Week 7 - WTA1000 - Doha, Qatar Hard

Peter too · Tennis legend

Week 7 - WTA1000 - Doha, Qatar Hard

paulisi · Tennis legend

They are not daft - they are covering it in full

adz1983 · Intermediate Club Player

Have bet365 stopped streaming wta matches? I can watch itf and atp through the website but not WTA...

PaulM · Tennis legend

Blows three points for a double break and retreats back into her passive game and broken back. Misses another break point.

*3-4

It's so obvious what she has to do and yet at the first sign of any challenge from an opponent she just totally changes her approach and gets punished. Very frustrating. Stick with it!

-- Edited by PaulM on Sunday 9th of February 2025 06:27:22 PM

Var · Satellite level

adz1983 wrote:
Have bet365 stopped streaming wta matches? I can watch itf and atp through the website but not WTA...

Try this https://en.sportplus.live/tennis/23961/6387434/

PaulM · Tennis legend

What a surprise. Short weak balls down the middle just give Alexandrova shots to tee off. Who could have possibly foreseen such tactics not working?!?

3-5*

This isn't good for my blood pressure so switching off for a bit to see if she remembers some basic tactical nous.

paulisi · Tennis legend

Alexandrova is really playing well. Hitting winners for fun and defending really well.
She's not ranked in the 20's for nothing and she was the favourite for this match with the bookies

Peter too · Tennis legend

Emma's match is now on the other Sky tennis channel.

PaulM · Tennis legend

Had a *3-1 lead again. Lost it. Broken at *5-5. Game over.

Good performance from Alexandrova, and I think both found the speed of the courts made for heavy weather. But two key issues from Emma's side of the net:

Serve was doing nothing. Alexandrova was on top from the get go.

When Emma was in the rallies she played too centrally, hitting into Alexandrova's comfort zone rather than exposing weakness.

Another disappointing event, and as with last week she got off to a great start and then totally changed how she was approaching the points. Needs to grind out some lower level wins I feel, taking these wild cards feels increasingly counterproductive.

the addict · Tennis legend

The full scoreline

R1: Emma Raducanu (GBR) WR56 [WC] lost to Ekaterina Alexandrova (***) [26] WR25 3-6 5-7

Peter too · Tennis legend

Emma played a very good point and then gave away the next point with an unforced error or an easy shot for her opponent. Emma really needs a run of matches to get her consistency up.

paulisi · Tennis legend

Alexandrova's defence was outstanding.
Not a lot between them.

HarryGem · Club Coach

PaulM wrote:
Had a *3-1 lead again. Lost it. Broken at *5-5. Game over.

Good performance from Alexandrova, and I think both found the speed of the courts made for heavy weather. But two key issues from Emma's side of the net:

Serve was doing nothing. Alexandrova was on top from the get go.

When Emma was in the rallies she played too centrally, hitting into Alexandrova's comfort zone rather than exposing weakness.

Another disappointing event, and as with last week she got off to a great start and then totally changed how she was approaching the points. Needs to grind out some lower level wins I feel, taking these wild cards feels increasingly counterproductive.

I agree completely with this last point. She wasn't bad today though and Alexandrova played pretty well at times.

1 Get a proper full time coach.

2 Probably get a sports psychologist too.

3 Stop taking these wild cards to events that are, at this moment are of too high a quality for Emma to have a chance of going deep.

4 Start playing tournaments more in line with where she is right now, ie coming back from a long time out. Winning is a habit and losing can become one too. Plays more 250s and even drop down to the 125s. There's no disgrace. Look what Bencic did for eg after a year out.

Lambda · ATP qualifying

Although most of us agree she should drop down to 250s, the problem with that is that the WTA have all but eliminated 250s. With the exception of the grass season and the Asian swing in October, there is only one 250 a month and I don't see Emma dropping down to 125s without a big fall in her ranking. There is also a series of 96 draw 1000s in the next couple of months that she will be required to play while her ranking is where it is. So it seems that it is pretty much 1000s and 500s for the next few months whatever any of us think is best for her progress.

Lambda · ATP qualifying

Talking of mandatories reminds me that Katie will have to count a 0 point counter for the next 12 months with missing this tournament.