Week 38 - WTA ($500K) - Guangzhou, China - Hard

Jan · Hall of fame

RE: Week 38 - WTA ($500K) - Guangzhou, China - Hard

Julia Carrot · All-time great

Phew & double phew !!!!!!!!

Helen40 · Grand Slam Champion

Burger tb it is

1-1
2-1
4-2
5-2 cummon only two points to go

6-2
Four match points and on serve.
2nd serve.

6-3 bovver
6-4 (Zheng's serve)

Phew. She won, what a drama.

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, got there in the end, but would certainly appear that Laura needs to find some better form rather quickly.

But hey, first QF of the year..

PockyTastic · Futures level

We can all breathe a big sigh of relief now. Next up Jie Zheng...

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Laura was in control at 6-3 3-1 but after that things started to go awry.

At least she battled well saving break points and winning the tie-break. Should have been easier but the main thing is she won and she can play well tomorrow instead. Although it sometimes looks like a bit of a struggle, Laura very rarely gets in any real trouble when facing players she should beat these days.

Zheng Jie will be a step up in class from the first two opponents, but Laura is well capable of stepping up her own level when faced with a more challenging opponent.

philwrig · Hall of fame

JoKo just loves playing these hard hitting flat balls that the Asian players serve up on a plate, and they hate her spinny forehand shots.
Saying all that, that was still on paper her best ever performance and against a home crowd and at full tour level.
Really should win her quarter if she doesn't get too nervous.

As for Laura, clearly not her best, I did think given her lack of preparation and possibly the pressure of defending final points, that she might struggle this week. Zheng today is just a brick wall, loads of moonballs to boot, just a nightmare to play against if you're not 100%.
Much better matchup tomorrow and less pressure, probably 50/50.

wolf · Tennis legend

steven wrote:
What brilliant win - JoKo matches her career best ranking scalp in style
L16: (Q) Johanna Konta WR 141 beat (4) Peng Shuai (XHN) WR 38 (CH 14 in 2011) by

She won by grinning at her?

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Similar line-up on Centre court tomorrow with JoKo followed by Laura but starting two hours earlier. Matches start at 4pm local time (9am BST) to avoid the worst of the heat and JoKo and Laura are first two matches on.

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

The positives: winning 80% behind her first serve is decent, 4dfs in 36 is much better than usual, kept fighting in the 2nd set, saved some bps, won another tiebreak

The negatives: 52% first serve percentage is poor, only 1 ace, struggled to win points behind her 2nd serve against a modest opponent, from 6-3 3-1 it got very ugly

Agree with indiana, hard to see her winning many more matches this year if she continues to perform at same level as these two matches.

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, long term I remain pretty optimistic for Laura, but not really in the short term.

She has been known to turn her form round quite dramatically, but I'm not sure the solid prep is there this time.

Mervatron · Masters Series Champion

Here's hoping that Laura picks up her socks in the next round.

Fantastic win for Jo Ko. And a winnable QF which possibly makes it even harder LOL

korriban · Challenger level

Very difficult to comment without guessing on either match, because there was no live stream available.

But it seems clear that JoKo was serving outstandingly well (I believe she didn't lose a point on her first serve until the second set, and faced no BPs in the first set either), and JoKo was also able to break her opponent at will......in front of a home crowd, and against a very capable and highly ranked player......sounds like a superb effort. She has certainly stepped up her game this year since Wimbledon, even if she wasn't quite able to match her 2012 USO exploits.

With regard to Laura, the match stats suggest she didn't serve outstandingly well, but as we know, there are times when her serve can be awful....and her first serve percentages overall weren't bad at all. In my opinion, Laura was playing much better around now last year than this year, and she was probably also fitter at that time (she certainly had suffered no obvious injuries). Given her wrist, and also in terms of endurance, I do worry about her as the matches will start to get longer. But 2 straight set wins in a draw that has been a seed's graveyard make this a brilliant outcome so far.

On paper Laura really ought to reach the final again and arguably has a decent chance to win: she's seeded to be a finalist now with Cirstea out. But frankly, "on paper" has counted for very little in this tournament to date - as JoKo has proven smile .

All of us would have taken 2 QFs at the start of the week - it's all upside from here -

john · Top national player

Would Laura and JoKo meet in the semis, or could we have an all-Australian final?

paulisi · Tennis legend

Laura and Joko are on separate sides of the draw. We can only dream of them meeting in the final.....