Week 32 - WTA Premier 5 ($2.8M) - Montreal, Canada Hard

Jan · Hall of fame

Week 32 - WTA Premier 5 ($2.8M) - Montreal, Canada Hard

PaulM · Tennis legend

She's just not getting enough first serves in, that's really it so far.

3-6 1-2*

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

Yes, serve is off today for sure.
Svitolina is also a very bad match up for Jo, and the H2H is 0-3

Johanna is getting better in this match though, but can she hit her stride before time runs out?

Strongbow · All-time great

But 4-2 up in the 2nd - GoJo smile

PaulM · Tennis legend

A nice little run comes to an abrupt end with a terrible service game

4-3*

PaulM · Tennis legend

Jo loses a long game and her great run looks to be coming to an end

4-5*

Strongbow · All-time great

Now *4-4 and struggling cry

PaulM · Tennis legend

Jo loses 63 64

Not a bad match, had 0-30 at 4-3* and a couple of game points at *4-4.

Serve wasn't as on this afternoon, but lots of good to take away from this week I think.

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

If Svitolina played Slams the way she plays Premier 5's, she'd be a multi-Slam champion world #1

Jo's serve was largely AWOL, and without that cornerstone of her game to rely on, she couldn't do much against a player that she struggles against at the best of times.
Tough draw, even for a P5, but good seeds in evidence. Keep nurtring them, and hope they really bloom soon.

indiana · Tennis legend

Meantime at 6.20 pm local time, after about 2 and a half hours, Wozniacki and Sabalenka are in a final set TB in their R2 match on Court Central. The winner is due to play Mertens on Banque National Court at not before 6.30 pm "after suitable rest".

While yes while earlier I could perhaps see some points to the scheduling of 'to be completed' matches, it is indeed pretty bizarre to have this not started match 3rd on after the Stephens R3 match and the completion of the Halep 3 hour plus R2 match. So, yes on that scheduling, not clever. Starting with that R3 match ??!

indiana · Tennis legend

AliBlahBlah wrote:
If Svitolina played Slams the way she plays Premier 5's, she'd be a multi-Slam champion world #1

[ ... ]

Certainly she's got a great Premier 5 record though I wonder if that's partly how others rise to Slams rather more than they do to Premier 5s? I have not seen enough of Svitolina in the different forms to really know if she herself actually plays better in these Premier 5 events or just more plays to a consistent level. Didn't seem outstanding today but certainly good enough on the day against a decent Konta but service not really firing.

Peter too · Tennis legend

R2: KONTA, Johanna (GBR) 43 def AZARENKA, Victoria (BLR) 95 6-3 6-1

R3: KONTA, Johanna (GBR) 43 lost toSVITOLINA, Elina (UKR) 5 5 3-6 4-6

PockyTastic · Futures level

Some green shoots have started to emerge. Am I right in thinking that after points from Cincinnati come off Jo has little/nothing left to defend?

Michael D · All-time great

indiana wrote:
Meantime at 6.20 pm local time, after about 2 and a half hours, Wozniacki and Sabalenka are in a final set TB in their R2 match on Court Central. The winner is due to play Mertens on Banque National Court at not before 6.30 pm "after suitable rest".

While yes while earlier I could perhaps see some points to the scheduling of 'to be completed' matches, it is indeed pretty bizarre to have this not started match 3rd on after the Stephens R3 match and the completion of the Halep 3 hour plus R2 match. So, yes on that scheduling, not clever. Starting with that R3 match ??!

Sabalenka lost 0-6 to Mertens in the 3rd set in her R3 match, she was completely done by the scheduling - 6 gruelling sets in the late afternoon/ evening.

AliBlahBlah · All-time great

Essentially, yes.
She has mandatory counters from US OPen & Beijing last year, 10 points in each case. She can't do worse than that though. If she enters in the main draw of each, which I think given her current points is guaranteed in both cases, then she will defend both those scores automatically even with out winning a match, as she won no matches at either event in 2017.
As a 2017 Top 10 commitment player, she also has a few extra wrinkles about what other mandatory counters she still carries, but the short version is that all of her other mandatory scores are 1 point, so when the restrictions are lifted, they can be replaced with anything better, or with performances yet to come.
So, essentially, yes. There is no score that won't automatically be defended by even a first match loss in any event.