even though her opponent the Aussie WC is ranked like 300 spots below her.

Wish I put money on that.
 
Even worse for Bouzkova. She finished against Sabalenka about 8PM last night and she's already one set in of her qualifying match in Adelaide.

No wonder she's lost the first set even though her opponent the Aussie WC is ranked like 300 spots below her.

Wish I put money on that.
Adelaide is so packed almost like Stuttgart. Putintseva ranked 26 has to play Q.
 

spystud

Talk Tennis Guru
Tauson over Montgomery in Auckland, Polina over Kalinina in Brisbane by identical 4 & 3 scorelines.

Naomi handles Parks, 4 & 2. Interesting blue & orange kit.
 

Aussie Darcy

Bionic Poster
No issues so far for Sabs. Was worried going into this considering Mirra towelled her up at the French Open QF.

6-3 4-2 with double break points coming as well.
 

ScottleeSV

Hall of Fame
Andreeva should have broken at least once but not sure it would have made a difference. Sabalenka is hitting less and less of her wild errors with every passing year. I can't think of a single active player who will beat her in Melbourne. Gauff maybe.
 

Aussie Darcy

Bionic Poster
Women's doubles final now coming up... with a start time of around 10:30PM. Great job there.

Good match though of

Hon/Kalinskaya v Andreeva/Shnaider.
 

Aussie Darcy

Bionic Poster
Osaka into her first tour final since the pregnancy and baby, her first in nearly 3 years (Miami 2022).

Has a great shot against Tauson although the Dane is a fantastic player and been playing well.
 

Aussie Darcy

Bionic Poster
Auckland final now.
Thank god Auckland got the right idea while organisers have decided to put Sabalenka's Brisbane final at the exact same time as Swiatek v Gauff in the United Cup.

We have different time zones! They couldn't at least give us one hour difference?
 

tx10is

Semi-Pro
Thank god Auckland got the right idea while organisers have decided to put Sabalenka's Brisbane final at the exact same time as Swiatek v Gauff in the United Cup.

We have different time zones! They couldn't at least give us one hour difference?
lol that's going to be a weird trophy presentation in Auckland considering how well osaka was playing
 

Aussie Darcy

Bionic Poster
Can't think of the last time a player retired in a final let alone the last time a player wins the title after losing a set.

Tauson's wiki page will forever have her winning a title with a scoreline of 4-6.

Yikes.
 
Can't think of the last time a player retired in a final let alone the last time a player wins the title after losing a set.

Tauson's wiki page will forever have her winning a title with a scoreline of 4-6.

Yikes.

Justine the cheater Henin. But she was losing tho, so it was an excuse.
Serena against Bianca in Canada in just 2 games I think.
 

Aussie Darcy

Bionic Poster
Justine the cheater Henin. But she was losing tho, so it was an excuse.
Serena against Bianca in Canada in just 2 games I think.
Yeah Bianca has had retirements in 2 finals, one that was her, one that was the opponent.

Beat Serena 3-1 in Canada as Serena retired.
Retired against Barty while down 3-6 0-4 in Miami 2021.

Henin came to mind, Aus Open against Mauresmo but yeah she was losing.

I can't think of any where the player was winning the match and therefore the title and then retired.
 

Aussie Darcy

Bionic Poster
I was pleasantly surprised by Kudermetova's younger sister, I hope she can win a few games against Saba.
Kasatkina really should have put her away in that match.

I got to see some of her match against Kreuger and personally wasn't that impressed. Let's see how she fares against Aryna.
 

Aussie Darcy

Bionic Poster
Clara Tauson on her title in Auckland:
"I'm really sorry about this final. Naomi was playing some great tennis today so that's the worst final I've ever played for me emotionally.

"I can't feel happy and am just sad about what happened today, but of course when I process this I'm going to be super happy about my week. I played a lot of tennis on this court.

"I'm happy that I won, but not really"

Then later in an interview with Sky:
"I know how good she is, and we've seen the entire week how good she is. I really felt today she was picking up an even higher level," Tauson told Sky Sport of Osaka.

"I'm super sad about the way it ended, but I feel I was getting a bit more into the match in the end. I don't know if that was because she had some pain in her back, but me personally, I've been dealing with back issues for a long, long time so I know how difficult it is and you really have to take care of yourself.

"I'm not happy that she did that, but I think shes right to put herself first, always."

 

Aussie Darcy

Bionic Poster
Sabalenka will be feeling a lot different walking out for this final than she did exactly 12 months ago here in Brisbane.

Last years final she got rolled 6-0 6-3 by #4 Rybakina.

Now she's the overwhelming favourite to take out #107 Polina Kudermetova for the title.
 

slipgrip93

Professional
Wow, there's something to this Polina after all, taking the first set. Now leading in the second so far. And she went through two qualifier matches to get into the main draw for this tournament also.
 

Gizo

Legend
Osaka hit 17 winners and 4 UEs (I think) during that 1st set, and so looked to be playing well before the back injury (which hindered her last year) flared up.

What a shame.
 

D-Lite

Hall of Fame
Really hope Naomi can get well before the start of the AO. She would have been a really exciting floater in the draw, and if she had a decent route I could definitely have seen QF finish at least, even better potentially.
 
Roddick & co. were defending her on his podcast and telling listeners how wrong people are with their assumptions of Collins but she just seems real real salty. Plus, she's not played a match this whole United Cup and is set to face Jabeur in Adelaide. Let's see if UC has prepped her in any way.
She was also really loud during the match. I really hope they meet at AO or before she retires.
 

D-Lite

Hall of Fame
She was also really loud during the match. I really hope they meet at AO or before she retires.
Yeah I hope they're on a collision course for 3-4 matches this year like when players just seem to keep getting drawn against one another. It certainly adds a different dimension to the match and also unpredictability as to how much drama there is. Collins had that hot streak last Spring and has a lot of points to defend then. It will be interesting to see whether she can actually step up to that level again or not.
 

Galvermegs

Professional
So both auckland on wta and brisbane for atp end with anticlimactic retirements. Sadly a big trend in recent years, if normally earlier rounds
 
Top