Week 17 - WTA 1000 Madrid, Spain Clay

Jan · Hall of fame

Week 17 - WTA 1000 Madrid, Spain Clay

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Sevastova lost her subsequent match, but I tell you what, Paula Badosa must be one of the most improved WTA players these past 18 months or so. I thought she was just going to be someone sifting from 80-100, and occasionally clinging on to that berth, but she could really be going places. Her backhand is really, really good now. Clutch on break points, and an aura and presence about her on court. I'm not sure if there's a top 15/20 player in there, but I'm very excited to see how far she can go.

The crowd were brilliant in that match, thoroughly enjoyed it. She should be inside the top 50 for the first time now, and Bencic up next in the QF. Great stuff.

HarryGem · Club Coach

Ace Ventura wrote:
Sevastova lost her subsequent match, but I tell you what, Paula Badosa must be one of the most improved WTA players these past 18 months or so. I thought she was just going to be someone sifting from 80-100, and occasionally clinging on to that berth, but she could really be going places. Her backhand is really, really good now. Clutch on break points, and an aura and presence about her on court. I'm not sure if there's a top 15/20 player in there, but I'm very excited to see how far she can go.

The crowd were brilliant in that match, thoroughly enjoyed it. She should be inside the top 50 for the first time now, and Bencic up next in the QF. Great stuff.

Agree. I thought it was a great match. The crowd really made a difference too. Also Badosa's serve was pretty good. I think she need to add a bit more variety to her game though to make it to the top 20. Not sure what is plan B.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

HarryGem wrote:
Ace Ventura wrote:
Sevastova lost her subsequent match, but I tell you what, Paula Badosa must be one of the most improved WTA players these past 18 months or so. I thought she was just going to be someone sifting from 80-100, and occasionally clinging on to that berth, but she could really be going places. Her backhand is really, really good now. Clutch on break points, and an aura and presence about her on court. I'm not sure if there's a top 15/20 player in there, but I'm very excited to see how far she can go.

The crowd were brilliant in that match, thoroughly enjoyed it. She should be inside the top 50 for the first time now, and Bencic up next in the QF. Great stuff.
Agree. I thought it was a great match. The crowd really made a difference too. Also Badosa's serve was pretty good. I think she need to add a bit more variety to her game though to make it to the top 20. Not sure what is plan B.

Yeah, agree about the Plan B, and still a lot of improvements needed, but while she obviously had junior success, and a promising start to her pro career, she seemed to stagnate for years (partly due to injuries and confidence), and even had to dip into Asian W25s at the back end of 2019 to try and preserve her ranking for direct AO entry, so great to see her finally pushing on - she's now 25 in the live rankings, and is the slight fave against Bencic, but Paula's strapped thigh, and how Bencic reacts to the crowd, could be key there.

I've never really had a 'favourite player' since the Lisicki Wimbledon days, more an ever growing list of 15-20 players that I like to see do well, maybe Muguruza if push came to shove, but Badosa definitely has that potential, and even if there are more accomplished players around, I do think she has a certain star quality about her.

I've never really minded not having a crowd for the majority of these past 9 or 10 months, but when they are like that, and backing the player you want to win, then it makes a huge difference to the spectacle. I'm looking forward to her QF.

TTMan · Intermediate Club Player

PaulM wrote:
Had plenty of break points in the final game but one ballooned second serve return aside, they were excellently saved. I don't think she could have turned the match round but would have been nice to see how the Latvian coped under more pressure.

I feel a bit more relaxed about where Jo is at having seen her two matches here. Today was a bit messy but there was enough good stuff in there to give heart, and it didn't feel the sort of painful unenjoyable nightmare many of her losses have been over the last year or so.

Plus, Sevastova is precisely the sort of tricksky, quick, clever defensively player Jo struggles with at the best of times (see also Jabeur).

I didn't get the chance to see any of Prime's studio coverage of Madrid on Sunday and it doesn't seem to be still available. Did anyone notice if they actually reported on Jo's R1 and R2 matches. Live coverage of Jo's matches seemed to be left to the bog standard WTA commentary rather than a specific GB one, which was very disappointing.

For what it's worth, I think Jo's point set up and shot selection is almost back to where it was in 2019. Execution is Jo's real problem, especially on her numerous BP conversion opportunities, which you would hope would improve with more matches. However, for whatever reason, Jo isn't playing many matches. Some insight would be useful (BT Sport were much better in that respect). I don't think Annie K and Sam Smith, who know Jo best, were wheeled out until Monday, long after Jo was gone.

Reading between the lines on what little is available in the media, I think Jo is worried about balancing the management of her knee injury, which doesn't appear to be fully resolved, with Covid restrictions. It has been mentioned that she needs specific gym work to strengthen the knee which you can't get in a hotel room. All of which is bad news for Jo and her followers.

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

The Paula Badosa train keeps gathering steam, into the semi finals, what a superb week for her!

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

What an amazing first set from Sabalenka in the final. Astonishing level.

But Barty with an immediate break in the second. 6-0 0-1*

-- Edited by Ace Ventura on Saturday 8th of May 2021 05:12:14 PM

Ace Ventura · Tennis legend

Sabalenka ended up winning 6-0 3-6 6-4. She was 3-4 *15-30 in the decider, and seemed to be hanging on throughout the decider, but then suddenly won 11 points in a row to take the title. Her 10th WTA title to date, and this is her biggest yet. Prime were saying she is now the first top 5 player (#4 next week) never to have made a grand slam QF, but surely that slam statistic will change very soon?

Really enjoyed Madrid, probably my favourite WTA event for quite some time.