Katie's service games have typically been tight, she's been broken twice and had to save bp with an unreturned serve in a long service game. Zhuoxuan Bai's service games have been extraordinary. ZB seemingly unable to even hit a routine backhand inside the court, making it easy for Katie to break each time. 6-2
Boulter easy hold to love. ZB finally holds serve 1-1. ZB breaks to 15 thanks to a lucky net-cord return winner off a 2nd, assisted by a df earlier in the game 1-2* Katie with 0-40, f error long 15-40, ZB rubbish f error net for the break 2-2 Two more Boulter dfs but she saves bp as ZB can't control a backhand. KB lucky net-cord b winner, she holds 3-2 ZB still utterly hopeless when it's her time to serve, broken to love *4-2 Easy hold for Katie 5-2* Fittingly, ZB ends the match with a backhand that lands miles wide 6-2
Jodie saves 2 bps with an ace and a smash, then 3 times has game point only to make an error, saves another bp, wastes another gp, horrible smash error wide then f cc just wide to get broken 0-1*
Careless game by Putintseva, Jodie with a super f cc winner, Yulia awful drop shot into the net for the break 1-1
Jodie gets herself in trouble after 2 dfs and a poor b error after a 1st. She saves 2 bps with an unreturned 1st and a good backhand drive volley winner after a Putintseva drop shot, then an aggressive f after a 1st and an unreturned 2nd to hold 2-1*
Lengthy Putintseva service game starts with a df then a YP error after a 2nd 0-30, back to back f errors long from Jodie 30-30, unreturned 1st 40-30, Jodie gets away with hitting it straight to YP, Putintseva has another 3 game points until Jodie comes up with a f pass winner after a Putintseva drop shot, then a YP b error for the break *3-1
A super smash from Jodie, then an ace for 30-15, a horrible smash error from P makes it 40-30, 3 missed 1st serves in a row Putintseva with a f cc winner then a good drop shot that Jodie can't deal with, good play from Burrage finishing with a volley winner saves bp. YP good play, f pass winner 40-A, poor Burrage b wide after 2nd 3-2
Jodie with a super b return for 15-40 then YP strong serving saves both bps, then gets her to A-, Jodie dominates but f dtl is wide 3-3
Dreadful Burrage service game, featuring 2 dfs and 2 b errors, broken to 15 3-4*
Good play from Jodie finishing with a f winner, then a Burrage f pass after a poor JB drop shot 0-30, a brilliant backhand winner gets her 30-40 but YP drop shot immediately after her serve saves bp *3-5
Strong return game from Putintseva, impressive last two points 3-6
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Not enough first serves from Jodie and 5 dfs. So many games could have been won by either player.
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Never ending Putintseva service game. Several times Jodie makes an error then comes up with impressive play to get back to 40-40, on her one bp chance, Putintseva saves it with aggressive f after 1st, 0-1
Jodie holds to love, super backhand winner after her serve 1-1
Putintseva up 40-0 then a super f dtl winner from Jodie, followed by a return winner 40-30, unreturned 1st 1-2
Terrible Burrage service game, starts with a df, 3 more errors, two of which were straight after her serve, broken to 15 1-3*
Strong start from Jodie up 0-30 after aggressive shots, she attempts b dtl only to error net, her 2nd serve return is narrowly wide, super b winner from Putintseva, 1-4
Love hold for Jodie, 4 first serves, lucky net-cord winner then a brilliant backhand down the line winner after her serve, two unreturned serves 2-4
YP holds to love 2-5
Jodie with a volley winner for 30-15, she saves mp with a super f winner, then more good play allows her to hold 3-5
Yulia another love hold, finishing with a crisp backhand winner after 1st 3-6
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Good experience for Jodie against Putintseva's skill-set. At times Jodie competed well. It was tough to win rallies as Yulia is so fast around the court. Felt like Jodie hit too many fierce shots straight to Yulia, who wasn't troubled by the pace. Had Jodie served at her usual level it might have been a lot closer. So many T serves missed narrowly, while 7 dfs was excessive. Jodie's volleying has impressed me this year but there were 2 shocking volleys today in the long game at the start of the 2nd set.
-- Edited by kundalini on Friday 29th of September 2023 07:38:01 AM
I watched most of the second set - good summary kundalini.
I feel Jodie tries just a little too hard and is a little too aggressive at times, goes for the corners and hits too many shots long. Her movement didn't look so great towards the end of the match - I guess she knew she wasn't going to win this one.
Katie takes first set 6-1. Her service stats are rubbish (50% and 3DFs) but shes rattled through despite that so Kamilla must be playing pretty dreadfully!