WTA week of 6/16; Berlin 500 & Nottingham 250

[spystud]

We ride again, play begins Monday morning.

Berlin draw

Another good ol' 28-spot, Sabalenka/Gauff/Pegula/Paolini with byes. Kenin qualified, Andreescu gifted a WC.


Nottingham draw

6 Brits get to play, but two (Jones v. Dart) face each other R1.

 

[spystud]

American Emma v. Marta is pretty dirty early.

 

[spystud]

We ride.

 

[Grafil Injection]

Saw Eala progress in qualifying yesterday. Interesting player. Very controlled and precise shots, whilst hitting seemingly very aggressively.

Fognini vs Fery in the ATP Challenger on an outside court should be fun today.

 

[spystud]

Not an ATP thread.

 

[spystud]

3-0 America Emma early.

 

[spystud]

4-0

 

[spystud]

America Emma takes the opener.

 

[Aussie Darcy]

Gotta say this lineup is insane.

#4 Zheng v #11 Rybakina
#9 Navarro v #26 Kostyuk
#12 Shnaider v #22 Vekic

Then we've got:
Former Wimbledon champ Vondrousova v Keys
#13 Anisimova v former USO champ Andreescu
4x former slam champ Osaka v #20 Samsonova

Not even mentioning the potential 2R matches.

 

[spystud]

That a woman, America Emma.

 

[ScottleeSV]

6-2 6-2 for Putinseva over Klugman in Nottingham. First time I've seen Hannah live in some time. There was quite a gap between the two players, sadly. A lot of development still to go for young Hannah.

 

[Bill Lobsalot]

Vekic and Kasatkina are hapless doubles players.

 

[spystud]

Leylah won a match, that’s new.

 

[spystud]

Sofia dropped the first to Masarova.

 

[Gizo]

A stacked field at Berlin, but to repeat myself a WTA 500 event having a 28 player main draw and not a full 32 player one is utterly farcical to me. I don't even think that any WTA 250 events should have 28 player draws to be honest.

When opportunities to play at grass ahead of Wimbledon or Wimbledon qualifying are at such a premium already, byes at these WTA tour events looks bad IMO.

Anyway I saw that Jabeur took advantage of her lucky loser status and then subsequent generous 1st round draw, to beat the qualifier Dolehide. The fact that she squeaked past Jacquemot (a player that I've seen during each of the last 3 years at Ilkley) in her 1st qualifying match, before losing to Xiyu Wang, stood out.

 

[Bill Lobsalot]

Frech beat the brat Andreeva.

 

[ScentOfDefeat]

Frech beat the brat Andreeva.

Another mental collapse, this time against Frech.
A bagel in the third after losing the second set 7-5.
Maybe we should temper our hopes that she'll inevitably dominate and win multiple Slams, I'm starting to believe she might only squeak one or two later in her career, a bit like Capriati.
We'll see how she progresses, but her temper seems like a major roadblock at this point. And I know Federer famously managed to control his, but history doesn't exactly repeat itself and it might take a bit longer for Mirra.

 

[spystud]

Paula beat Lys in Berlin, Noskova decided to mix in a win in Nottingham.

 

[spystud]

@GoKenin, bro, what happened?!

 

[GoKenin]

Didn’t want the beatdown the Tigress was going to put on her?

 

[GoKenin]

No more black fits; the whole thing had a funeral vibe

 

[tennis24x7]

Frech beat the brat Andreeva.

Yeah she is one disqualification away.

 

[tennis24x7]

Another mental collapse, this time against Frech.
A bagel in the third after losing the second set 7-5.
Maybe we should temper our hopes that she'll inevitably dominate and win multiple Slams, I'm starting to believe she might only squeak one or two later in her career, a bit like Capriati.
We'll see how she progresses, but her temper seems like a major roadblock at this point. And I know Federer famously managed to control his, but history doesn't exactly repeat itself and it might take a bit longer for Mirra.

But she has a big ace up her sleeve.. age. She sure will settle down in 2-4 years and still be only 21-22. Hopefully a disqualification will set her right. Gauff went through this too if you remember.

 

[spystud]

Will be interesting to see how Amanda plays, Mertens & Maria both withdrew from Nottingham.

 

[ScottleeSV]

11 wins in a row in Nottingham for Boulter.

Mimi Xu beats Volynets and I'm guessing that will be the first of many wins over top 100 players.

 

[spystud]

Qinwen quit, very rare it’s Elena’s opponent doing that. Playing Krueger now instead.

Naomi & Keys out, Amanda beat Bianca quickly, Shnaider over Donna.

 

[spystud]

Straights for Elena.

 

[spystud]

Kessler beat BHM at her own game.

7-5, 6-7(3), 7-5

 

[spystud]

We ride on Wednesday. You kids are welcome for the weekly threads & daily OoPs.

 

[spystud]

Especially the Brit posters.

