Week 6 - Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia Hard

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

Week 6 - Australian Open, Melbourne, Australia Hard

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Hsieh v Errani in previous round, both players won 54 percent of their return points. Ie more points went against serve than for. 68 percent of games were breaks in total. In wta matches, there have been 400 such matches, it seems (according to Jeff Sackman of TA) and 22 of those have involved Errani. He has records of 25000 wta matches so 400 is close to 2 percent of matches, not such a rare occurrence but probably does occur once or twice every slam or so.

Andy Parker · Club Coach

Halep's match on serve at 3-4, but already looks like a marathon - every point hotly contested and little to choose between either player. Just as I thought it would be. Well done Serena, (even though I fell asleep just before the end).

Andy Parker · Club Coach

As soon as I wrote the last post, Swiatek breaks and wins the set.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Heathers womens doubles is first on court 6 tomorrow at midnight

Andy Parker · Club Coach

Great win from Halep - she really turned the match around and seems to nearly always have the ability to step up a gear when the going gets tough.

Jan · Hall of fame

Is it just me (which is quite possible!), or did the call of "out" during that match sound really odd? More like "ooo".

ROSAMUND · Futures level

The win over Iga Swiatek was Simona Halep's 100th singles win in Grand Slams.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Jaggy1876 wrote:
Sabalenka will be a top 10 for a long time though with that strength. Probably just went for her shots and second serves a bit too much but its great to see someone attack so much. Dont think there was a drop shot all match and barely any slicing.

Sabalenka is by far the highest ranked female player yet to reach a grand slam quarter final. Her record in Grand Slam singles is won 14 lost 13. As a comparison Swiatek already has 20 wins.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Reading that Vondrousova played in her match with an injury and the same earlier for Venus Williams are these players doing more harm than good by playing on rather than retiring from the match? I am thinking here as well, of Johanna Konta. Assuming she plays overnight our time in the Phillips Island event it will be interesting to see what the commentator(s) say about the problem that caused Jo's retirement in the AO.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

That OOP on the women's side yesterday had a lot of hype heading into it, and it certainly didn't disappoint. All 3 matches on RLA going deep into the 3rd set, and particularly in the case of the first two matches (Osaka, Serena), there was still a perception that it could go either way right to the very end. I was hoping for Muguruza and Sabalenka, so a little disappointed the way it eventually panned out, as both were in decent positions, but nevertheless, 2 great champions progressing.

Tonight not quite the same. Svitolina vs Pegula the only singles match (on both sides) starting at midnight, so will just catch the action in the morning.

Andy Parker · Club Coach

ROSAMUND wrote:
Reading that Vondrousova played in her match with an injury and the same earlier for Venus Williams are these players doing more harm than good by playing on rather than retiring from the match? I am thinking here as well, of Johanna Konta. Assuming she plays overnight our time in the Phillips Island event it will be interesting to see what the commentator(s) say about the problem that caused Jo's retirement in the AO.

It looked like a thigh strain for Vondrousova, so not sure how serious it was. She did though, regularly clutch the front of her leg, just above the knee. You would need to be a doctor or physio to work out exactly what the problem was, but the right upper leg was heavily strapped from the start of the match and the pain clearly worsened as the match went on.

The one thing that persistently struck me during the match, was that most players make the most of minor strains (and indeed in some cases call the trainer, when the injury in question is their injured pride), but Vondrousova just kept going and trying to win, even though the injury was preventing her from having much movement. It was so brave of her, and so unusual to see that these days.

Mind you, we were in the dark with Jo Ko, until she went over to the trainer and inaudibly spoke to him, went off court for physio and then promptly retired a couple of games later. It is refreshing to see some sports people play the game in the correct manner (or the old fashioned way) - did either do permanent damage - hopefully not, but both players emerge with a lot of credit.

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

ROSAMUND wrote:
Jaggy1876 wrote:
Sabalenka will be a top 10 for a long time though with that strength. Probably just went for her shots and second serves a bit too much but its great to see someone attack so much. Dont think there was a drop shot all match and barely any slicing.
Sabalenka is by far the highest ranked female player yet to reach a grand slam quarter final. Her record in Grand Slam singles is won 14 lost 13. As a comparison Swiatek already has 20 wins.

Im not sure the point here. Im talking about Sabalenka and going forward. Her time will come.

the addict · Tennis legend

Agreed, still early in Sabalenka's career, and she has excellent prospects. Swiatek has had an exceptional start so far, and has already reached one QF. By contrast, Simona only had 10 wins in her first 14 slams, before making her first QF in 2014, and hasn't looked back.

ROSAMUND · Futures level

Mike Dickson in his latest report says that the AO is the 8th out of the last 11 Grand Slams in which no Brit has made the 2nd week of the singles. The 3 times it has happened are all Johanna Konta in 2019. It shows you how much we miss Andy Murray. However having no woman in the 2nd week of a Grand Slam singles is not a new phenomena which endured its worse spell from Jo Durie reaching the last 16 of the 1991 US Open until Laura Robson did similar at the 2012 US Open. In that period there were 83 Grand Slam tournaments and only on one occasion at Wimbledon 1998 with Sam Smith did a British woman reach the last 16 of a Grand Slam. If you take into account the fact that Laura and JoKo were both born in Australia it leaves Sam Smith as the last woman born in Britain to reach the last 16 of a GS. Since then there have been another 89 Grand Slam tournaments.