Tennis: All Purpose Tennis Thread XV

[kihei]

Ruthlessly efficient Nole has an easy time of the first set, 6-3.

 

[kihei]

Out of the blue, Nole has another second set lapse and Rune goes ahead 2-love.

 

[kihei]

Rune may not have eared the break but he sure knew what to do with it when he got it. He serves out the set 6-3.

 

[kihei]

A back in form Nole gets the early break this time 3-1.

Spectacular play from Hover nabs it right back, 3-2

 

[kihei]

Rune to serve for thematch. He has played a great set so far.

 

[kihei]

What a game.

 

[kihei]

Took 16 minutes but Rune wins. Very well deserved, too.

 

[AstrophysicalJet]

Time for me to start preparing some crow, any advice on how to serve?

Absolute stunner of a game imo.

 

[AstrophysicalJet]

Also think this gets´Rune into the top 10 (#10).

 

[MsMeow]

It's a shame that Rune doesn't qualify for the big final. Carlos is out which means Fritz and I believe Hurkacz are next in line

 

[kihei]

If Alcaraz reminded me of a super-charged young Federer earlier this year than Rune reminded me today of a young Nole. His patience, his construction of points, his variety of shot, pace and angle, the lack of any clear weakness to attack, all seemed emblematic of Nole's game. Watching some of the points as both players probed one another's game made me feel like I was watching a very similar template for two different players.

 

[MsMeow]

It's a shame that Rune doesn't qualify for the big final. Carlos is out which means Fritz and I believe Hurkacz are next in line

I see that Rune has jumped over Hurk so he's next in line if someone withdraws. Fritz replaces Alcaraz.

 

[kihei]

This year's Next Gen tournament starts today. With Alcaraz, Singer and Rune sitting it out for one reason or another, Musetti, Draper and Nakashima are the highest seeds followed by a lot of lower-ranked, unfamiliar faces.

 

[DarrylshutzSydor]

WTA is ridiculous that they don't show certain players country flags but show others. Did the USA players get their flags taken away when it invaded Iraq? Syria? Somalia? Libya? Haiti? Afghanistan? to name only a few.....

 

[kihei]

Garcia beat Sabalenka 6 and 4 last night to win the WTA Finals, her biggest win. Basically it was a case of Sabalenka's baseline uber-aggression versus Garcia's plus one more controlled power. On point after point Sabalenka couldn't keep the ball in court and that was the major difference.

 

[MsMeow]

I woke up to see Bianca was down 2-5 and she came back to win it in a breaker, then took the 2nd set after being down an early break. Leylah won the first set 6-0 and is up 3-0 and 2 breaks. She's playing amazing tennis!

Wow, 6-0, 6-0 for Leylah!!

 

[Tuggy]

Yeah, Canada swept all 3 matches against Italy today.

 

[kihei]

Italy also fared badly in the Next Gen group stage where all three of its entrants were eliminated, including the adjusted top seed Musetti. Semis look like this:

Lehecka versus Stricker
Nakashima versus Draper.

 

[kihei]

Surprising Next Gen final: Lehecka versus Nakashima, both of whom played the best tennis of their careers to get here.

 

[kihei]

The only way Carlos can lose the end of year #1 rankonh is if either Tsitsipas or Nadal goes 5-0 in the ATP Finals. An ujndefeated run all the way through the tournament is worth 1500 points.

 

[MsMeow]

Felix lost to Casper in straights this morning. Ruud played smart tennis and Felix didn't play aggressive enough.

 

[kihei]

Felix lost to Casper in straights this morning. Ruud played smart tennis and Felix didn't play aggressive enough.

Curiously bloodless match as neither could do anything with the other's serve until Ruud started making inroads on FAA's second serve in the second set. Only one break point allowed in the entire match and Felix lost it. Felix also made way too many errors, especially on his backhand (13). Not a good sign.

 

[MsMeow]

Rafa is really struggling against Fritz, down a set and a break. He's at the point where he needs to play more matches but isn't entering as many tournaments and when he does, he doesn't go deep enough. Wow. Now 1-5. Fritz to serve for the match. He wins it 6-1

 

[kihei]

Creaky looking performance from Nadal that got steadily worse as the match progressed.

 

[MsMeow]

Kyrgios is so predictable. He and Kokkinakis took the first set and dropped the second after an early break. In the tiebreak, as soon as they went down by 2 mini breaks, the slouched shoulders were immediately slouched some more and that was the end of the match.