Olga comfortable hold to 15, helped by a couple of Swan errors *0-1

Unreturned 2nd, KS error on initial f after 1st, unret 2nd 30-15, KS b error after 1st 30-30, KS f ue 30-40, unret 1st 40-40, Katie decent f pass, unret 1st 1-1

Olga recovers from 2 early errors to hold to 30, dominating the play, helped by 1st serves *1-2

OD aggressive f cc, wild df 0-30, super b cc winner from Olga 0-40, OD just wide with aggressive b, KS good play finishing with f winner, Katie b error into the net 1-3*

Aggressive return off a 2nd 0-15, OD smash winner, KS b ue, ace, ? *1-4

Katie holds to love, a super lob winner 2-4*

Olga with another routine hold to 15 *2-5

OD drive volley winner, df 0-30 KS f ue long 0-40 KS f winner after rally 15-40, Katie f cc error wide after rally 2-6

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Katie completely outplayed in the opening set, 1st serve has lacked penetration, lots of soft errors, Olga dominating the rallies

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OD f ue 15-15, df 15-30, poor f error from Katie after rally 30-30, good play from Katie finish with f cc winner into space 30-40 unret 2nd ? 40-40, Katie more aggressive but f is just wide A-, OD f ue after 1st 40-40, Olga b ue after rally 40-A, another Danilovic error for the break *1-0

Olga b ue, df 15-15, Olga aggressive b 15-30, Katie soft f error long 15-40, OD f long 30-40, Katie aggressive f long after 1st, broken to 30 1-1

unret 1st 15-0, OD f ue long 15-15, KS deep b 15-30, unret 1st 30-30, horrible f error from Katie after moon ball 40-30, Swan poor b into net - the standard of play is horrific in the 2nd set *1-2

KS agg f after 1st, OD f dtl ue net 30-0, Olga dominates f dtl winner 30-15, Olga again the more aggressive player, finishing with a b drive volley winner 30-30, Katie's shot is short so Olga punishes it with b cc winner 30-40, Katie with a surprising f dtl winner, unret 1st or ace ?, ace T - standard of play improved dramatically in that game 2-2

Brilliant drop shot winner after 1st serve from Olga, then a b winner 30-0, poor f error after 2nd, unret 2nd ?, Swan b cc wide *2-3

Swan agg f dtl 15-0, poor error from Olga, OD good return off a 2nd 30-15, awful b into net from Olga 40-15, good T serve unret 3-3

OD f winner 15-0, df 15-15, Olga aggressive f cc is just wide 15-30, rubbish Swan b into net 30-30, unret 1st 40-30, OD f error wide after serve 40-40, Olga awful f into net 40-A, passive play from Katie but Olga's f dtl is well wide for the break *4-3

KS b miles wide after 1st 0-15, OD super f cc winner 0-30, Olga poor b into net 15-30, OD rubbish b error long 30-30, reasonable wide 1st unret 40-30, KS poor f error wide after 1st 40-40, df 40-A, Olga sets up b dtl then hits it in the net 40-40, Olga attempts a lob but miles long A-, good T 1st unret 5-3*

Olga rubbish b wide after 1st, OD f error long 0-30, lucky net cord winner from Olga, poor return long after a 2nd 30-30, I'm confused - perhaps over-rule, Katie's backhand seemed wide but who knows ? Olga furious about whatever the decision was, replayed point OD f error wide 30-40, dreadful passive play from Katie ultimately ending in soft forehand error into net 40-40, Katie begins the next rally in passive mode then hits more aggressive b cc, OD attempts ambitious f dtl but well wide 40-A, another f dtl wide from Olga for the set 6-3

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Olga was certainly worse in that set, though she had spells of good play. Katie had a few good 1st serves and the occasional aggressive groundstroke but the vast majority of her shots were hit straight down the middle of the court, rarely deep, hoping for a soft error from Danilovic; which turned out to be a successful strategy.

