Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Another one bites the dust

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Another one bites the dust

    Lets retire the post-Aussie Open thread, on the grounds that the title is out of date. The main events kick off in Paris tomorrow morning, so time for some thoughts on what lies ahead.

    First of all the nominal 3rd round draws;

    Men's Singles

    Rafael Nadal Esp [1] vs Vasek Pospisil Can [30]
    Nicolas Almagro Esp [21] vs Tommy Haas Ger [16]
    Grigor Dimitrov Bul [11] vs Kevin Anderson RSa [19]
    Andreas Seppi Ita [32] vs David Ferrer Esp [5]

    Stan Wawrinka Sui [3] vs Feliciano Lopez Esp [26]
    Gael Monfils Fra [23] vs Fabio Fognini Ita [14]
    Richard Gasquet Fra [12] vs Fernando Verdasco Esp [24]
    Philipp Kohlschreiber Ger [28] vs Andy Murray GBr [7]

    Tomas Berdych Cze [6] vs Roberto Bautista-Agut Esp [27]
    Tommy Robredo Esp [17] vs John Isner USA [10]
    Mikhail Youzhny Rus [15] vs Ernets Gulbis Lat [18]
    Dmitry Tursunov Rus [31] vs Roger Federer Sui [4]

    Milos Raonic Can [8] vs Giles Simon Fra [29]
    Alexandr Dolgopolov Ukr [20] vs Kei Nishikori Jpn [9]
    Jo-Wilfred Tsonga Fra [13] vs Jerzy Janowicz Pol [22]
    Marin Cilic Cro [25] vs Novak Djokovic Srb [2]

    Women's Singles

    Serena Williams USA [1] vs Venus Williams USA [29]
    Roberta Vinci Ita [17] vs Sabine Lisicki Ger [16]
    Dominika Cibulkova Svk [9] vs Sam Stosur Aus [19]
    Kaia Kanepi Est [25] vs Maria Sharapova Rus [7]

    Agnieszka Radwanska Pol [3] vs Elena Vesnina Rus [32]
    Alize Cornet Fra [20] vs Carla Suarez Navarro Esp [14]
    Flavia Pennetta Ita [12] vs Eugenie Bouchard Can [18]
    Daniela Hantuchova Svk [31] vs Angelique Kerber Ger [8]

    Petra Kvitova Cze [5] vs Svetlana Kuznetsova Rus [27]
    Lucie Safarova Cze [23] vs Ana Ivanovic Srb [11]
    Sloane Stephens USA [15] vs Ekaterina Makarova Rus [22]
    Klara Koukalova Cze [30] vs Simona Halep Rou [4]

    Jelena Jankovic Srb [6] vs Sorana Cirstea Rou [26]
    Kirsten Flipkens Bel [21] vs Sara Errani Ita [10]
    Caroline Wozniacki Den [13] vs Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova Rus [24]
    Andrea Petkovic Ger [28] vs Li Na Chn [2]

    #2
    Another one bites the dust

    On the Men's side, there is this annoying little voice in the back of my head saying "Rafa may well be out before the Semis this year". I'm trying to ignore it on the grounds that its highly misleading, but then I look at his draw and think 'Oh, that is a little unlucky'. And even thinking like that is already a massive change as far as Rafa is concerned. Ginepri in R1 is a cake-walk, and Pospisil's season has been ruined by the back injury suffered in Australia (he hasn't won a match since), but Thiem is a very large banana skin and then Rafa potentially has two players who have already beaten him on clay this season, Almagro and Ferrer.

    Djokovic has been getting closer and closer, and really wants this title to complete the set. I can't see anyone stopping him, even if he will need to hit the ground running as he has landed a tricky old draw himself. Sousa in R1 is as tricky an assignment as a seed could really get, and Nishikori (if fit) or Dolgopolov in R4 would represent a match against one of the season's form players.

    The two Swiss could make an impression, as well. The first week for both looks like a nice, gentle tune-up which ought to deliver them to the QFs in fine nick. But I think this is Nole's year.

