Week 43 - WTA 500 - Tokyo, Japan (outdoor hard)

9vicman · Satellite level

Week 43 - WTA 500 - Tokyo, Japan (outdoor hard)

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

9vicman wrote:
No sense at all how Katie is playing as that is quite the easy draw for a 500 level event. Kenin's win over Kasatkina is a surprise, but Kasatkina has been playing a lot.

Its called taking care of business. I guess you can only beat what is in front of you and take advantage of the draw. Katie actually has prior in terms of this kind of run.

Kenin will be interesting

Barefoot · Lower Club Player

If Katie beats Kenin, thatll be the third grand slam champ shes beaten this yearhaha.

By all accounts shes playing well, I think its quite fast. Kenin has been playing well too!

GAMEOVER · Satellite level

paulisi wrote:
adz1983 wrote:
On to quarters for Katie. Top 20 beckons if she wins the title...
In realty Katie is not a top 20 player yet. Its only her grass court success that has kept her ranking so high.
I think there is a big gulf between the top 20 and the remainder

This might be reflected in the fact that Katie is far and away the highest ranked player in the world at the moment yet to reach the last 16 of a Grand Slam.

indiana · Tennis legend

GAMEOVER wrote:
paulisi wrote:
adz1983 wrote:
On to quarters for Katie. Top 20 beckons if she wins the title...
In realty Katie is not a top 20 player yet. Its only her grass court success that has kept her ranking so high.
I think there is a big gulf between the top 20 and the remainder
This might be reflected in the fact that Katie is far and away the highest ranked player in the world at the moment yet to reach the last 16 of a Grand Slam.

I'm not sure about Katie getting into the top 20 but that will really just be down to her results and if these are good enough, she's got closer than I ever expected. I don't see any evidence of a big gulf between the top 20 in particular and the remainder. Of course it gets more difficult to climb the higher you get but what's the top 20 theory evidence?

Peter too · Tennis legend

Kenin was a top 4 player but had a dreadful start to this year, losing in the 1st round of 8 tournaments in a row and until this tournament her year has 10 wins and 24 losses. She seems to be getting back to form in this tournament having just beaten Wang, Tauson and Kasatkina. She has lost to Heather, Harriet and Sonya but in her only meeting with Katie she won 6-4 4-1 Ret.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

paulisi wrote:
adz1983 wrote:
On to quarters for Katie. Top 20 beckons if she wins the title...
In realty Katie is not a top 20 player yet. Its only her grass court success that has kept her ranking so high.
I think there is a big gulf between the top 20 and the remainder

I don't really see the top-20 argument either

I'd agree re the top-5

But in the top-20 you've got top players who are very new to the top-20 (like Paolini) or only scrape in very rarely (like Vekic) or who have won Grand Slams but have done nothing but lose all year (like Krejcikova) or who have been WR 35-style all their life and then have a sudden 'click' (like Danielle Collins)

And outside, you've got plenty of top-20 level players - like Sakkari, or Leylah Fernandez, or Svitolina, or Azarenka, etc

Katie has her ups and downs, as they all do. She's pretty dire on clay. But she's most certainly in with a shout of the top-20.

Mervatron2 · Challenger qualifying

Great to see Katie string some wins together.

dodrade · Futures qualifying

Peter too wrote:
Kenin was a top 4 player but had a dreadful start to this year, losing in the 1st round of 8 tournaments in a row and until this tournament her year has 10 wins and 24 losses. She seems to be getting back to form in this tournament having just beaten Wang, Tauson and Kasatkina. She has lost to Heather, Harriet and Sonya but in her only meeting with Katie she won 6-4 4-1 Ret.

A shame she managed to peak against Emma at the US Open as well when she otherwise couldn't buy a win.

GAMEOVER · Satellite level

Katie lost to Kenin 6-4 6-4..

wolf · Tennis legend

SF: Sofia Kenin (USA) WR155 defeated (9) Katie Boulter WR 33 by 6-4 6-4

9vicman · Satellite level

A shame but on recent form not necessarily a surprise. Katie's last win over a top 50 player (and I know Kenin is currently much lower) was at Eastbourne when she beat Ostapenko.

When the ball is on Katie's racket, she can do some serious damage, but it does feel she really struggles for consistency. It's as much about winning ugly, which I felt she was doing earlier in the year.

Mervatron2 · Challenger qualifying

A shame but a solid week in particular with recent form and results.