Is there a 2018 tennis thread yet?

[Janik]

So one Men's Semi set in Madrid - Anderson vs Thiem. On the other side of the draw, Shapovalov vs Edmund is underway imminently. That will be their fifth meeting since the start of last year, the series score to date is tied at 2-2. The winner of that then plays either Isner or A.Zverev in the other semi. Isner and Zverev are the only two players remaining in the Men's draw who have previously won a Masters Series event, Zverev in Italy last year (the only clay court one) and Canada last summer, Isner in Miami a few weeks ago (beating a certain A.Zverev in the final).

On the Women's side, Kiki Bertens is into the final, her first Premier Mandatory. Indeed she had only made one standard Premier final previously, in Charleston last month (b Goerges). Bertens' route to the final was pretty tough, Sakkari, Sevastova, Wozniacki, Sharapova, Garcia. No easy options there. She will play a tall Czech with a booming serve in the title match, as the other semi (due on court in 30 minutes or so) is Karolina Pliskova vs Petra Kvitova. Both are on decent winning runs, Pliskova having won the title in Stuttgart two weeks ago and then skipped the Prague Open, which left Kvitova as the highest seed and she duly took the crown for her first title on a home court in over a decade.

[Janik]

Shapovalov vs Edmund looks to be pretty tight. Edmund has just levelled up at a set all, scores 7-5 6-7(6-8). Not a lot in that. I'm watching the all-Czech Women's Semi though, which is a bit of a mess to be honest (often the way when good friends play each other). Kvitova is a set and a break up, and looking marginally the less inhibited of the two.

[Janik]

Edmund lost. Dang.

[Janik]

The Madrid Women's final was a superb match, eventually won by Petra Kvitova after 2h52. Up there with the Wozniacki-Halep Aussie Final in the match of the year stakes, with similar quality, intensity and drama. Despite losing, which will hurt, Kiki Bertens will be a better, more prepared player for the French having experienced what she just has.

Thiem is into the Men's final. The second Men's Semi is Shapovalov vs A.Zverev. This feels like the real new guard, and if they are not the Big Four they are still pretty decent and watchable. Bring it on!

[Etienne]

The British women are really concertinaing. While Konta is having a poor year, and Watson a terrible one, the likes of Taylor, Boulter, Dart and Swan are all pushing on. We've mentioned Taylor before, but in this week, Dart reached the semi final in the 60k in China, before losing in 3 sets against the top seed. Boulter has reached the final of the Japan 60k, beating Naomi Broady on the way, while Swan has just won the 25k in Spain.

It's less promising for the men, with Edmund and Norrie a long way clear of the rest. But Aidan McHugh and George Loffhagen are both looking very promising juniors, with both getting decent points in their first senior outings.

[Janik]

There were a handful of Brit vs Brit matches over in Japan this week, weren't there?

Gabi Taylor is in the top 100 on YTD, I think. Heather Watson certainly isn't. Konta is around 40th. She was meant to play Kvitova in R1 in Rome, but seeing how knackered Petra was at the end today it will surely be a Lucky Loser instead. Not that Jo can't lose to someone like that on clay...

Did we mention Edmund and Norrie winning a Tour level doubles title in tandem on here (Estoril or Algarve, somewhere like that)? And that Dom Inglot had a couple of ATP crowns back-to-back?

[Etienne]

Dunne beat Robson (who is really stagnating at the moment), and as mentioned Boulter beat Broady.

Edmund was a very very good doubles player as a junior, not a surprise he should do well when he gives it a go. Inglot had just lost his British #2 slot (to one of the Skupski brothers, I forget which) and saw his regular doubles partner get injured. So he had a scratch partnership one week, and a return to former partner Linstedt the other, and won both.

[Etienne]

Boulter won her final which will put her on the cusp of the top 150.

[Evariste Euler Gauss]

EXcellent.

Current unofficial "live" rankings for the women:

Konta 22
Watson 83
Broady 126
Boulter 152
Taylor 171
Dart 194
Dunne 219
Robson 242
Swan 288

[Etienne]

Swan was 288 before she won in Spain, so I imagine will go into the top 250 when those points go on.

There is a big drop off after the top 9, though Tara Moore has shown flickers of form that she might be about to climb back up.

[Janik]

EXcellent.

