Australian Open 2016 - Main Draw - Melbourne, Australia - Hard

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

RE: Australian Open 2016 - Main Draw - Melbourne, Australia - Hard

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

Serve to stay in it then.
Come on Jo! Remember the 1-5 in the third against Halep in Wuhan!
Turned that one around

5-7 *1-5

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

Much better game; short, effective points, holds to 15
5-7 2-5*

Now, Ms. Kerber...

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

Jo just trying to keep her AO run going as long as possible right now and then see what happens - and a nice easy hold here.

kundalini · Specialist Reporter + Intermediate Club Player

You wouldn't believe that JoKo has the superior 2nd serve looking at the stats. Her returning of Kerber's vulnerable 2nd serve has been just awful.

Overall a patchy performance from JoKo. Serve didn't do as much damage as I expected. The occasional inspired ground-stroke but far too many loose shots. Kerber was solid, got a lot of balls back in play, with a few super winners.

-- Edited by kundalini on Thursday 28th of January 2016 05:43:57 AM

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

GSM Kerber 5-7 2-6
Well played Angelique, quality player.

But...
More importqntly...
WELL DONE JOHANNA

Amazing run.

cakj1234 · Lower Club Player

If only not so many unforced errors.
But yes congratulations on a great grand slam run. 🍷

tony_orient · ATP qualifying

We didn't get to see the best of JoKo today - perhaps she finally showed some nerves, but more likely it was just the mental fatigue that goes with playing the biggest match of her career for the 3rd time in 4 days.

Hard to find the words to comment on her run overall - the press have been describing it as a Cinderella story, but Cinderella never made semi-finals of a slam so it's even better than that! Will be fun to see how she gets on for the rest of the year now (am I right in thinking this was her first tour level or higher semi-final?).

As for Angelique Kerber - well played, and if you beat Serena, I'll forgive you for winning today!

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

kundalini wrote:
You wouldn't believe that JoKo has the superior 2nd serve looking at the stats. Her returning of Kerber's vulnerable 2nd serve has been just awful.

It looks vulnerable, but it's got something. She wins about 55-60% of points on it throughout the year, today was 68%. So, it's deceptive.

Jo's quality moments today were as good as ever, just hamstrung by too many errors today, and many of them really cheap, completely unforced errors that allowed Kerber to cruise through patches when she might have gotten tense - like the MP where the ball just went feet long.

But, not a terrible showing against Kerber in any circumstance, let alone a GS SF!
I wouldn't be surprised if Jo loses at some tournaments R1 against much lower ranked opposition, like in Shenzhen, and that shouldn't be too disappointing. She's still got a bit of the player that struggled for so long to even break the Top 100 in her. Some days that will re-surface, at least for the near future.

But, she is guaranteed a life on the WTA for at least a year, MD (and often seeded) at all the biggest tournaments, all this is new to her, and has to be dealt with. Barring something extraordinary in the players rankings behind her, she'll be seeded at GS.
It's all very exciting and full of opportunity.

Keep an even keel and it's going to be an amazing ride following it all
Again, well done Johanna, so proud of your achievements

Oakland2002 · All-time great

What a couple of weeks for Jo

She cannot be faulted for the quality of her performances given that she made the most of the opportunity she earn't by beating Venus comprehensively.

The scene is set and many new challenges beckon particularly taking time to analyze the games of the top players train to and work out ways to best them. To be in the top 32 will add an element of predictability and she should have a pretty good working knowledge of potential 1st and 2nd round opponents on tour already.

This week in terms of mental approach and consistency has been very encouraging as a predictor of her capacity to take it to the next level and I agree top 16 is a realistic target.

wimdledont · Challenger level

A fantastic fortnight from JoKo; which I have been following obsessively, while refraining from commenting, due to some absurd superstition about jinxing her. Thanks to all the informative posters on here.

I thought that today against Kerber, she made the mistake of going for too much; whereas throughout the rest of the tournament she has been the perfect example of how to press an opponent without overpressing; hitting a really good length without flirting with the lines. Her clean winners were just like her normal groundstrokes. Exemplary "pointcraft".

I now count her as having 1730 or so ranking points that will count towards Roland Garros seeding; so that's guaranteed, barring injury. 1540 points towards Wimbledon seeding, so that's probably enough if she doesn't win another match; which will make her the first British woman to be seeded at Wimbledon since... err S.T.E.V.E.N? This century, I think.

Arguably more importantly, as the seeds get byes, she'll be seeded at IW and Miami. There's also Madrid and Rome to come before Paris.

She's qualified for the Olympics, obvs, though if she ever sees any of the comment streams below any of the British press, she'd have my full support if she decided to renounce British citizenship in disgust, and register for the Australo-Hungarians instead. To be seeded at the Olympics, (top 16), she would need to pick up around another 800 points at some combination of Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Rome and Paris + other WTAs. That's perfectly imaginable; and I am already enjoying imagining it.

So very pleased for her.

PaulM · Tennis legend

Shame she played probably her weakest tennis of the week but an incredible tournament.

That mini-run in the first demonstrated what she's capable of but hit way too many errors. Could definitely have won this match but noone has any right to be disappointed overall!

Onwards!!

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

Seeing how well Kerber was doing against Azarenka I confess I wasn't expecting Jo to get through; but this was new territory for her by a distance so fingers crossed she gets further shots at GS last 4 in 2016. It's been a brilliant two weeks :D

insomniacfolder · Challenger level

wimdledont wrote:
[...] which will make her the first British woman to be seeded at Wimbledon since...

Jo Durie was seeded 10 at Wimbledon in 1984

indiana · Tennis legend

Thanks for all the commentary and sad that the story ended, but what a story Jo

The best of Kerber was likely to beat the best ( even at its new level ) of Jo. The hope had to be that trying to reach her first Grand Slam final Kerber wouldn't find her best and / or would lapse at important moments. And indeed it appears she was short of her best, but it was still one step too far for Jo.

Thanks for the ride, Jo, look forward to many more. You did great!!!

-- Edited by indiana on Thursday 28th of January 2016 09:44:03 AM