kundalini wrote:

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Jodie started the match with a couple of errors after 2nd serves then her first serve appeared, two aces and two unreturned first serves as she held to 40. Anna ace for 40-30 then Jodie punished a 2nd serve, a double fault gave her break point and Anna's forehand crosscourt wide for what turned out to be the only break of the set.

A combination of aces, poor 2nd serve returns out of play and decent play from the server, led to fairly comfortable holds for both, though Jodie did recover from 40-0 to 40-40 in one Blinkova service game. It didn't seem to matter if Jodie missed all 5 first serves, or Anna landed just one out of five, as happened once, they still held easily to 15 in those games.

The pattern continued until 2-2 in the 2nd. Anna with a double fault then a backhand error wide immediately after her 2nd serve for 0-30, a good 2nd serve followed by a super forehand winner got her to 15-30 then a poor backhand return error long from Jodie off a 2nd serve, Anna forehand just wide for 30-40, Jodie tried hard but couldn't prevent Anna saving bp, then holding. Easy holds to 4-4. Then out of nowhere, an inspired Burrage return game, beginning with a delightful volley winner crosscourt, then a brilliant forehand return winner off a 1st serve, an aggressive backhand return off a 2nd that forced Anna into an error long and a super Burrage forehand winner for the break to love *5-4.

Serving for the match, Jodie began with a double fault, then an awful drop shot that invited an easy winner for Blinkova. Fortunately the Burrage first serve turned up in time, decent wide serve unreturned, good T serve unreturned, ace out wide to bring up match point and another ace out wide for the win 6-4.

Jodie 9 aces 2 dfs. 57% first serve percentage, winning 81/63. Blinkova 7 aces 4 dfs. 44% first serve percentage, winning 71/57. Jodie 26 winners 21 unforced errors. Anna 21 winners 22 unforced errors.

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 Thank you for that report. Jodie looks to have been oretty consistently on her game, even taking until very near the end to produce an 'awful" or a "horrid" 

9vicman wrote:

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Didn't see the Burrage-Blinkova match, but curious that Blinkova achieved a career high ranking this month and yet has won only one match in the summer hard courts. So while Burrage was the underdog, still a winnable match. How was Blinkova playing?

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 Anna Blinkova had a 0-5 record in the main draw of the US Open coming into the match, including losses to Naomi Osaka and Jennifer Brady. As you mentioned, she has struggled since Wimbledon with a couple of alarming losses 0-6 3-6 to Lin Zhu in Cleveland and 3-6 2-6 to Ngounoue in Washington, as well as expected defeats against Kasatkina and Kvitova. I thought Jodie had a 40% chance of winning, nerves being biggest concern.

Blinkova had a low first serve percentage (44%), 7 aces, 71% a fair reflection of the quality of her play. Despite some 2nd serves that landed in the corner, 57% could have been mid 40s against another top 100 opponent. Likewise, Jodie dominated on her first serve but 63% behind her 2nd serve was assisted by Blinkova errors.

Anna seemed to be striking the ball well during the rallies, coming up with a wide range of winners, forehands, backhands, passing shots, at least one return winner, volleys and one drive volley. Don't recall any lob winners or drop shots from her. There were a couple of surprising misses; notably, a terrible volley wide on the first point as Jodie served for the opening set. A few aggressive shots landed narrowly wide including one that cost her the break in the first set and another that gave Jodie a break point at 2-2 in the 2nd set. Her overall error count was unremarkable. Blinkova 21 winners 22 unforced errors.