Week 3 - Australian Open Main Draw - Melbourne, Australia - Hard

PaulM · Tennis legend

Week 3 - Australian Open Main Draw - Melbourne, Australia - Hard

Peter too · Tennis legend

Summary:-

R1: BROADY, Naomi (GBR) 97 lost to GAVRILOVA, Daria (AUS) 22 26 6-3 4-6 5-7
R1: WATSON, Heather (GBR) 81 def STOSUR, Samantha (AUS) 18 21 6-3 3-6 6-0
R1: KONTA, Johanna (GBR) 9 9 def FLIPKENS, Kirsten (BEL) 70 7-5 6-2

R2: WATSON, Heather (GBR) 81 v BRADY, Jennifer (USA) 116 CH=109 26/9/16
R2: KONTA, Johanna (GBR) 9 9 v OSAKA, Naomi (JPN) 48 CH=40 17/10/16
H2H 1-0 US Open 2015 6-4 6-4

-- Edited by Peter too on Thursday 19th of January 2017 02:15:18 AM

indiana · Tennis legend

PaulM wrote:
Superb third set from Hev! It was so tight pretty much every game went to deuce and she just clung in.

Stosur affected by shoulder and general Melbourne woes. Have to feel for her but so happy for Heather. Needed that.

Yes, evidently a 48 minute third set bagel, points split 39-26 so nearly 11 points on average per game. But hey indicates great competitive matchplay.

Well done, Hev

The Optimist · ATP qualifying

Not sure who the Eurosport commentator was for Naomi's match (sounded like Lindsey Davenport to me) but they made a good observation that in order to move on up, she just needs more confidence with her shot selection. She pointed out that Naomi was a very athletic player with immense power, great serve and an ability to generate amazing angles with her backhand who, when under pressure, resorted to moonballs, forehand slices etc, even when she had the opportunity to use her strengths. Seemed a good summing up of Naomi to me...

Edit: typos

-- Edited by The Optimist on Tuesday 17th of January 2017 05:54:38 PM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

Yes, and it's exactly those points re selection that, in my opinion, Fitzy was doing so well in improving.

The fact that Naomi had, by her own admission, never really realised what a weapon her serve is, in terms of winning points, at key moments, i.e. deciding to use her serve in a certain strategic way, shows that on her own she was a bit adrift in terms of gameplan.

indiana · Tennis legend

Yes, and time matches on. Naomi is 27 next month.

I think she has suffered over a long period from a lack of really good coaching to have long addressed some shot making and strategy issues that hold back some other big talents. Had certainly really moved on with Fitzy but that is no more and I got the impression he thought that there was so much more to work on.

She will produce very good performances, but I worry about consistency. Hopefully she will soon have a good new arrangement in place. Already has ?

Mervatron2 · Challenger qualifying

Great stuff from Hev and JoKo.

Shame for Naomi.

wimdledont · Challenger level

I thought Jo was underwhelming - playing well below the level she found against both Genie and, especially, Aggie.

Heather played well, but really it was a case of letting Stosur throw it away on UEs. Heather was overpowered throughout.

Naomi had the toughest match, in my view, and I thought that her groundstrokes were really functioning a lot better than this time last year. Her serving stats of 17 Aces/0 DFs would have been good enough to be classed as the 8th best individual performance on the WTA tour for the whole of 2016...

www.wtatennis.com/SEWTATour-Archive/Rankings_Stats/match_stats_2016.pdf

...and in terms of net free points on serve (+17), was better than all but 3 performances in the world in 2016. So she can walk away from this one with lots of grounds for optimism.

Jaggy1876 · Grand Slam Champion

I actually think out of all 3 players Naomi played the best she had some fantastic winners and she also has the toughest opponent. I can see Gavrilova in the top 16 maybe even top 10 this season. She was unlucky with a few shots landing a few inches out on key moments. Onwards and upwards, I don't think she ll be out the top 100 for long and still think she can go further than Heather in the game overall.

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

Great effort from Naomi

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

Highlights
Johanna: http://2017.ausopen.com/en_AU/news/media/5284562259001.html
Heather: http://2017.ausopen.com/en_AU/news/media/5284652839001.html
Naomi: http://2017.ausopen.com/en_AU/news/media/5285045413001.html

paulisi · Tennis legend

Saw a bit of Jennifer Brady playing qualifiers and not sure how she beat Townsend as she was getting well and truly outplayed. Hev should win.

indiana · Tennis legend

I hadn't really appreciated that as well as being in Serena's quarter, having tricky Flipkens in R1 and now the very promising, and already relatively achieving, Osaka in R2, that Jo is bracketed with (17) Caroline Wozniacki for R3 ( the highest seed either could have potentially been up against in R3 ) and then (6) Dominika Cibulkova ( live ranking 4 ) for R4.

That is indeed quite a potential overall route.

I guess after seeing off Serena it will be (3) Radwanska in the SF and (1) the reigning champion Kerber in the final.

-- Edited by indiana on Tuesday 17th of January 2017 09:30:27 PM

LordBrownof · Futures level

Yes, I think as Courtney Nguyen points out on WTA, she is the biggest loser from the draw overall. It's hard to see past Woz and Dommie, especially given the number of matches she's played recently. BUT, learnt now to never count Jo out!

jb288 · Satellite level

Nice to see Anne K and Jeremy Bates watching Naomi....

Also loving Heather's outfit!