WTA week of 6/23; Bad Homburg & Eastbourne 500s
- Thread starter spystud
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ScottleeSV
Hall of Fame
Keys through against Kalinina. Keys is a genuine danger here and at Wimbledon. No reason why she couldn't win it out of nowhere like Vondrousova.
Great start from Boulter - double break up against Ostapenko. Can't watch it though. The normal BBC feed is not loading, sadly (although I am supposed to be working).
Great start from Boulter - double break up against Ostapenko. Can't watch it though. The normal BBC feed is not loading, sadly (although I am supposed to be working).
Dominic & Andrey
Legend
Penko vs Katie is very fun.
Larry Duff
G.O.A.T.
Harriet Dart is tall and lithe yet her movement going forward is awful. Very susceptible to drop shots.
Larry Duff
G.O.A.T.
1st set Dart
ScottleeSV
Hall of Fame
Another great scalp from Boulter. On she goes.
ScottleeSV
Hall of Fame
If Dart wins this match she will break back into the top 100 for about the 19th time.
ScottleeSV
Hall of Fame
Emma threw that set away somewhat. Fought all the way back to 4-4 and then lost a service game from 30-0 up. Needs to be more secure on serve on this surface.
ScottleeSV
Hall of Fame
That unravelled very quickly for E R. Went from 4-4 30-0 up to being down a set and a break in the space of about 15 minutes. She's held serve just 2 from 6 times and that's not going to cut it against Pegula.
Harriet Dart meanwhile 4-0 up in the decider against Kenin! Heading for the quarters and the top 100.
Harriet Dart meanwhile 4-0 up in the decider against Kenin! Heading for the quarters and the top 100.
coolcamden
Hall of Fame
But she won’t, because she’s Maddy.
ScottleeSV
Hall of Fame
Raducanu acting like she's ill or just tired from the heat, and it seems to have temporarily put Pegula out of sync.
coolcamden
Hall of Fame
Jess had an early break in 2nd set, lost. Aaarghhhhh.
D-Lite
Hall of Fame
Glad these 2 are playing well going into Wimbledon. The women's draw is very open so the more potential winners the better. I do hope Vondrousova is fully fit, I absolutely hate when defending champions aren't 100% to have a crack at defending.
I wonder if Pegula will feel the fatigue from winning Berlin and if she does whether she has the fight to stay in this event. Not sure how it works in terms of appearance fee but she's #2 seed here so I wonder if that was a factor in her not pulling out of Wimbledon? So many top players are already at Wimbledon practicing which after winning a 500 last week I'd have expected would have suited Pegula moreso.
A short ball there from Raducanu and you can see how the low bounce can make short balls so awkward on the grass versus what would be a sitter on clay or hard.
I wonder if Pegula will feel the fatigue from winning Berlin and if she does whether she has the fight to stay in this event. Not sure how it works in terms of appearance fee but she's #2 seed here so I wonder if that was a factor in her not pulling out of Wimbledon? So many top players are already at Wimbledon practicing which after winning a 500 last week I'd have expected would have suited Pegula moreso.
A short ball there from Raducanu and you can see how the low bounce can make short balls so awkward on the grass versus what would be a sitter on clay or hard.
D-Lite
Hall of Fame
Pegula playing a little looser with her groundies but not totally wild. Hard to tell how much of this is fatigue/mentally checking out and how much of it is Raducanu playing well but some really good shots from Raducanu in the past few games.
Commentators saying ER has never beaten a top 10 player, only former top 10s so if she can get past Pegula here this will be her first top 5 and top 10 win.
Pegula showing signs of frustration now, so perhaps she is giving it her all/not mentally checking out but the fatigue from Berlin could be a factor considering she missed the whole of the clay swing.
Commentators saying ER has never beaten a top 10 player, only former top 10s so if she can get past Pegula here this will be her first top 5 and top 10 win.
Pegula showing signs of frustration now, so perhaps she is giving it her all/not mentally checking out but the fatigue from Berlin could be a factor considering she missed the whole of the clay swing.
D-Lite
Hall of Fame
Raducanu [WC] 4-6, 7-6 (8), 7-5 Pegula [2]
Raducanu was 5-2 up with a double break in the 3rd before prevailing (I only tuned in at the start of the 3rd set - appears Pegula was up 3-1 in the second set but generally there weren't big leads during the matches). A bit like Boulter, Raducanu appears susceptible to faltering and letting the opponent back in with a chance... Just something to consider if you're predicting for them to go deep at Wimbledon. I'm curious to see whether Boulter's seeding at Wimbledon protects her or if she gets a top seed in R3. Also curious to see if ER gets a nice draw with where the seedings fall or if she has a nightmare R1. I appreciate the Brits can get an easy ride draw wise with the warm up events at Wimbledon but they've handled the home pressure well and appear to actually be playing pretty well so combined with their comfort on grass they're definitely top 20 prospects at Wimbledon for me.
