WTA week of 6/13; Berlin 500 & Birmingham 250

[spystud]

Hopefully a little more intrigue than last week.

Berlin draw

Jabeur/Sakkari are top two. Garbine v. Petko & Teichmann v. Saville could be fun in R1.


Birmingham draw

This is actually a pretty good 250 field, Jelena/Simona top two. JO could play Yastremska in R2, those ladies like some drama.

 

[fundrazer]

Was actually looking at Teichmann for a bet but her grass results are apparently kinda bad. We will see how that one goes though. Already ready to be burned by Garbi again though. She should 2-0 Petkovic who can't really serve anymore. If she doesn't then I dunno what to say.

+1 for more interesting matchups. Hertogenbosch had potential to be great but kinda fell flat with all the straight setters towards the end. Bencic got straight setted by Kudermetova who got straight setted by Alexandrova, who also straightsetted Sabalenka after being down 2-4 in the first set. Alexandrova was serving really well this week though which was good to see.

Berlin field looks more interesting to me of the two tournaments. Lots of players in the Berlin draw that we could see 2nd week of Wimby. Unfortunately I will miss most of the play tomorrow + possibly Tuesday. Stupid hybrid work schedule.

 

[coolcamden]

OJ and MS need to get rolling, like…. RIGHT NOW! Has not been a good Spring/early Summer for them. Whatever happened to Annette Kontaveit?

 

[spystud]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1536249519616180224

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Saville again showing she is far better than her ranking. 2 points from the win over #22 Teichmann.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Daria Saville (Gavrilova) gets a big win over #22 Teichmann. Into the 2R where she'll face likely face #2 Sakkari.

The Aussie will now likely crack back in the top 100.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Also, in the qualifying draw we had Sabine Lisicki back in action. She's battled injuries for so many years, the 2013 Wimbledon finalist is back. Defeated Asia Muhammed before losing to Saville.

Maybe Wimbledon will give her a WC this year? She hasn't played the 1R of a slam since the 2017 US Open.

 

[ttwreader]

After losing the 1st set to Kanepi in the tiebreak, K. Pliskova delivers 2 bagels to win the match.

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

Kanepi be like "here for appearance fee" and shows up in slams

 

[chicagodude]

Kanepi be like "here for appearance fee" and shows up in slams

What a weird, and frankly disrespectful, comment to make. Kanepi certainly does not have a reputation for 'showing up for the appearance fee' and rarely loses in a first round. Even this match she won the first set against a very good grass player, s/t you don't do if you're just there to collect the money.

 

[fundrazer]

Also, in the qualifying draw we had Sabine Lisicki back in action. She's battled injuries for so many years, the 2013 Wimbledon finalist is back. Defeated Asia Muhammed before losing to Saville.

Maybe Wimbledon will give her a WC this year? She hasn't played the 1R of a slam since the 2017 US Open.

Was pleasant surprise to see her in the qualifier draw. I had a little bit of a crush on her back when she won Charleston beating Woznicacki. 2009 I think?

It's too bad she couldn't really adept as well to other surfaces though, or find a way to stay injury free.

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

Jabeur v Muchova should be fun if Muchova healthy.

Muchova game on grass is awesome.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Kanepi be like "here for appearance fee" and shows up in slams

Strange comment. Let’s be real, Kanepi isn’t well known to most tennis fans so we wouldn’t get an appearance fee. She’s someone who thrives on the big stage

 

[D-Lite]

There are a fair few players only playing Eastbourne or Bad Homburg then Wimbledon, or just Wimbledon. Is this a case of players being confident they only need 1 warm up tournament, or is it that the clay season is so intense it reduces the demand for entry into grass tournaments even if the grass swing is super short? I wonder how many players have taken a few weeks off to deal with niggles from the clay swing and hence they're just playing the week before Wimbledon to warm up. Someone like Kontaveit strikes me as a player who could do well on grass yet she's only playing Eastbourne then Wimbledon. Osaka is down for Wimbledon but nothing else - I like here but I'm really not sure how serious she is about improving on clay and grass. I feel like you'd want to play 2 warm up events then have the week off before Wimbledon if you wanted to improve on the surface. Sure you could be practicing in advance but you really need match play.

 

[spystud]

Top seeds in action

Berlin
Jeanjean vs. [2] Sakkari
Petkovic vs. [5] Muguruza
[1] Jabeur vs. Muchova

Birmingham
[1] Ostapenko vs. Marino
[4] Mertens vs. McNally
Martincova vs. [3] Giorgi
[5] Kvitova vs. Haddad Maia

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

There are a fair few players only playing Eastbourne or Bad Homburg then Wimbledon, or just Wimbledon. Is this a case of players being confident they only need 1 warm up tournament, or is it that the clay season is so intense it reduces the demand for entry into grass tournaments even if the grass swing is super short? I wonder how many players have taken a few weeks off to deal with niggles from the clay swing and hence they're just playing the week before Wimbledon to warm up. Someone like Kontaveit strikes me as a player who could do well on grass yet she's only playing Eastbourne then Wimbledon. Osaka is down for Wimbledon but nothing else - I like here but I'm really not sure how serious she is about improving on clay and grass. I feel like you'd want to play 2 warm up events then have the week off before Wimbledon if you wanted to improve on the surface. Sure you could be practicing in advance but you really need match play.

