Tennis: All Purpose Tennis Thread XVI

[kihei]

If I had to predict a US Open winner based on form in Toronto, I would have to pick Sinner. He is the only contender (sorry, Gael) even close to being in the form necessary to win in New York, and that includes Carlos.

 

[kihei]

A set down to Tommy Paul but on serve in the second, Alcaraz is as frustrated and angry at himself as I have ever seen him. 14 forehand errors and a canny opponent will do that to you.

 

[MsMeow]

Alcaraz is really struggling against Paul

 

[kihei]

Here's a fairly intimidating stat::

Speed of Alcaraz's return of serve in the first set: 84 kmh
Speed of Alcaraz's return of serve in the second set: 117 kmh.

 

[kihei]

Alcaraz works out his problems to take the second set as Paul's play drops a level.

 

[MsMeow]

Kudos to Tommy Paul, he was great.

 

[kihei]

Paul returns to his aggressive play of the first set to win the third set, the second time in a row he has knocked Carlos out of the Roger's Cup, defeating him in three sets last year.

 

[TCTC]

Paul is such a likeable player. You'll never see him throw a racquet or lose his temper.

 

[kihei]

Monfils comes roaring back to take the second set against Sinner whose errant groundstrokes have been a problem all night.

 

[kihei]

Gael, who had played four matches to Jannick's two matches (one walkover) finally ran out of gas, and left to a standing ovation which was well deserved. Sinner makes it to the semis but my theory about him being in form took a beating tonight.

 

[kihei]

In her first thirteen games tonight, Rybakina had 50 unforced errors. How is that even possible? Well, for one thing, Kasatkina, her opponent, had 35.

 

[otown]

Would love to see Tommy Paul win it all.

 

[kihei]

If you bought your tickets for the afternoon semifinal early and paid $800 for a pair at center court, I wonder how happy you would be with your ADF/Demon match up now.

 

[kihei]

Would love to see Tommy Paul win it all.

He is in a really poor match up this evening; I'd be surprised if he gets beyond Sinner. If he does, though, it would be nice.

 

[kihei]

ADF looked over his head from the first game and De Minaur, all business as usual, was happy to take advantage of his opponent's nerves, 1 and 3. Demon is in his first 1000-level final.

 

[17futurecap]

If Sinner can finish this tournament out, he goes to 6 in the rankings. Would have a solid shot at getting to 4 for US Open seed purposes if he does well in Cincy next week with Stefanos needing to defend a lot of points next week.

Would be big to get to avoid Novak, Carlos and Med until the semi finals.

 

[kihei]

Except for a brief hiccup at the end where Paul prolonged the match briefly by breaking serve, Sinner notches a solid win 4 and 4. Pretty much what happens when you do everything better than the other guy, including hitting the ball harder.

 

[Novak Djokovic]

Boy, did I ever get lucky for QF evening session. Carlos and Jannik (two matches) for less price than Sat/Sun sessions.

 

[kihei]

Up 6-1, 1-love 40-15, Rybakina hit four straight double faults. Don' know if I have ever seen that before though against Raonic one year in Toronto, Ernests Gulbis hit four double faults in one service game to lose it. But four straight...that's a headscratcher.

Her luck doesn't change and she loses in three sets. So we have a Samsonova/Pegula final and a surprise final in both men's and women's tournaments.

 

[kihei]

So far this tournament, on average, Sinner has hit his forehand 17 kmh faster than De Minaur.

Picking Sinner in straight sets. Demon's wheels might make this fun, though,.

 

[kihei]

For the second time De Minaur breaks back to put the match back on serve. Demon looks overmatched as hell, but he keeps scurrying about and hanging in there.

Eventually Jannick's power is just more than Alex can cope with, 6-4.

 

[kihei]

Sinner is a wonderful player but he doesn't quicken the pulse the way that Carlos does. Jannick is definitely vanilla.

 

[kihei]

Sinner closes it out 6-1. Not much of a final, but Jannick's first of what will be many 1000-level wins.

 

[17futurecap]

Obviously you can’t control the rain, but the scheduling became amateur hour at this women’s tournament.

 

[Ben Grimm]

https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/13/sport/jessica-pegula-iga-swiatek-canadian-open-spt-intl/index.html