Is there a 2018 tennis thread yet?

[Satchmo Distel]

My bad. They really do play 8 games on one court per day.

[Satchmo Distel]

If the Rogers Cup semis go with the seeding, the finals will be Nadal (1) v Anderson (4) and Halep (1) v Stephens (3) or Svitolina (5)

I hadn't realized that Barty (Halep's opponent today) had also played Big Bash League T20 cricket

https://www.cricket.com.au/players/a...hkW0rMJjPKTwNQ

[Janik]

I'm sure I've mentioned her spell away from Tennis on here - she got to numerous Slam doubles finals w/ Casey Dellacqua as a teenager, but burned out under the high expectations, played cricket for two years and then came back to Tennis full-time. Barty rocketed back up the rankings because she is a genuine talent.

[Satchmo Distel]

Thanks. I hadn't followed the threads closely enough at that time and appreciate the info.

[Satchmo Distel]

Tomorrow in Cincinnati (R64): Murray v Pouille, Novak v S Johnson

Monday (R64): Konta v Sabalenka

Today's qualies feature Norrie v Copil, down for Court 4:

https://www.wsopen.com/ResultsAndSch...c=headernavsub

http://www.protennislive.com/posting/2018/422/op.pdf

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Not quite as important as the task fulfilled by Garcia in inflicting Drugcheat's latest defeat in Montreal, but I was pleased to see Tsitsipas beating Zverev in their Rogers Cup QF. Zverev is rapidly becoming the male player I most want to lose, although I can see I'll probably have many disappointments ahead of me on that front. I don't know of anything egregiously awful he's done or anything, it's just the steady trickle of arrogant full-of-himself soundbites that really grates. I supposed I ought to make some allowance for the high spirits and foolishness of youth, but none of the big 4 were bigging themselves up so crassly at a similar early stage of their careers were they? Sum total of the twat's slam achievements so far: one QF.

[Satchmo Distel]

Norrie lost, 6-3 final set. Baghdatis beat Lopez. Vekic continues her good form https://www.wsopen.com/Results/results/

Today: McDonald v Edmund, https://www.wsopen.com/ResultsAndSch...c=headernavsub

Murray due to meet Federer in Round 3 http://www.protennislive.com/posting/2018/422/mds.pdf

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Not much of the planned play in Cincinnati happened yesterday - I'm assuming due to rain. Still, Edmund got his R1 match over against a local wild card, and is now in the R32.

This Tsitsipas guy is looking like the future! Ran Nadal reasonably close in his first Masters 1000 final on his 20th birthday.

[Janik]

Tsitsipas beat four top ten players on his way to the final. I forget the exact stat, but he is either the youngest for a couple of decades to do this (i.e. his lifetime!) or the youngest ever. Either way, he is another alongside Shapovalov and Zverev who looks like the real deal (that is Zverev away from the Slams, where he seems to have a mental block which he will overcome sooner or later).

[Janik]

Murray beaten by Pouille in R1 of Cincy in three, which is a touch disappointing. Konta currently a set and a break up on Sabalenka, which would be a good win as Sabalenka is a dangerous opponent.

[Janik]

Or it could be a painful defeat, after Konta pissed away the second set in a welter of double faults. She has QF points to defend here from last year...

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Painful defeat it is, then.

[Satchmo Distel]

Tonight (Tuesday) weather permitting:

Shapovalov v Edmund
Kvitova v Serena Williams

[Janik]

Double-faultitis is not something we've seen from Konta for a long time. It wasn't just the number, but how they were happening - she was going for kick second serves for extra margin, and still dumping them halfway up the net. At one point she did this three successive times to the deuce box, which eventually resulted in the decisive break in the second set. It was a very undermining two hours that she spent on court yesterday, one where she looked like the World No.50 again.

[Satchmo Distel]

Tonight (Tuesday) weather permitting:

Shapovalov v Edmund
Kvitova v Serena Williams

Edmund and Williams lost.

[Janik]

Edmund and Shapovalov must be nearly sick of the sight of each other. That is about their 8th match in the last three years. Which doesn't compare to Nadal-Djokovic of course, but feels well above par for two players aged well under 25 and neither of whom have ever been ranked in the top 10.

[Janik]

And talking of Serena, defeat to Kvitova, which was not really a surprise (Petra is one of the few players where the match is not on Serena’s racquet), does mean that Williams will come in to the US Open with just one warm-up win. Which is more than she had at Roland Garros (R4 and then retiring without playing) and Wimbledon (Runner-up). One can see why she was agitating for a seeding for these events – she needs relatively straightforward matches in the first couple of rounds to ease her way in to form. It would make me snigger if she drew Azarenka in R1 and got beaten…

Whilst we are doing this, other notable happenings concerning the rest of the world in recent weeks:-

Sascha Zverev defended his title in Washington (ATP500) but not in Canada (Masters). The Washington last four were all NextGen poster boys:- Zverev, de Minaur (the runner-up), Tsitsipas, Rublev. The players who exited in the QFS, beaten or otherwise, were from a different generation:- A.Murray, Nishikori, Goffin, Kudla.
Tsitsipas went one better in Toronto the following week as we noted up thread. His top 10 scalps in reaching the final were Thiem, Djokovic, Zverev, Anderson. That got him to a second Tour level final, but as in Barcelona (where Stefanos beat four top 10 seeds en route, but not all top 10 world ranked) Rafa Nadal proved too big a hurdle in the final. However, Tsitsipas is getting closer. Barcelona was 2-6 1-6, Toronto was 2-6 6-7.
The other notable runs in Toronto were Anderson making the Semi, so backing up his Wimbledon Runner-Up spot and giving further credence to him now being a legitimate elite player and Khachanov making the Semi, so another U23 player making an impact.
As for this week in Cincinnati, the big news is probably that Stan Wawrinka has won a couple of matches. He has defeated Schwartmann and Nishikori, and now plays Fucsovic. Oh, and spooling back a couple of weeks, Fognini beat Del Potro in the final in Los Cabos. Delpo then withdrew from Toronto citing a left wrist injury, which is a highly worrying thing for him to suggest, but the signs are it was just precautionary, not wanting to play too much, as he is meant to be back in action in Cincy, though his first match against Chung Hyeon (another youngster!) hasn’t happened as yet – it’s the only R2 match left to play (Delpo had a R1 bye). The winner will have two matches in a day, which doesn’t sound ideal for JM.