    As for the Women, if Serena gets through her stacked quarter then the title is hers for the taking. The nominal third round line-up in that top quadrant would make a very fine set of quarter-finals. OK, maybe not Lisicki on clay, but the other seven for sure.

    If Serena doesn't emerge, then it will surely be Maria. And she would likewise be an overwhelming favourite to go on and take the title.

    With so many of the most useful players concentrated in one segment, the rest of the draw looks a little bland. An all-Serb SF in the bottom half would be no surprise for me; Ivanovic has been one of the form players of the clay court season and Jankovic is playing at very near her best. Li Na is the obvious threat to that, but she has been struggling a little of late. I think the grass of Wimbledon will be more her thing this summer.

    Comment


      #3
      Another one bites the dust

      Wonder what Wozniacki's mental bounceback will be from being so publicly dumped by her fiance. I expect the French crowd might get behind her, you get the impression they are romantics like that.

      Comment


        #4
        Another one bites the dust

        Very hard to predict which way she will go, really determined and focused on her tennis, or Richie Tenenbaum style on-court implosion. The support of the French crowd is a given; any Woman this happened to is going to have a great deal of sympathy, and Caro was already highly popular with crowds around the world. Something to do with being a pretty, vivacious blonde...

        This could all be irrelevant, though. Her participation in Paris was doubtful enough due to the knee injury she suffered in Madrid that saw her withdraw from Rome. According to her father-coach she hadn't even practiced since, though it appears she went out for a hit yesterday.

        A quick glance over today's schedule and the match that stood out for me was Venus Williams vs Belinda Bencic - a real veteran against youth match-up. That one is second on Suzanne Lenglen. Anyway, the first balls are being hit in anger, so must dash.

        Comment


          #5
          Another one bites the dust

          Random early observations.
          Aga's flowery dress suits her.
          A hold of serve in Aga's match with Zhang would be nice.
          Of all the ways I thought Marion Bartoli might spend this years French Open, sharing banter with Mark Petchey in the ITV commentary box was not high on the list. French TV, yes, but British?

          Comment


            #6
            Another one bites the dust

            Am I the only one who doesn't have the first clue how to "get" the thread title?

            Comment


              #7
              Another one bites the dust

              Mix of a Crackerjack reference and how a clay court is constructed. Quite esoteric, I guess, especially for any under-30s reading or non-Brits reading.

              Anyway, holds are the new breaks and Aga has this match won.

              Comment


                #8
                Another one bites the dust

                .. and for the over-45s Janik. If I've understood correctly, it's a catchphrase first used on Crackerjack in 1979, by which time I was starting the sixth form. I didn't do that ironic student thing of watching children's telly.

                Comment


                  #9
                  Another one bites the dust

                  It was a single as well. The things you missed with your sophisticated attitude to culture through the 80s...

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Another one bites the dust

                    Remember the fuss about Andy Murray being the first Brit for 81 years to win a Slam singles title. Well...

                    The ITV commentary team was just talking about the lack of French players in the top 10. The British commentator said something like 'You've got loads in the top 100, though' to which Fabrice Santoro replied 'Yes, but its 31 years since we won a Slam'. Marion Bartoli sitting next to him reacted to this...

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Another one bites the dust

                      Only one seed went today, and that was Kaia Kanepi, beaten by Monica Niculescu. Unusually shock free for the French.

                      Pick of the matches on tomorrow's schedule are probably Djokovic vs Joao Sousa and Wawrinka vs Guillermo Garcia-Lopez. Both Sousa and Garcia-Lopez are handy on a clay court, and ranked 40-odd. Garcia-Lopez in particular is in decent form, having won a clay court title this season. And Wawrinka hasn't played a great deal recently due to early losses in Madrid and Rome.

