2019 Race to Shenzhen

Michael D · All-time great

RE: 2019 Race to Shenzhen

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Michael D wrote:
JonH comes home wrote:
I hadnt really clocked this is the biggest ever winners prize money in tennis history, men or women.

Good to see the WTA getting ahead of the men for a change. An eye watering $4.75m dollars to an undefeated winner.

Good set of players, great to see them all playing this week (we sometimes get dropouts of these season ending events)
My eyes are watering indeed

From a publicity perspective and as someone who prefers nice neat numbers, why didn't they just make it a cool 5 mil?!

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Red group has turned into a bit of a mess. Osaka pulled out (after a win, to put the cat among the pigeons), replaced by Bertens (playing her 8th straight week following the US Open), who then went on to beat Barty.

Bencic-Kvitova underway now.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Ace Ventura wrote:
Red group has turned into a bit of a mess. Osaka pulled out (after a win, to put the cat among the pigeons), replaced by Bertens (playing her 8th straight week following the US Open), who then went on to beat Barty.

Bencic-Kvitova underway now.

It is indeed - I think I am correct that it goes on a) wins b) matches played c) h2h if ties d) sets %age e) games % age

So Barty and the winner of Kvitova/Bencic would both be on won 1 and played 2, whereas Bertens would be won 1 and played just 1 ie behind them. She (Bertens) could possibly qualify if she won a 2nd match in the RR stages but in essence it is still between the 3 original players in the group.

The Tour Finals, men or women, often become messy when players pull out. The old WCT Finals back in the day where a straight 8 man knockout, the Virginia Slims I think was once that as well and a large part of me thinks a 8 or 16 player straight knockout would actually be the answer.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

JonH comes home wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
Red group has turned into a bit of a mess. Osaka pulled out (after a win, to put the cat among the pigeons), replaced by Bertens (playing her 8th straight week following the US Open), who then went on to beat Barty.

Bencic-Kvitova underway now.
It is indeed - I think I am correct that it goes on a) wins b) matches played c) h2h if ties d) sets %age e) games % age
So Barty and the winner of Kvitova/Bencic would both be on won 1 and played 2, whereas Bertens would be won 1 and played just 1 ie behind them. She (Bertens) could possibly qualify if she won a 2nd match in the RR stages but in essence it is still between the 3 original players in the group.
The Tour Finals, men or women, often become messy when players pull out. The old WCT Finals back in the day where a straight 8 man knockout, the Virginia Slims I think was once that as well and a large part of me thinks a 8 or 16 player straight knockout would actually be the answer.

You've got the tie breaking methods correct and that Barty and the Bencic/Kvitova winner would he head of Bertens, but as it has panned out, Bencic is officially out if she loses today, and Kiki would be guaranteed to advance if she wins her next match.

Usually the person withdrawing would have lost their match, but it does change the dynamics even more now that there is one less win in the group.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Bencic wins, so it's all to play for in both matches.

Barty 1 1
Bencic 1 1
Bertens 1 0
Kvitova 0 2

Seems strange Bertens 3rd, but with a 100% record as they'd say in football, but that's how it is.

Barty vs Kvitova
Bencic vs Bertens

The winner of Bencic vs Bertens is definitely through, likewise Barty if she wins, if Bertens loses she is definitely out. It gets more complicated if Kvitova beats Barty - if Kvitova and Bencic win, they are both through, but if it's Kvitova and Bertens, then Kiki would be through and it would come down to sets ratio between the other 3, and so far, every match has gone the distance in this group.

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Tuesday 29th of October 2019 03:11:57 PM

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Ace Ventura wrote:
Bencic wins, so it's all to play for in both matches.

Barty 1 1
Bencic 1 1
Bertens 1 0
Kvitova 0 2

Seems strange Bertens 3rd, but with a 100% record as they'd say in football, but that's how it is.

Barty vs Kvitova
Bencic vs Bertens

The winner of Bencic vs Bertens is definitely through, likewise Barty if she wins, if Bertens loses she is definitely out. It gets more complicated if Kvitova beats Barty - if Kvitova and Bencic win, they are both through, but if it's Kvitova and Bertens, then Kiki would be through and it would come down to sets ratio between the other 3, and so far, every match has gone the distance in this group.

