WTA week of 4/18; Stuttgart 500 & Istanbul 250

[ttwreader]

Emma breaks back. Good game Emma.

 

[D-Lite]

Raducanu breaks back, 1-1 in the second set now. Let's go, Emma!

 

[Harry_Wild]

Raducanu injuried?

 

[Larry Duff]

Great point but just too much

 

[ttwreader]

What a point! Iga breaks.

 

[Harry_Wild]

2-1, Swiatek to serving!

 

[D-Lite]

What a point! Iga breaks.

Raducanu should have taken that out of the air. The bounce was way too high to hit an effective drive on. She looked like she was going to hit it initially. Swiatek looking significantly stronger than Raducanu, and her tour experience is showing.

 

[ttwreader]

MTO for Emma.

 

[ScottleeSV]

I had to turn off after set 1 (not voluntarily). Raducanu was serving extremely well but looks tactically lost at sea in the rallies. Too many shots have no purpose. It will likely get better with experience, but Swiatek is very assured in what she's doing.

4-6 wasn't a bad effort though.

 

[D-Lite]

I had to turn off after set 1 (not voluntarily). Raducanu was serving extremely well but looks tactically lost at sea in the rallies. Too many shots have no purpose. It will likely get better with experience, but Swiatek is very assured in what she's doing.

4-6 wasn't a bad effort though.

Agreed - just about to write this. Her game plan seems to be too many topspin rallying balls without the heaviness of Swiatek's a fair amount of the time. If she is going to be more effective with this style then her average shot needs to be heavier with better placement to take time away from the opponent and stop them from stepping in. She needs some kind of variety, even more slicing on certain shots as she's hit a number of weak topspin rally shots which have just been pounced on for winners by Swiatek.

 

[Harry_Wild]

Really quite surprise that Emma can play at this level now! Swiatek is ahead by a sole break. 3-2, with Swiatek serving now!

 

[Peters]

This bodes well for Raducanu. I can see her picking up a decent amount of ranking points during the clay season, as long as she can keep her physical problems at bay. Too soon to win titles or beat the best players on this surface, but I can see her getting much closer this time next year.

When she's committed to playing an aggressive shot she's lethal and rarely misses. Just needs to learn the best way of managing rallies on clay.

 

[Harry_Wild]

Look like she sort of adopted some of Kerber's ground stroke, which is bad IMO! Emma sometime fall back to her normal fast pace hitting that won her the U.S. Open title.

 

[Harry_Wild]

Congratulations on Emma moving up to #11 after this Stuttgart tournament! She played well, even if she will loose to Swiatek!

 

[Deleted member 788697]

That was really Nadal-like when Swiatek was serving for the match and faced 2 breakpoints and saved the first with a brilliant 2nd Serve that skidded off the line, and then saved the next with aggressive down-the-lining
And I've noticed Swiatek has the same facial expressions as Nadal in-between points and when serving

 

[zvelf]

Swiatek wins 6-4, 6-4. Emma surprisingly hung in there with Swiatek, who didn't blow out Raducanu like she's been doing against many opponents. Emma was down a break each set for the entire match, but she never fell further behind than that.

 

[ttwreader]

Emma plays better in the 2nd set but not enough. Iga wins 4&4.

 

[ScottleeSV]

That was really Nadal-like when Swiatek was serving for the match and faced 2 breakpoints and saved the first with a brilliant 2nd Serve that skidded off the line, and then saved the next with aggressive down-the-lining
And I've noticed Swiatek has the same facial expressions as Nadal in-between points and when serving

That's funny because this match sort of reminded me of when another Brit - Murray - played Nadal on clay earlier in his career. He looked at the time like he could potentially beat Nadal on clay one day (and he would) but was too raw at the time.

