Week 33 - WTA Premier 5 ($2.5M) - Cincinnati, USA Hard

blob · All-time great

RE: Week 33 - WTA Premier 5 ($2.5M) - Cincinnati, USA Hard

indiana · Tennis legend

Pity Jo has to put a stop to such possible history making for now !

indiana · Tennis legend

And I see that we are underway with a serve hold apiece. Jo received first, 1-1*

Sloane Stephens ( super run that two weeks running ) awaits in the SF.

-- Edited by indiana on Saturday 19th of August 2017 10:22:42 AM

Peter too · Tennis legend

QF: KONTA, Johanna (GBR) 7 7 lost to HALEP, Simona (ROU) 2 4-6 6-7(1)

Jan · Hall of fame

oh well...

vohor · Grand Slam Champion

Jo nicely poised inside the top 8 in the Race at #7 on 3645 points with #9 on 2867 :)
Looking promising for making this year's season ending points bonus bonanza after it was snatched from her last year by Kuznetsova at the last moment.
Here's hoping Jo has a good US Open...

blob · All-time great

Great match, and the Cincy crowd loved it. Jo played well, but missed a few key opportunities. Halep's court coverage, speed and defense were exceptional.
There have been lots of fantastic matches this week.

The game is in good shape, but not quite hitting that inspired overdrive. Next week off, and then USO, where if she matches her seeding, she'll make a net improvement.
190 points from here replaces 105 from last year; pretty much unchanged. Still over 1,000 points to defend before year end.

indiana · Tennis legend

Muguruza vs Halep final.

Live rankings :

1. Ka Pliskova 6390
2. S Halep 6385

So near, Simona, but need to win one more match ...

indiana · Tennis legend

Err what did blob say about Halep being capable of amazing tennis or absolute rubbish? I am guessing today was rather more the latter unless Muguruza was super amazing. Muguruza won 6-1 6-0.

And so no replacement for now of a Slamless WR 1 with a new Slamless WR 1 or the top 3 or 4 being Slamless.

Halep in theory goes into the US Open in the best net position after last year's points are deducted but now not that far ahead of Muguruza. And as things stand at least in theory 8 players have a chance to be WR 1 after the US Open - the top 9 excluding the champion Kerber and including Jo !

On Monday :

1. Ka Pliskova 6390 ( defending 1300 US Open points )
2. S Halep 6385 ( 430 )
3. G Muguruza 5860 ( 70 )

7. J Konta 4750 ( 240 )

blob · All-time great

Whilst Halep was borderline awful, much of that may be due to how good Muguruza was.
The Spaniard didn't really do anything spectacular, but everything she did was with a purpose and plan, to pressure Halep, and executed very effectively. There were a lot of things she was doing to cut down Haleps time, without just trying to hit winners. The variety in her tactics almost seemed to bamboozle, almost hypnotise Simona, who got more and more frustrated as she never knew what was coming, just knew that whatever it was, it was going to be quality.
Garbine is carrying herself every bit like the No. 1 at the moment, and if she doesn't go off the boil again, she'll surely get there. But, that looked likely previously, and then she essentially disappeared for 12 months. If she's going to play like this as her base level, then the others need to watch out.
Muguruza carrying a thigh injury in Toronto and here, but it's held up well, and if it doesn't relapse, then it's hard to bet against her being very close at Flushing Meadows.

A shame that this iteration of Cinncinati was let down by a very poor spectacle in the final, as overall it's been an excellent advertisement for the tour. Serena and Vika are definitely missed of course, but the field filled the gap helped by the recently returned Keys & Stephens continuing their good form, and providing local interest.