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Tuesday 29th of October 2019 03:11:57 PM

As an aside, Bertens will only get the higher of her ranking points from this week or the Elite trophy, not both...

https://mobile.twitter.com/sventennis/status/1189095134115315712

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

JonH comes home wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
Bencic wins, so it's all to play for in both matches.

Barty 1 1
Bencic 1 1
Bertens 1 0
Kvitova 0 2

Seems strange Bertens 3rd, but with a 100% record as they'd say in football, but that's how it is.

Barty vs Kvitova
Bencic vs Bertens

The winner of Bencic vs Bertens is definitely through, likewise Barty if she wins, if Bertens loses she is definitely out. It gets more complicated if Kvitova beats Barty - if Kvitova and Bencic win, they are both through, but if it's Kvitova and Bertens, then Kiki would be through and it would come down to sets ratio between the other 3, and so far, every match has gone the distance in this group.

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Tuesday 29th of October 2019 03:11:57 PM
As an aside, Bertens will only get the higher of her ranking points from this week or the Elite trophy, not both...
https://mobile.twitter.com/sventennis/status/1189095134115315712

Yeah, I believe if Bertens shows up for her match with Bencic then she the Zhuhai points will be void. She's on 250 points now, 500 if she beats Bencic, 375 if she loses. She earned 440 points for her Zhuhai runner up result, but it's highest 'net' points, so as Zhuhai counts as one of your 16 events and Shenzhen is a bonus 17th event, the counter that Zhuhai replaced was 180 (an international runner up), so the net gain from Zhuhai was 260. If she turns up to play Bencic, the 125 minimum for that (defeat) would see the 375 pass the Zhuhai 260 net gain, so that 180 counter would return to her tally, Zhuhai would be void, and Shenzhen would be a bonus 17th counter. Complicated stuff.

She does get to keep both prize money though.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

More disappointment here. Andreescu 2-0 up on Pliskova, goes over, hurts her knee, straps it up, loses 6 of the next 7 games and then retires after the end of the set, and is now officially out even if she can make to the court to face Svitolina, which must surely be a doubt. Kenin will be on stand by to fill in.

Svitolina beat Halep earlier in the day in straight sets so she is definitely through to the semi final as the group winner, and it'll be a straight shootout between Pliskova and Halep for 2nd place.

It's been a bit of a letdown so far with 2 of the youngest and brightest players having injury affected tournaments - I'd imagine a lot of fans (and business people) would have liked that to have been the eventual final, but not to be. Obviously plenty of time for both of them, but still.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Barty beats Petra to top the group, Petra out. Bencic and Bertens currently 5-5, winner of that will qualify in 2nd place.

No surprise but Andreescu has withdrawn, so Kenin will play Svitolina in a dead rubber match, albeit one with a lot of points and money on the line. Could have been Konta.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Wow. Now Bertens retires at 5-7 0-1. Pleased Bencic has made the semi finals, but what a mess this tournament has become. So many retirements and withdrawals.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Ace Ventura wrote:
Wow. Now Bertens retires at 5-7 0-1. Pleased Bencic has made the semi finals, but what a mess this tournament has become. So many retirements and withdrawals.

It makes it very difficult to follow and certainly destroys the narrative. Barty at least and Bencic are through to the semis and probably deservedly so, presumably Barty tops the group as they both achieved two wins and Barty won the H2H.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

JonH comes home wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
Wow. Now Bertens retires at 5-7 0-1. Pleased Bencic has made the semi finals, but what a mess this tournament has become. So many retirements and withdrawals.
It makes it very difficult to follow and certainly destroys the narrative. Barty at least and Bencic are through to the semis and probably deservedly so, presumably Barty tops the group as they both achieved two wins and Barty won the H2H.

Yeah, Barty top it and plays the Halep/Pliskova winner in the semi final. Svitolina vs Bencic is set.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Barty and Svitolina into the final, and Bencic makes it 4 retirements in one 8 player event. Wow.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Safe to say it's been a bit of a disaster. Someone winning by walkover or retirement would be a fitting end.