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Dreadful service game from Katie, missed 4 out of 6 1st serves, 2 rubbish f errors and one b error, broken to 30 0-1*

KS slice b approach, unret 1st, ace, unret 1st 40-15, more aggressive from KS, deep return 40-40, Katie sets up easy f only to put it wide A-, Katie can't cope with OD's slice *0-2

Missed it - probably a good return 0-15, aggressive f after 1st 15-15, Swan f error long 15-30, KS f error after serve 15-40, Swan b error long, broken to 15 0-3*

Even when Olga misses her first serve, Katie is still in passive mode, easy love hold, finishing with a couple of aces *0-4

Df, Swan passive OD f error long 15-15, similar but this time into the net 30-15, Olga f dtl winner 30-30, Katie b error long after Olga low shot 30-40, df 0-5

It's over, painful viewing 0-6

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Not sure Katie ever came to terms with the sluggish speed of the court. 

A question for those who watch Katie Swan regularly, what type of player is she usually ? I really liked the way she played in Chennai, attacking the net, brilliant volleys, drive volleys, smashes, serving aggressively, going for backhand down the line. Then I was astonished at how she was able to compete against Madison Keys in the United Cup. Today she was passive beyond belief; no drop shots, no slice, don't recall any volleys, tried a few aggressive shots. She'll get destroyed by top 100 players if she adopts that approach, unless it is really windy on a slow court like Indian Wells. I didn't see yesterday's Giorgi match, so perhaps the strategy worked against Camila. 

-- Edited by kundalini on Sunday 29th of January 2023 06:02:38 PM

Q2: DANILOVIC, Olga (SRB) 152 (CH=96 2018) defeated SWAN, Katie (GBR) 132 (CH=118) by 6-2 3-6 6-0

wolf wrote:

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Q2: DANILOVIC, Olga (SRB) 152 (CH=96 2018) defeated SWAN, Katie (GBR) 132 (CH=118) by 6-2 3-6 6-0

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 Such a shame after beating Giorgi, should she have gone to Thailand instead?

dodrade wrote:

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wolf wrote:

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Q2: DANILOVIC, Olga (SRB) 152 (CH=96 2018) defeated SWAN, Katie (GBR) 132 (CH=118) by 6-2 3-6 6-0

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 Such a shame after beating Giorgi, should she have gone to Thailand instead?

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 Why other than going there looking for a weaker field ?.- and that could still have had her yes maybe into the MD but with a very tough R1 match as Harriet and Heather have ended up with. She would have clearly wanted better today but she got a good win yesterday and some ranking points.

She has the France W60 on her schedule for next week which will then hopefully give her more more matches and wins at that lower level. So these make sense as consecutive tournaments. I don't know if she is also an alternate for WTA 250 Linz?

-- Edited by indiana on Sunday 29th of January 2023 06:58:58 PM

In answer to kundalini, here's my 3 penn'eth, for what it's worth. It was unusual the way the 3rd set slipped away so rapidly, against Danilovic, because Swan almost always competes tooth and nail to the end of the match. She had done really well to fight back and take the 2nd set after being outplayed (kundalini's report) in the 1st set. Danilovic is a left-handed player, which adds to the difficulty. Perhaps the energy wasn't quite there today, after the win yesterday, it didn't seem that the serve was a strong as usual, and Swan had to defend more break points than normal.

There's been some excellent wins for Swan over the last 6 months, in which she has shown a much more attacking side to her game. She does seem happy to rally with the opponent, I agree, though I think that's one of her strengths as she can hit strongly corner to corner on both wings. Swan's tennis has improved considerably over the the last few years, so I think there is every reason to believe that trend will continue in 2023. Hopefully it's a successful year for her.

L16:- Alicia Barnett (GBR)/ Natela Dzalamidze (GEO) CR132 (63+69) [3] defeated Anastasia Detiuc (CZE) / Jessika Maleckova (CZE) CR187 (87+100) 7-5 7-6(6)

Our girls are capable but very inconsistent. I can't understand the two lacklustre performances by both the Katie's yesterday when they both surely have goals of reaching the top 100 this year