                      Best bets for an interesting match in the Womens are probably Alize Cornet vs Ashleigh Barty and Sam Stosur vs Monica Puig.
                      Cornet has been having a very good season, and will have home support, but Barty is a very confident teenager with a strong belief in her abilities and lots of experience of the Grand Slam stage from her highly successful time in Doubles last year. As for Stosur-Puig, the Puerto Rican was a bit of a breakout star in Paris last year, beating Petrova in R1 and getting to R3 as a teenager. She has since backed that up with other runs in Slams and won the warm-up tournament in Strasbourg last week, her first WTA title, without dropping a set. Stosur ought to be too good for her, particularly on clay. But she won't find it easy and often getting involved in a battle is the last thing a player prone to nerves needs. And Stosur is very prone to nerves.

                      If you wanted to sniff out a potential shock, I would be looking at Sloane Stephens vs Peng Shuai. More because of Stephens than clay being a particularly good surface for Peng.

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Another one bites the dust

                        One match from today's list that I meant to mention in the post above (you'll have to take me on my word on that) was Nishikori vs Klizan. Both have had very successful clay court seasons as documented on the other thread. However, the main issue was always going to be whether Kei was fully fit after the back injury he picked up in Madrid.
                        Having watched some of the match (Klizan won 7-6(4) 6-1 6-2), if Nishikori tells his press conference that he was still struggling it wouldn't be a surprise.
                        Some of Nishikori's play in sets 2 and the early part of set 3 was the sort of thing that, if it had been Bernard Tomic or Marat Safin playing that way, would have been greeted by 'poop poop' noises in the press boxes and locker room. The body language was incredibly negative and effort in getting to balls was distinctly lacking.
                        This not being Kei style at all makes one thinkthe injury was still an issue. He was also not really throwing himself into his service motion, another indicator. A pity, as it should otherwise it could have been a spectacular match, as both players ought to be highly confident at the moment. For the record, that confidence showed in Klizan's play. He was hitting with real bite and accuracy, often cleaning the lines.

                        Whether just well beaten, or undermined by injury, Nishikori becomes the first Men's seed to depart the event.

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Another one bites the dust

                          Evariste Euler Gauss wrote: .. and for the over-45s Janik. If I've understood correctly, it's a catchphrase first used on Crackerjack in 1979, by which time I was starting the sixth form. I didn't do that ironic student thing of watching children's telly.
                          Over-45s? Don't be all Zsa-Zsa Gabor about this, Evariste Euler Gauss. You mean "over-50s". I'm over 45 and was still at primary school when that record came out.

                          Just so that this post isn't entirely non-tennis-related:

                          When Virginia Wade won Wimbledon in 1977 - just two years before Stu Francis's greatest hit - one of the teachers at our school burst into the classroom waving a transistor radio and shouted "Ginny's won! Ginny's won!"

                          With tears of patriotic pride in her eyes, our class teacher said, "Right, children, as a special treat, you can all go home early!" So we all went home early.

                          They'd get had up for that sort of thing these days.

                          Comment


                            #14
                            Another one bites the dust

                            Wow - they played the ladies' final on a weekday back then?

                            Love the "Zsa Zsa Gabor" line btw. I'm only a few months over 50, though, and I bet I'd still have missed it if I'd been a year younger.

                            Comment


                              #15
                              Another one bites the dust

                              Wow - they played the ladies' final on a weekday back then?

                              Yes, they must have. I thought it was a Thursday - I could have sworn we'd just had a painting lesson, and painting was always on Thursdays - but the internet says it was a Friday.

                              Comment


                                #16
                                Another one bites the dust

                                Thiem won in straight sets and will now face Rafa. Should be a good gauge of where Rafa is.

                                Comment


                                  #17
                                  Another one bites the dust

                                  Bye bye Stan, thanks for coming. From what i saw, his opponent was solid but nothing more. Wawrinka was spraying errors all over the Chatrier.

                                  Comment


                                    #18
                                    Another one bites the dust

                                    I'd like to claim some sort of seer status for highlighting that match. If only I hadn't also highlighted what proved routine wins for Djokovic, Stosur and Cornet. And tipped Jankovic, who is currently a set down to Sharon Fichman, to breeze into the Semis. Jelena has just gone a double break up in the second, but with the failing light this one is going to called any minute.