Pegula played solid to get back to 5-5. Seems she completely shed any pressure from that point. The same then went for Raducanu once the score then returned to evens and in turn broke Pegula for 6-5 and another chance to serve for the match. Pegula once again played clutch to race to 0-40 and 3 BP on the Raducanu serve before Raducanu fought back to take the 3rd set and the match.
Raducanu was 5-2 up with a double break in the 3rd before prevailing (I only tuned in at the start of the 3rd set - appears Pegula was up 3-1 in the second set but generally there weren't big leads during the matches). A bit like Boulter, Raducanu appears susceptible to faltering and letting the opponent back in with a chance... Just something to consider if you're predicting for them to go deep at Wimbledon. I'm curious to see whether Boulter's seeding at Wimbledon protects her or if she gets a top seed in R3. Also curious to see if ER gets a nice draw with where the seedings fall or if she has a nightmare R1. I appreciate the Brits can get an easy ride draw wise with the warm up events at Wimbledon but they've handled the home pressure well and appear to actually be playing pretty well so combined with their comfort on grass they're definitely top 20 prospects at Wimbledon for me.
Pegula played solid to get back to 5-5. Seems she completely shed any pressure from that point. The same then went for Raducanu once the score then returned to evens and in turn broke Pegula for 6-5 and another chance to serve for the match. Pegula once again played clutch to race to 0-40 and 3 BP on the Raducanu serve before Raducanu fought back to take the 3rd set and the match.
jl809
Legend
Emma - for whom I’m very happy for today’s win - said something very bizarre a week or so ago which was something like “obviously when you’re 6-1 5-1 up then it could all go wrong”.
I think many players have the opposite attitude and play freely with such a big lead like that but she seems to get prematurely afraid of embarrassingly throwing it away… and so she nearly does
ScottleeSV
Hall of Fame
That was an exhausting watch. I don't even know where to start.
Perfect day for the Brits. A shout out too for 15 year old Hannah Klugman for knocking Linda Fruhvirtova out of Wimbledon qualifying.
Perfect day for the Brits. A shout out too for 15 year old Hannah Klugman for knocking Linda Fruhvirtova out of Wimbledon qualifying.
spystud
Talk Tennis Guru
tennis4me
Hall of Fame
Of course, Pegula. Perfect time to head to Wimbledon to get an early practice?
robyrolfo
Hall of Fame
Wait, do you consider Vekic "full figured"? Really?
Just as I said. British players being handed a chance to be relevant on a silver platter.
She's not athletic... at all. Like Boulter, she has no discernible muscle tone. Ok, she has a tiny bit, whereas Boulter has zero, but still, she moves like Peter Crouch.
ScottleeSV
Hall of Fame
Bouzkova and Kenin back to back is a silver platter? If those were Swiatek's first two opponents at Wimbledon people would say she had a tricky early draw.
coolcamden
Hall of Fame
Gotta say, those 2 are has-been’s. Iga will bakery each at least 1 set enroute to straight sets wins.
ScottleeSV
Hall of Fame
It's a shame this is who Klugman plays in the final qualifier. Hard to see her beating Parks, although maybe it's for the best she doesn't get through only to be slaughtered on Centre Court at 15 years old.
ScottleeSV
Hall of Fame
I'll agree with you on Kenin. Hard to see her ever getting back to her major winning form. She seems to be fated to go the same way as Stephens (and dare I say it, Raducanu). She can bring it sometimes, but seemingly not on grass.
Bouzkova though is 25 and not really on the slide as such, although I'm not sure she'll get much better than she currently is. She played really well against Swiatek in Paris. Does Iga ever open the bakery on grass?
D-Lite
Hall of Fame
Kenin has played full seasons since her AO win hasn't she? I don't recall her having a prolonged injury layoff just her being awful beside a couple of weeks last year. Raducanu has been marred by injuries which lead to surgery, and her game/mentality looks a darn sight more promising than Kenin's.
HarveyPitnik
Professional
well, it's easily the most overrated "looker" on tour, so you hear all kinds of totally-out-of-reality stuff about her.
241 k followers on Instagram??? I'm speechless. But Bill, you can do better!?!Love the successful return of Muchova!
In the battle of rich girls I much rather saw Emma winning.
