ILE rolling non-slam Tennis thread

wow, Luca Vanni, a 29-yr-old Italian who had never won an ATP-level match before this week, qualified for Sao Paulo and has made the final. Blew a couple of MPs in the second set amidst a disgustingly partisan crowd (one thing to cheer on your local hope, another to hoot and whistle between serves) but impressed that he came from a break down in the third!

And he blew kisses to the crowd afterwards :)

oof Petko. 5-1 up over BZS and then meltdown. BZS's hustle in full effect too...

And then BZS has a meltdown from 6-5 up and throughout the TB.

Incredible defence from BZS. She's so much fun to watch, even aside from her antics and gesticulations and rants, of which there have been plenty today as well

kei is making this dropping first sets thing a habit

querrey w a great get/fh winner 3d set tiebreak

& yet he's sabotaging himself w/ errors and even had a double fault too

loool and a second double

Turn on to watch Petko final and.........she's playing Clijsters????

damn this tourney has no luck, #1 seed bounced early (lol) rest of the belgians knocked out early.

Kim can still bash it mind you.

Was looking frwd to the Final tho :(

quintessential St Kim masterplan to swoop in to a) save b) win your own tournament at the last minute

Wawrinka hits one of the best drop volleys I've ever seen and one of the worst dropshots I've ever seen on consecutive points. Good tennis here generally, Berdych looking confident

Berdych went away at the end of the second set and got broken on a dead net cord to start the third.

Banger of a BH pass from Stan, double break!

Not seeing this much-vaunted New Berdych in 2015. That was v much the Same Old Berdych. Couldn't recover from a slight wobble and his opponent raising his game, third set looked close because that wasn't peak Stan either but it wasn't really - some of Berdych's errors, especially off simple shots, were miles out. Decent match though!

This Flipkens/Cornet match. The Flipkens overhead that bounced before her own service line. Cornet responding with one of her patented DFs-into-collapsing-on-the-ground.

A lengthy interlude of Cornet gesticulating, screaming and repeatedly beating her towel into the ground over her inability to challenge <3

Cornet goes into hysterics for the second time in 5 minutes over a call. To be fair to her she's actually been right both times! But maybe this is why you don't piss away all your challenges too early in the set, Alizé...

omg it happened again at 6-6 in the tb

Cornet wins the first six games of the match, and the last six games from 0-3 down. What happened in between will scar me forever

kei has been mad testy abt his rackets & their string tension this tourney

love watching Diyas when she's playing well. Finished off Petkovic with a clean dropshot winner then two clean return winners to win <3

csn recovered quickly!

indeed, I think it was just a cricked neck though. High possibility that she just stood there as Giorgi self-destructed for the whole match though.

Tuned in to the closing stages of Wozniacki/Stosur just in time to see Stosur, down MP, shank a FH so badly that it probably landed in Iran.

six of the Dubai top 8 seeds have played so far. Radwanska - OUT! Venus - OUT! Ivanovic - OUT! Kerber - OUT! Kvitova - OUT! Makarova - WON.

such an error-fest this rio match rola/souza

lol and appropriately ends on a df

it's really weird that ppl sit in the on court promotional car to watch the match @ delray

Interesting all-ESP match between CSN and the White Mug, such contrasting styles - both have gorgeous BHs but in totally different ways. Muguruza lost a set she really should've won - she went down a double break and kept making errors, when she got it together she stormed through 4 consecutive games to reach SP, and then it turned rather messy with the errors. I don't think CSN even played particularly well until the TB.

In the long term what I like about Muguruza is that while she's fundamentally a first-strike player with immense power, she's still capable of rallying and is capable of playing defence.

Quite apt flicking between the White Mug in Dubai and 18-yr-old Brazilian WC Beatriz Haddad Maia in Rio, who just whomped Hercog. I find these players who go against their national stereotype interesting - both Muguruza and Haddad Maia are tall hard-hitting big servers rather than the traditional Spanish/South American clay grinders. I can see BHM upsetting Errani tbh in the QF if she carries on serving like that tbh.

Halep v Makarova third set is awesome. Halep stepping up her aggression to break >>>>>

rafa is def laboring v carreno busta rn

Thought Muguruza would take that SF but I was wrong - yes her movement's superior to Pliskova's but Pliskova was too solid to just give away a game to love like Garbiñe did at 5-5

I can see BHM upsetting Errani tbh in the QF if she carries on serving like that tbh.

― lex pretend, Thursday, February 19, 2015 2:36 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This is happening!

halep looking erratic so far, although she strung a few good shots together for that last hold at 1-4

Three MPs came and went for Haddad Maia, total choke and meltdown in the TB :(

Cramping and crying now :(((

delbonis/fognini is p entertaining

2d set tiebreak @ 9-9!

omg sick pass

12-10 delb, wow

ppl waiting for rafa were def bummed delbo pulled that out lol

lol 3rd set tiebreak

this fucking match

the momentum swings are so odd & its been so unpredictable

delbo has like several scorching match saves

this shit is unbelievable

idk if that was out ?

reeaally close