 

[spystud]

We ride with America Emma over Paula this morning.

 

[spystud]

Paula wins in straights, because that’s how things go.

 

[D-Lite]

Kessler beat BHM at her own game.

7-5, 6-7(3), 7-5

I'm hoping for Kessler to make a nice run at Wimbledon. I know it was Zheng's first grass match this year but Kessler almost had her at Queen's.

 

[D-Lite]

Boisson should have had that Wimbledon WC over Dart. Wimbledon should have taught her and others a lesson but no they probably have to please the LTA. Wimbledon are pushing it by giving so many juniors WCs, even if 1 is a junior champ and the other a finalist.

 

[ScottleeSV]

Boisson should have had that Wimbledon WC over Dart. Wimbledon should have taught her and others a lesson but no they probably have to please the LTA. Wimbledon are pushing it by giving so many juniors WCs, even if 1 is a junior champ and the other a finalist.

I agree. If these two majors were the other way around, and a British semi finalist wasn't allowed direct entry into the French, I would find that extremely annoying. And just think how the British press would be falling over this hypothetical semi finalist. The French would be in for criticism.

I'm not sure Mika-S and Klugman will find anyone in the main draw they can beat tbh. Seems a year too soon for those two. Imagine if one of them gets Sabalenka and gets a spanking on Centre...I don't mind Xu getting in though. She's a year(?) older anyway and did really well yesterday.

 

[spystud]

Noskova & Leylah both won again. What is this sorcery?

 

[robyrolfo]

Gotta love Jabeur losing badly in qualifying, and now winning two main draw matches. Paolini must be way behind in her adjustment to grass.

6-2 6-2 for Putinseva over Klugman in Nottingham. First time I've seen Hannah live in some time. There was quite a gap between the two players, sadly. A lot of development still to go for young Hannah.

Putinseva isn't exactly a big/hard hitter, so I guess that doesn't bode well.

Another mental collapse, this time against Frech.
A bagel in the third after losing the second set 7-5.
Maybe we should temper our hopes that she'll inevitably dominate and win multiple Slams, I'm starting to believe she might only squeak one or two later in her career, a bit like Capriati.
We'll see how she progresses, but her temper seems like a major roadblock at this point. And I know Federer famously managed to control his, but history doesn't exactly repeat itself and it might take a bit longer for Mirra.

Nah, she will come around. She's just getting frustrated when she isn't beating players she is supposed to beat. Once she starts winning matches like that on a consistent basis, and comfortably, it won't bother her as much to have an off day here and there.

I think we will see a lot of future big matches between her and Gauff, where Andreeva (the better tennis player) just has to keep her cool to overcome Gauff's scrapping. Sort of like Sabalenka v Gauff lately.

Andreeva has the talent and personality to be a huge star. If she can somehow change that flag next to her name, then she could become the face of the game.

 

[spystud]

Not great today.

 

[Larry Duff]

Set all in the Brit battle.

 

[Nostradamus]

Coco laughing all the way to the bank, she must have got like $300,000-500000 from Berlin especially after wining the french

 

[spystud]

Katie & Amanda both won in 3.

 

[Latetothegame]

I agree. If these two majors were the other way around, and a British semi finalist wasn't allowed direct entry into the French, I would find that extremely annoying. And just think how the British press would be falling over this hypothetical semi finalist. The French would be in for criticism.

I'm not sure Mika-S and Klugman will find anyone in the main draw they can beat tbh. Seems a year too soon for those two. Imagine if one of them gets Sabalenka and gets a spanking on Centre...I don't mind Xu getting in though. She's a year(?) older anyway and did really well yesterday.

Wether we like it or not WC at home slams are issued to home players , to boast their earnings or previous champions, Petra has one and she is retiring this year so it not about ability
The French only issue WC to two Aussies because they have a reciprocal arrangement I believe. They would have not issued one the other way round.
I mean there could be an open and honest discussion as to wether WC should be issued at all , but that is how it works.

 

[spystud]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1935785389425672664

 

[spystud]

Besides the match above, Nottingham QFs seem more fun.

Hope Amanda keeps rolling though.

 

[spystud]

Kessler v. Boulter will not be hard on the eyes.

 

[tx10is]

win or lose looks like rybakina could be ready for another run at wimby

 

[ibbi]

What a freaking collapse in the breaker Typical. Was looking too good to win. I hope this is the Wimbledon final anyway.

 

[Dominic & Andrey]

Elena is just not a clutch player. She just isn't. Always loses most of these matches no despite playing well. Doesn't have that special killer Instinct. It's upsetting.

 

[Dominic & Andrey]

Anywayy rooting for Xinyu to go all the way now

 

[ibbi]

Elena is just not a clutch player. She just isn't. Always loses most of these matches no despite playing well. Doesn't have that special killer Instinct. It's upsetting.