 

[Deleted member 788697]

Swiatek is the best at interviews of any woman on the tour, very interesting interview on the court right now, goes into a lot of detail and tries very hard to answer

 

[tennis4me]

Swiatek wins 6-4, 6-4. Emma surprisingly hung in there with Swiatek, who didn't blow out Raducanu like she's been doing against many opponents. Emma was down a break each set for the entire match, but she never fell further behind than that.

I think the reason was Iga is not exactly playing her best with regards to UE, at least. Her UE was actually quite a bit higher than Emma's in today's match.

 

[8020]

Swiatek dominated this match, dont get me wrong. Raducanu kept it close in the scoreline mostly because of her serve and mistakes from Swiatek like this backhand volley miss that would give her double break in the first set.

 

[Mark-Touch]

That was really Nadal-like when Swiatek was serving for the match and faced 2 breakpoints and saved the first with a brilliant 2nd Serve that skidded off the line, and then saved the next with aggressive down-the-lining
And I've noticed Swiatek has the same facial expressions as Nadal in-between points and when serving

And I've noticed her Nadal-like sweeping off the baseline before serving too.

 

[Harry_Wild]

What do expected any less from Swiatek; she is a Rafa fangirl and to a certain degree so is Emma!

 

[Harry_Wild]

 

[spystud]

Aryna v. Paula up now.

 

[spystud]

And we are screwed on TC, f***ing thanks.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Hoping Badosa pulls through she’s doing well this second set but she lost the first.

Just held to love for 4-4. I miss Barty so much but glad to see these players stepping up. All top10 match ups a plenty

 

[spystud]

Arryna in straights.

 

[spystud]

Breaker between Iga & Samsonova now.

 

[spystud]

Iga down. She’ll probably boatrace the next 2 though.

 

[romeo8880]

The overrated Swiatek loses the first set to Samsonova

 

[ttwreader]

Where is Iga? Is she crying in the bathroom?

 

[spystud]

romeo lost $ on her.

 

[romeo8880]

Iga got dominated last year by Sakkari and is showing again that all you gotta do it take it to her and she crumbles

 

[spystud]

Yep, a match last year is incredibly relevant.

 

[romeo8880]

She also struggled against Raducanu who just discovered what clay is

 

[spystud]

Just so everyone knows…

romeo lost $ on her.

 

[romeo8880]

Iga repeatedly on the back foot against such an average player on HER surface is very concerning

 

[spystud]

Ha, now romeo is yelling even more.

 

[romeo8880]

Sabalenka would coast easily against THIS Swiatek. Barty would eat her up. Fraud #1

 

[ScentOfDefeat]

Reminder that Samsonova can play.
Her Berlin 2021 run: Konjuh, Vondrousova, Kudermetova, Keys, Azarenka, Bencic.
I've seen worse Slam-winning runs.
She was also instrumental for Russia in last year's BJK Cup triumph.

 

[spystud]

Well, you can’t bet on Barty these days. I sincerely hope you continue to lose.

 

[romeo8880]

Reminder that Samsonova can play.
Her Berlin 2021 run: Konjuh, Vondrousova, Kudermetova, Keys, Azarenka, Bencic.
I've seen worse Slam-winning runs.
She was also instrumental for Russia in last year's BJK Cup triumph.

Reminder that she’s never been out of the first round at the French

 

[ScentOfDefeat]

Reminder that she’s never been out of the first round at the French

Indoor clay in Stuttgart is not quite the same as outdoor clay in Paris.
This should be no surprise for an experienced tennis spectator.

 

[romeo8880]

Indoor clay in Stuttgart is not quite the same as outdoor clay in Paris.
This should be no surprise for an experienced tennis spectator.

This true but it’s still clay. Iga looks very average. As she did against Sakkari last year at the French. She’s not the clay dominator that she was made out to be

 

[spystud]

3-all in the second.

 

[spystud]

Iga forces 3, like most intelligent tennis fans expected.

 

[coolcamden]

3rd set.

 

[ttwreader]

Iga breaks to love.

 

[coolcamden]

IS got broken.