Even Pegula's attitude seems to be very much like: "the h*ll I care about anything!"Mertens and Potapova already quitters in Eastbourne... and 2-3 infamous players still in the tournament...
ScottleeSV
Hall of Fame
Barring further injury, Raducanu will probably have a better career than Kenin IMO. I'm not convinced it will lead to another major though, so possibly the three I mentioned will stay in the same club of 'players who won an early major but then struggled to generate further defining moments'.
robyrolfo
Hall of Fame
Did you miss the part where Kenin lost 1 and 0 (yes, 1 and 0) to the mighty Golubic in qualifying? She's in there as an LL, and clearly she is struggling for form on grass.
Bouzkova can throw in a random decent match or two, here and there, but generally she is nothing to speak of, especially on grass.
But the point is, these British women (aside from Boulter) should be busy playing Wimbledon qualifiers right now, but instead they are allowed to hang around 500 level warm up events on grass, and take advantage of a weak field filled with players still adapting.
She has a big serve. That's it. So it's no surprising that it's working well so far on grass.
Wow, Brit bias much? As has been pointed out, Kenin had plenty of issues, and unfortunately she remains a total headcase.
That said, her slam win wasn't totally out of nowhere, came against Barty in Australia, and she backed it up with a run to another slam final while staying pretty relevant on tour for a long time. Emma has done exactly nothing since her fluke win.
What? A better career than Kenin? As of now, it looks likely that Raducanu could be a SERIOUS contender for the worst grand slam champion in history. Kenin and Stephens may have only won a single slam as well, but they have at least been relevant in the game at other times. If Raducanu wasn't a British media darling, she basically wouldn't exist. I'll give her credit for one thing, though, she is very good at firing coaches.
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Bill Lobsalot
Hall of Fame
Donna Vekic of Croatia during practice ahead of the US Open Tennis...
Donna Vekic of Croatia during practice ahead of the US Open Tennis Championships at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 27, 2022 in New York City
www.gettyimages.com
coolcamden
Hall of Fame
RaducanuWho’s our pick to withdraw/retire tomorrow?
I’ll go with the very first name, Miss Paula.
robyrolfo
Hall of Fame
While that is indeed a lovely picture, I'm still not seeing her as full figured. She isn't skin and bone, but I'd also put her pretty well off the full figured category. I'd say that label is more for someone like Andreescu.Donna Vekic of Croatia during practice ahead of the US Open Tennis...
Donna Vekic of Croatia during practice ahead of the US Open Tennis Championships at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on August 27, 2022 in New York Citywww.gettyimages.com
Yeah, I'd say Badosa has about a 50% chance of finishing that match. I could see Woz pulling out as well, since she is getting up there in age.
ScottleeSV
Hall of Fame
Bouzkova's only Grand Slam quarter final was at Wimbledon.
Raducanu is hardly going to play Wimbledon qualies with her pedigree. She's playing with a false ranking.
Dart? Meh, maybe. She's spent a decent amount of time in the top 100 over the years though. It's not like she's ranked 150-200 and milking the system. Aside from today, she's played pretty well this grass court campaign.
Winners or Errors
Legend
Loving that Fernandez crushed Dart. Nothing against Dart, but Fernandez has been steadily paying her dues and learning how to beat lower ranked players ever since that US Open final. She has come a long way.
ScottleeSV
Hall of Fame
The wind in Eastbourne today looks absolute horrible to play in.
ScottleeSV
Hall of Fame
The wind has destroyed Emma here. She looks like she's never played a windy match in her match. She doesn't look comfortable lining up her usual attacking shots.
Kasatkina playing it like a pro in these conditions, just junking and slicing everything into play and waiting for the error.
Kasatkina playing it like a pro in these conditions, just junking and slicing everything into play and waiting for the error.
coolcamden
Hall of Fame
Having a solid coach who would coach ya on how to deal with the wind, no? Oh wait, Emma is too busy firing them.
ScottleeSV
Hall of Fame
That has literally zero to do the match today. Kasatkina is just playing better.
ScottleeSV
Hall of Fame
Set and double break now. The futility of this match reminds me of the 2009 Indian Wells final when Murray couldn't get going against Nadal. We might get the exact same scoreline.
Bill Lobsalot
Hall of Fame
And....Muchova wins the retirement sweepstakes.Who’s our pick to withdraw/retire tomorrow?
I’ll go with the very first name, Miss Paula.
ScentOfDefeat
G.O.A.T.
Oh no, what happened to Muchova?
She really can't catch a break. She's probably the player I most want to succeed, I think her tennis deserves it. Sad to see.
She really can't catch a break. She's probably the player I most want to succeed, I think her tennis deserves it. Sad to see.
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