Osaka is still injured with the achiles/ankles, she might out of Wimbledon as well (She was scheduled to play Berlin). Serena just post and tag eastbourne tho and will play Wimbledon. exciting.

Azarenka dump whole grass with no wimby.

 

[ttwreader]

McNally beats Mertens in 3. It's nice to see McNally plays well.

 

[fundrazer]

Mugu 1/6 on break chances is pretty bad. Especially when you consider Petko is slicing most of her serves to the fh. When you know where the ball is going like 80% of the time, should be punishing that. Not like we're talking about Nadal slice serve on ad court.

 

[ttwreader]

Parks takes the first set 6-3. Zheng won the WTA125 in Valencia last weekend and seems not switch well to grass.

 

[ttwreader]

Parks beats Q. Zheng (the new Chinese number 1) 6-3, 7-6(4). This is Parks' first ever win in a main draw on the WTA tour.

 

[tennis4me]

Zheng, the only player who took a set from Iga at FO just dismissed by a Qualifier. I thought Zheng would go far. Many of her fellow players with similar rank chose to play at one of the grass tourneys last week instead of another clay after the FO. I’m guessing she wants to earn more points by playing at a lower WTA 125. At least she won it.

She’s listed as a qualifier at next week WTA 500 Eastbourne.

 

[ttwreader]

Jabeur beats Muchova 3 & 3.

 

[spystud]

Petra bounced by Haddad Maia, who just won Nottingham. Really wish she would announce Wimbledon as her swan song.

 

[spystud]

Rough day for last week's runner-ups. Aryna out in 3 to Kudermetova, Riske rolled up pretty good by Boulter.

 

[spystud]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1536981926493442048

 

[fundrazer]

Petkovich Sasnovich both spraying like crazy. But Sasnovich just played an absolutely perfect service game to bring it to 1-1 in this 2nd set. Great drop shots.

 

[fundrazer]

Sasnovich up a break now in the 2nd. She's been howitzering the ball at times but hasn't always been staying in the court

 

[fundrazer]

Think that's 5 straight breaks. Sasnovich serving for the match now though.

 

[Baseline_Bungle]

The breathtaking Katie B tearing it up in her native Midlands.

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[spystud]

Sucks Insta doesn’t embed anymore.

 

[Baseline_Bungle]

Sucks Insta doesn’t embed anymore.

I wouldn't mind embedding... oh, forget about it.

 

[spystud]

Certainly glad Katie won, but Garcia probably didn’t have much left after her Monday scoreline against Golubic.

6-7(5), 6-4, 7-6(6)

 

[spystud]

These tourneys suck as bad as last week.

 

[spystud]

This Tour is fading fast. Sad, but true.

 

[fundrazer]

Coco about to double bagel this girl.

 

[ttwreader]

Wang is up a break in the 2nd set. So not a bakery product

 

[fundrazer]

Or not. Was 6-0 1-0 with break points, now she's down a break in the 2nd. No double bagel for us

 

[ttwreader]

Gauff breaks back.

 

[ttwreader]

Prize money: Berlin vs Halle - €55300 vs €399170 for the winner.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1537342553443409921

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

It's sad.

ATP 250 minimum prize pool is 500k, while WTA 500 is 700k.
ATP 500 pool is 2.5m when that is the same pool with WTA1000 non mandatory.

but these ladies need to up her game to be honest, I watch non-slam sporadically and sometimes it's so bad can't take it anymore.

 

[longmacchiato]

Go Maria!

 

[longmacchiato]

Maria beat Kasatkina for the first time against all odds. Big monkey off the back. Congratulations

 

[James P]

Gauff, a win away from the top 10 now.

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

Gauff, a win away from the top 10 now.

Missed the match. Was she good or Pliskova just being Pliskova? Glad she didn't fade away post French Open, confidence for a young girl could go a long way.

 

[NaomiKonjuhPotapova]

Zhang Shuai back as no. 1 Chinese player after beating Yastremska. I like this Yonex kit tho, both the shirt and skirt.

 

[James P]

Missed the match. Was she good or Pliskova just being Pliskova? Glad she didn't fade away post French Open, confidence for a young girl could go a long way.

I didn't really watch the match, caught maybe the last six games.

 

[fundrazer]

Jabeur from up a double break to back even at 5-5. Sasnovich spraying like the other day, but she's doing a lot of damage when she's able to keep ball in play. Jabeur also going through one of her error mode patches too.

 

[fundrazer]

jabeur saved 2 set points at 5-6 but a sloppy tiebreak gives the edge to Sasnovich.

 

[flyingboris]

Missed the match. Was she good or Pliskova just being Pliskova?

I also didn't see much, but I saw some good passing shots, some creative play, excellent slices, and a great lob. I liked what I saw (from Gauff).

 

[coolcamden]

I caught 4 games. Pliskova made like 20% of her first serves. CG’s FH is still a weak point.