                                    Roberta Vinci was the only Women's seed to fall, and she did so to French wild card Pauline Parmentier, which was rather a shock. Vinci has been top ten in the past year and is at home on clay; Parmentier is a journeywoman who has won just twice in her nine previous tries at Roland Garros (she has a better record at the other Slams).

                                    Comment


                                      #19
                                      Another one bites the dust

                                      treibeis wrote: Wow - they played the ladies' final on a weekday back then?

                                      Yes, they must have. I thought it was a Thursday - I could have sworn we'd just had a painting lesson, and painting was always on Thursdays - but the internet says it was a Friday.
                                      The men's final was on a Saturday back then, so this would mean the womens final being on the Friday.

                                      Comment


                                        #20
                                        Another one bites the dust

                                        Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow...[wait, that means something else, doesn't it?]

                                        So, what is interesting in a general sense, leaving aside Murray and Watson for the other thread.

                                        Best match on Chatrier looks to be French youngster Caroline Garcia against Ana Ivanovic.
                                        Garcia won her first WTA title in Bogota recently, and was also a quarter-Finalist in Madrid (some luck of the draw involved) and Nuerenberg, picking up significant wins against Jankovic and Errani along the way, and also putting up a very good show in fully extending A.Radwanska before finally succumbing. Going a little further back she gave Serena a good scare in Madrid. She shouldn't be awed by the surroundings, having been there before when she had Sharapova on the ropes in 2011.
                                        Ivanovic has also had a fine clay court season, making the Final in Stuttgart (l to Sharapova), QFs in Madrid (l to Halep) and SFs in Rome (l to Serena). Best result was getting revenge on Sharapova for the Stuttgart defeat (there was a Porsche at stake, the bitch!) in R3 in Rome. That was Maria's first defeat on a clay court to someone other than Serena in almost three years.
                                        Hope it lives up to expectations, its tie of the round in the Womens draw for sure.

                                        Other matches of interest in the Womens include;
                                        - Kristina Mladenovic vs Li Na (Lenglen), which is like a mini-version of the Garcia-Ivanovic tie
                                        - Sloane Stephens vs Shuai Peng (Court 1), which I'm still tipping as a potential shock
                                        - Caroline Wozniacki vs Yanina Wickmayer (Court 2), tear watch
                                        - Jelena Jankovic vs Sharon Fichman (Court 7) to finish, Jankovic being a set down but 5-1 up in the second overnight

                                        Nothing too remarkable leaps out of the Men's. The pick is probably Richard Gasquet vs Bernard Tomic, which is second up on Lenglen. Otherwise one might have a glance at Grigor Dimitrov vs Ivo Karlovic (Court 1) for a marked contrast in styles, or Kevin Anderson vs Stephane Robert (Court 6) for two players rising in the rankings after positive seasons.

                                        Stephens losing to Peng remains my thought for the likeliest shock result.

                                        Comment


                                          #21
                                          Another one bites the dust

                                          Monfils is on today, and to be fair he's generally always good value for entertainment at RG. As to the women's, she's had a good clay season so far, but I wouldn't put it past Errani to pull out a stinker against Madison Keys

                                          Comment


                                            #22
                                            Another one bites the dust

                                            A couple of shocks to potentially match Wawrinka going out are in the offing - Mladenovic is a set up on Li and Karlovic is two sets up on Dimitrov.

                                            Comment


                                              #23
                                              Another one bites the dust

                                              The winning post is hoving into view for Mladenovic and Karlovic. Mladenovic is a break up in the deciding set at 4-1 and has Li 15-30 on her serve. Karlovic is 4-2 up in a third set tie-break. Can either see it home?

                                              Comment


                                                #24
                                                Another one bites the dust

                                                Two mps for Ivo...

                                                Comment


                                                  #25
                                                  Another one bites the dust

                                                  He wins. And simultaneously Mladenovic breaks to lead Li 5-1. The crowd on Lenglen must be going nuts (despite the name, Mladenovic is French).

                                                  Comment

                                                  Working...
                                                  X