ILE rolling non-slam Tennis thread

Vaidisova showed flashes of the old talent against a very subpar Halep but totally collapsed in the third set. Don't think she's that far off Tour level though.

Azarenka ultra-sharp right now, albeit Jankovic isn't providing much resistance. Her dropshots have been especially immaculate.

lol the first 6-1 set lasted 29 minutes
the second 6-1 set lasted an hour, most of which was a ludicrous final game in which we all aged about a decade

unsure why Thiem's results have been so bad this year, he looked great beating F-Lo there

Didn't he fire bresnik

I agree he looked very good there, encouraging.

If thiem could consistently take the ball early like he did today the sky's the limit imo. Can't keep playing behind the baseline so much.

Saw the first set, she has moxie! Strutting around like she expected to win. Thought she'd blown it after failing to serve it out but Sharapova descended badly in the tb. Good win for my betting account

She's very funny and easy to root for imo

Horrible winds and rain all day, this tournament is the worst masters 1000 by a mile

Tatjana Maria's slicing and dicing currently lead Bouchard 6-0. WHY IS THIS NOT BEING STREAMED

(Tatjana Maria is formerly Malek, she got married and her name change induces so much confusion, not least if you just refer to her surname and her slicing)

(She also had a baby hence her absence for a while, came back at this time last year and is already on the verge of the top 100)

klizan is playing a good 2d set v novak

wow some really good hitting o_O

genuine headline on the WTA official site:

Bouchard: How To Take A Great Selfie

Are we ever going to get to the point where Radwanska looks like a slam winner or are we going to be watching her lose to Watson and drop sets to Begu forever like.

Also I'm going to be in Paris for two days in May so I AM GOING TO ROLAND GARROS HELL YES. Anyone got tips?

Wear a hat! My god, it gets brutal up high on Chatrier on a clear day. And if you're walking the grounds, don't decide to hug the Musketeers statue. The staff don't like that.

woo! I suppose this is a good time to mention that I'm gonna be in the UK from mid-April to early July so I am DEFINITELY going to Wimbledon and maaaaybe RG too if I have time to make it over to Paris.

this is awesome news roz, you should come with us!

would absolutely love to! I don't have any proper plans in place yet but I'll def shoot you a msg once I'm there. super duper excited!

Another great Thiem performance, getting my hopes up

Serena shut down the Bellis hype train with a quickness huh? Still, all top players got thrashed by the previous generation's top players...

Camila Giorgi has now hit 131 DFs in her 13 matches this year.

Rafa really going down with a whimper these days

ive noticed his service game is not really what it used to be, esp on hardct

Rafa has not looked good since Wimbledon for more than a set at a time.

It almost seems like his shotmaking ability is still there but his defence at crucial points is not? like in the last couple of games last night he just didn't retrieve a few Verdasco shots that would have been nothing for peak Rafa. Clay will be interesting.

Ivanovic really acting like 2014 never happened, huh. She trashed Lisicki 0 and 1 a couple of weeks ago.

I actually have the opposite take, the defense is still elite but he routinely has no depth on routine shots in rallies. Those balls sit up and people are teeing off.

They showed a graphic that 42% of his rally balls were in the service box vs verdasco, some very shallow

I'm glad more prominence is being given to stats like that - in the last few years there's really been an undue focus on winners and UEs without acknowledgement that most rallies are decided by poor decisions or weak shots before the one that actually ends the point

so from 3-5 down in the second set Venus plays nearly three games' worth of impeccable, patient aggression, totally and casually owning Wozniacki. And then at 5-5, 40-0 she serves three straight DFs, hits a BH five miles long and then another BH into the bottom of the net for no reason. WHY?

Venus peaked again in the TB :)

Venus should really make the final, right? Biggest threat remaining in her half is probably, like, Pliskova

it's really a damn shame that Dolgopolov turned out to be a homophobic moron

I didn't realize that Venus's record against Woz is now 7-0

lol

it's really a damn shame that Dolgopolov turned out to be a homophobic moron

God I know, I kept hoping he would at least back off a little.

I was thinking the other day that some elements of his game are kind of revolutionary and junior coaches should think about them especially the serve.

dolgo takes 1st set off novak, real nice aggressive play in the tb

700th win for Serena. Marion is very excited in the commentary booth about the imminent cake.

That was a brilliant game from Thiem to serve out the set from 0-30 down

So happy for CS Navarro, iirc she won her first career title about 6 months ago. Beautiful game.

Stupid time zones making me miss a Serena/Simona match that went 7-5 in the third

Fuck is this Isner revival bullshit

Isner has done this before, he looked incredible in IW last year. I think he has this mental block where he has 2 or 3 matches in a row where being aggressive doesn't work and he loses his commitment to it.

Fascinated by the way Halep's fans have become one of the year's stories though, when was the last time there was this kind of vocal support following one player around the world? If they're a bit OTT as new fans they'll learn but it has to be a great thing for the WTA

V happy that CSN breaks the top 10 with this run too!

isner did destroy kei, but ill be really surprised if he can do it to novak

serena/halep match was not that amazing - serenas unforced forehand errors were the only reason it was close; halep really needs a better serve to threaten serena more consistently imo

super ugly first set

novak looks tired but andy keeps hitting errors

gotta give murray the edge going into this third w/ how poor novak looks but he def could snap out of it obv

omg no one can hit an overhead

That was a pretty patchy match last night. Four bagels in six matches on the way to the title for Nole though, that's pretty amazing. Second big final of the year that's culminated in Murray getting bagelled by him, conversely.

I'm sort of astounded that CSN is only the third Spanish woman to make the top 10 in the open era!

wait really? conchita martinez is one right?

the other one is the "grass is for cows" woman maybe? Oh why can't I remember her name?