On the Women’s side, Mihaela Buzarenscu is probably the source of the biggest news, as she went from a big high to a massive low. Buzarnescu won the title in San Jose, beating Maria Sakkari in final (Greek Tennis fans must be having fun currently), which was her first WTA crown and elevated her into the top 20. However just a handful of days later she slipped on a wet line in Montreal and injured her ankle. She has reported that the bone isn’t broken but “Bad news: one ligament broken, 2 stretched”. She has withdrawn from the US Open but is talking of being back for the Far East swing. Which sounds rather optimistic...
Other players with injury troubles include Madison Keys, who withdrew from defending her title in San Jose (won in Stanford prior to the tournament moving) and also backed out of Montreal but is playing in Cincinnati, which is good news; Garbine Muguruza, who also withdrew from San Jose and Montreal and did play Cincy but lost her first match (she was the defending champion); Caroline Wozniacki, who withdrew from Washington with a leg injury, played Montreal with her leg heavily strapped presumably due to the same problem (l to Sabalenka in her first match) and then retired hurt with a knee injury after losing the first set of her R2 match in Ohio; Julia Goerges, who retired hurt with a left leg injury in R1 in Cincy; and Venus Williams, who didn’t play this week at all due to a right knee injury. Serena won’t be the only player undercooked come New York.
One who might just be overdone is Simona Halep. She is playing like the World No.1 currently, having won the title in Montreal, beating Sloane Stephens in the final in what could become an interesting rivalry at the top of the game. Halep is another facing potentially two matches in a day today as she has to complete a third set against Alja Tomljanovic with the winner to take on Ash Barty. She has also taken a late wild card into New Haven next week for some reason, which will mean playing for five consecutive weeks assuming she reaches R4 and beyond at the Open. I don’t get the last decision, it feels like too much play. Maybe it’s trying to keep everything rolling along when it’s going so well…?
Players who are playing well currently include Caroline Garcia, who dismantled Sharapova in Montreal before losing to Halep in the QFs and did similar against Azarenka this week (she plays the current best Belarussian, Aryna Sabalenka, today) and Alize Cornet, who toppled Angie Kerber last week and Jelena Ostapenko this, though Cornet did subsequently get mashed by Ekaterina Makarova in Cincinnati. Ostapenko has lost her first match in both warm-up tournaments, btw. Oh, and since we are being comprehensive, Svetlana Kuznetsova had slipped outside the top 100 after Wimbledon, but she then won the title in Washington (beating Donna Vekic in the final) to move right back into it again. That was Sveta’s first final in over a year and first title for nearly two. It was also her second title in Washington after also winning in 2014, a venue where she has never lost a match.


Edit - and oh yes, did we mention that J.Murray/Soares won the doubles title in Washington? I don't think we did...

[Satchmo Distel]

Does Serena's form this month vindicate the decision not to seed her or should seeding be based on her two Slams since coming back?

[Janik]

It was not a decision, it's just the rules. Seedings must follow the current world rankings, only the slams have any discretion to diverge from that. And Serena was seeded against Konta in San Jose, for all that it mattered. She will also be seeded in New York, though they may promote her much further up.

[Etienne]

Serving 8 double faults in a match wouldn't be great. Serving them in a set would be worrying. Serving 8 of them in one game is almost unbelievable, but that is what Naomi Broady managed in the penultimate game of her first round match in Vancouver against local wild card Marino. She lost,and hasn't won a main draw singles game since May.

Boulter and Watson both did win, bit impressively for different reasons. Boulter fought back to win after losing the first set 6-1 - her 10th win this year from a set down (out of 24 matches when she has lost the first set) - this could mean she is very resilient, or she is a slow starter, or both. Watson demolished the third seed 6-2, 6-2. Hopefully she has refound her streaky pants.

[Janik]

That's... that's... my word. I'm not sure I have a reaction to that! (i.e. Broady)

In lighter news, Watson and Boulter won again yesterday, so now face each other in the QFs. There is quite a lot riding on it for Katie - if she wins, she will break into the top 100 for the first time on Monday.

Rebecca Marino (i.e. the local wild card who beat/was at the other end as Naomi Broady beat herself) has subsequently knocked out the no.2 seed for the event, Yanina Wickmayer. Who is a top 100 player. Which makes it less embarassi... OK, no it doesn't. Eight doubles faults in one game! Blimey. The top seed, Kateryna Kozlova, is also out, and again that was a good one for the locals as she was beaten by Genie Bouchard. Those two results, alongside Heather Watson's R1 destruction of Ekaterina Alexandrova, mean all the top 100 players who entered Vancouver are now eliminated. In fact just one seed has reached the QFs, the no.5... Katie Boulter!

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

Exciting times for KB.

Meanwhile, in Cincinnati, the schedule seems to have been having the kind of rain-related trouble that one traditionally associates with British outdoor events.

[ursus arctos]

The Davis Cup is dead. Long live the Davis Cup.

[Janik]

I give it about two years...

Watson beat Boulter in Vancouver.

[Jimski]

Djokovic seems right back in form now. Could easily make a late run for the year-end number one from here...