WTA 500 Stuttgart 4/17 - 4/23 2023

[JazzNU]

I don't know why the change happened, but I miss the days when Stuttgart got the #1 coverage during this week on Tennis Channel.

[ponchi101]

Coco edges Kudermetova in what seems, by the numbers, a bit of a sloppy match. 133 combined UE's, 15 breaks of serve.
Serious here. Is it better to watch a 25 strokes rally that ends in a UE than to watch a 12 strokes rally that ends in a winner? I could only see the highlights on the WTA site and it seems neither was able to pass the other, ergo the UE's. And they broke each other all those times because the second serves were being creamed (after all, the second serve is a stroke that lands short, by definition: it lands inside the service box).
I know I joke with Ashkor about court speed but, you can make a clay court a bit faster. Take a couple of layers off.

Also. Krejcikova has to raise her ranking. She has to play Sabalenka, again, in the round of 16. Too early (and Krejcikova is not the player her ranking says she is).

[ti-amie]

Coco edges Kudermetova in what seems, by the numbers, a bit of a sloppy match. 133 combined UE's, 15 breaks of serve.
Serious here. Is it better to watch a 25 strokes rally that ends in a UE than to watch a 12 strokes rally that ends in a winner? I could only see the highlights on the WTA site and it seems neither was able to pass the other, ergo the UE's. And they broke each other all those times because the second serves were being creamed (after all, the second serve is a stroke that lands short, by definition: it lands inside the service box).
I know I joke with Ashkor about court speed but, you can make a clay court a bit faster. Take a couple of layers off.

Also. Krejcikova has to raise her ranking. She has to play Sabalenka, again, in the round of 16. Too early (and Krejcikova is not the player her ranking says she is).

Sabalenka won it 2&2 with almost no fight back from Krejcikova.

[ti-amie]

Day 6 Order of Play

Centre Court
Starts at 12:00 PM

CRO D. VEKIC vs CZE K. PLISKOVA
FOLLOWED BY
USA C. GAUFF (5) vs RUS A. POTAPOVA
NOT BEFORE 5:00 PM
POL I. SWIATEK (1) vs CHN Q. ZHENG
NOT BEFORE 6:30 PM
GER T. MARIA vs FRA C. GARCIA (4)
FOLLOWED BY
BRA B. HADDAD MAIA vs KAZ E. RYBAKINA (6)

Court 1
Starts at 12:00 PM

USA N. MELICHAR-MARTINEZ/MEX G. OLMOS (3) vs CZE M. KOLODZIEJOVA/POL A. ROSOLSKA
NOT BEFORE 3:00 PM
ESP P. BADOSA vs ESP C. BUCSA
FOLLOWED BY
CHI A. GUARACHI/NZL E. ROUTLIFFE vs CAN G. DABROWSKI/BRA L. STEFANI (4)

[ponchi101]

Coco edges Kudermetova in what seems, by the numbers, a bit of a sloppy match. 133 combined UE's, 15 breaks of serve.
Serious here. Is it better to watch a 25 strokes rally that ends in a UE than to watch a 12 strokes rally that ends in a winner? I could only see the highlights on the WTA site and it seems neither was able to pass the other, ergo the UE's. And they broke each other all those times because the second serves were being creamed (after all, the second serve is a stroke that lands short, by definition: it lands inside the service box).
I know I joke with Ashkor about court speed but, you can make a clay court a bit faster. Take a couple of layers off.

Also. Krejcikova has to raise her ranking. She has to play Sabalenka, again, in the round of 16. Too early (and Krejcikova is not the player her ranking says she is).

Sabalenka won it 2&2 with almost no fight back from Krejcikova.

Further proof of my limitations as a forecaster. I am not surprised Sabalenka won, but the score is unexpected to me.

[ti-amie]

[nelslus]

YET another match that Ostapenko should have won, and Jabeur should have lost. For a set and about 3/4's, Jelena was playing her A++++ game. And then- she wasn't. Ons just hung in there, played better and better, and turned the match completely around. As is true of other players (See: Kvitova, Petra), a big problem is, even if you are being destroyed in a match- good players know to just hang in here with Jelena, and see if her level will drop.
It did. Sure, sometimes Jelena will destroy you. But, once you get this reputation....And, of course, Ons played some beautiful tennis.

[ponchi101]

I see it as a matter of statistics and the beauty of the tennis scoring system. Alona comes out and hits 25 winners in a row. But nobody can keep that level. So, eventually the winners stop and the UE's arrive. And since in tennis what you did in the first set means nothing in the 2nd and 3rd...
A bit like basketball. Nobody hit 5 of 6 three pointers in the first half, and does the same in the 2nd.
Ostapenko, when hitting winners, is a wonder to see. And when she starts missing, it is borderline scary.

[ti-amie]

Day 7 Order of Play

Centre Court
Starts at 12:00 PM

Quarterfinal
ESP P. BADOSA vs BLR A. SABALENKA (2)
NOT BEFORE 3:30 PM
Quarterfinal
RUS A. POTAPOVA vs FRA C. GARCIA (4)
NOT BEFORE 5:00 PM
Quarterfinal
TUN O. JABEUR (3) vs BRA B. HADDAD MAIA
NOT BEFORE 6:30 PM
Quarterfinal
POL I. SWIATEK (1) vs CZE K. PLISKOVA

[ti-amie]

[JazzNU]

I hadn't seen Karolina's hair out in a ponytail in ages in a match. It's up now and she's losing. Maybe she'll let it back out in the 3rd and it will change her fortunes.

She played a really good first set. Here and Rome are where she tends to do her best on clay.

[JazzNU]

On the Iga front, I won't go as far as saying I love the new kit, but I like it and it is a definite upgrade to the pedestrian Asics designs.

[Suliso]

Convincing from Iga in the end.

[ponchi101]

On the Iga front, I won't go as far as saying I love the new kit, but I like it and it is a definite upgrade to the pedestrian Asics designs.

ON seems to be aiming for the conservative crowd. The tennis shoes are good quality, but the designs are nothing to get excited about (the running shoes have some interesting things). For the price, I am not sure if I would buy any of their gear.

[ti-amie]