Week 8 - WTA International ($250K) - Budapest, Hungary - Hard

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

Week 8 - WTA International ($250K) - Budapest, Hungary - Hard

wimdledont · Challenger level

Naomi loses 6-3, 4-6, 3-6

With 16 aces, 3 DFs she gets another entry @3 in the WTA most aces in a match list...

www.wtatennis.com/SEWTATour-Archive/Rankings_Stats/match_stats_2017.pdf

Looks like she won't be qualifying directly for many of the big WTA clay court events, which may prove to be a blessing in disguise.

PaulM · Tennis legend

wimdledont wrote:
Naomi loses 6-3, 4-6, 3-6

With 16 aces, 3 DFs she gets another entry @3 in the WTA most aces in a match list...

www.wtatennis.com/SEWTATour-Archive/Rankings_Stats/match_stats_2017.pdf

Looks like she won't be qualifying directly for many of the big WTA clay court events, which may prove to be a blessing in disguise.

With KL off a week on Monday she will slip to the level at which she's not going to make RG or Wimbledon on her own ranking (probably somewhere around 125), so there may be an argument for her skipping the clay and heading out East for a hardcourt $125k in China in mid-April and then the Japanese ITF swing in May.

She actually did not too bad on the red stuff last year, picking up a couple of decent wins in qualies, but I think it would be a bit of a blow to have to rely on a wildcard for Wimbledon this year. The ranking cut-off for Wimbledon is Monday 22 May, so Gifu, Fukuoka and Kurume would all count if she can have good runs.

She has a total of 200 points to defend before then (1/3 of her total basically), and is down for Acapulco qualies this weekend, then onto IW and Miami.

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

Disappointing; tough road ahead...dig deep Naomi :)

blob · All-time great

Naomi won more points on the devil dust last year than she did on grass.
Too many completely unforced errors are holding her back. She just concedes too many points without making the opponent work, and finds it hard to build pressure because of the inconsistency. You can't play great 2 points a game and then shank or mis-time the ball four times and get anywhere.
The non-Ace service is also not as effective as it was this time last year, particularly the second delivery. I think the tour has got to grips with it, having now had a good look at it.

Of our top 10, even our top 30, women, apart from our #1, I don't think any of them are really playing consistently well.

wolf · Tennis legend

R1: Arina RODIONOVA/Galina VOSKOBOEVA (AUS/KAZ) 223 beat Tara MOORE/Conny PERRIN (GBR/SUI) 310 6-3 6-4

Which at least means Tara can get to KL qualies on time.

PaulM · Tennis legend

Joss and Anna take the first set 6-1

Playing a terrible set here though, down *1-4

indiana · Tennis legend

Darn, lost 6-1 1-6 [11-9]

Had 2 MPs at *9-7 in the MTB

That would have been a welcome 60 points, and still in, that escaped there.

PaulM · Tennis legend

They have nice set plays which when they get it right are very effective, but frequently demonstrate a total lack of awareness of their opponents' positioning.

Today really showed that up, countless times Stojanovic would move miles too early, and despite having plenty of time to shift and hit down the line into a half empty court, Anna would hit a loopy forehand cross which was swatted away.

I also don't think they won even 10% of points in i-formation, most of the time they were passed for return winners.

The lack of progress they've made as a pair over the past 18 months is really a worry, no discernable improvement at all. It's frustrating because I've always believed this partnership could really do great things, but they seem to be stuck in the lower regions of the top 100, just picking up enough wins here or there to keep afloat but never looking like moving up.

Frustrating one. Had it. First set was really, really good.

-- Edited by PaulM on Wednesday 22nd of February 2017 07:42:25 PM