Current unofficial "live" rankings for the women:

Konta 22
Watson 83
Broady 126
Boulter 152
Taylor 171
Dart 194
Dunne 219
Robson 242
Swan 288

And the equivalent race (i.e. year to date) spots:
Konta 39
Taylor 96
Broady 112
Boulter 127
Watson 143
Dart 148
Dunne 166
Swan 189
Robson 261

[Janik]

Boulter won her final which will put her on the cusp of the top 150.

She will have to work to stay there in the immediate future, as she was runner-up in Kurume last year and so will be defending those points next week. Boulter isn't the Brit under the greatest ranking pressure to perform though - that would be Laura Robson, who beat Boulter in last year's final. The 80 points Robson gained then are over a third of her current ranking. A R1 defeat this coming week would see Laura spiralling down to ~330.

[Etienne]

Kvitova has withdrawn, and Konta will now meet Rybarikova, who she has a 3-0 H2H record against, most recently last week. Much better draw for her then.

[Jon]

"this week, Dart reached the semi final in the 60k in China, before losing in 3 sets against the top seed."

She won the doubles there this week too. And the previous week she got to the quarter final in an 80k tournament in Japan, beating both Boulter and Taylor on the way. She really is one to watch.

[Janik]

Seeing as I was updating results from Madrid, I should mention the Men's final. It was another Masters Series title for Sascha Zverev, who beat Dominic Thiem 4&4. A second Masters Series title for Zverev, and on two different surfaces whilst Thiem is now 0/2 in such finals having lost to Nadal last year on the same court. Thiem also failed to win in Rome last year after beating Rafa in quarters and still seems to falter on the very biggest stages. He needs more aggression in his game, I think.
Meanwhile Zverev is closing in on Federer and Nadal in the rankings; Federer has 8670 points, Nadal 7950 (and only 180 to defend this week so could go back to no.1 if he wins the Rome title) and Zverev 6015. And has managed this without any significant contribution from the Slams given that he has still never made a QF in any of them. He has nothing to defend in Paris as he lost to Verdasco in R1 last year, and only R4 in Wimbledon (180 points) and R2 in New York (45 points). The Aussie contributed a whopping 90 points of his 6000 (R3). He could well end the year as No.1 as he should be ahead of Federer (the current leader) in the race standings once clay is over.

Current race positions
1. Federer - 3110
2. A.Zverev - 2535
3. del Potro - 2210
4. Nadal - 2040
5. Cilic - 1650
6. Thiem - 1615
7. Anderson - 1430
8. Chung - 1380
- - - - - - - - - - - - -
9. Isner - 1265
10. Dimitrov - 1265
11. Edmund - 1170
12. Bautista Agut - 1085

All others <1000

[Seven Saxon Kings]

It would probably be good for the game if Zverev got to #1, it's hardly good to have #1 and #2 basically be part timers on tour.

[Etienne]

Robson has dropped out of Kurume, so definitely won't be defending her points there.

[Jimski]

That was actually Zverev's third masters title - he won Rome and Montreal last year. Remarkably that total of 3 masters titles is enough to have him 5th on the list of active players - only the big four ahead of him. Shows how they've been sweeping up the majority of such titles (as well as the majors).

[Kevin S]

https://twitter.com/benjaminryan/sta...611840/video/1

https://twitter.com/benjaminryan/status/996146567848611840/video/1

[Antepli Ejderha]

That's awful, but I did laugh. Great recovery too.

[Etienne]

Looking out for the next British top player? Emma Raducanu, who is just 15 has reached the final of a 15k tournament. En route she's beaten the 3rd seed (ranked 425 in the world) 6-3, 6-0, as well as the 5th seed.

[Etienne]

In the men's Edmund had a really good match against Zverev, but lost in 2 close sets 7-5 7-6 (11)

[ad hoc]

She must be Romanian on her father's side with a name like that

[Etienne]

In my initial draft I was going to mention that she might be of interest to you too, ad hoc, but then I thought I'd have to mention that the tournament she's playing in is in Israel.

[ad hoc]

Ha!

Just read an article in Romanian about her, her dad's Romanian, her mum's "Asian", she was born in Toronto and plays tennis for the UK. And she visits her grandma in Romania every summer.

So that's nice