ILE rolling non-slam Tennis thread

Li kept threatening a comeback in that set but Serena got over the finishing line in the end. Hopefully she doesn't fall away in the third...

It's fallen away. Seven straight faults and cascading errors now.

Li just gets worse and worse. Serena barely needs to be on court.

It was sad how little fight Serena had to display to get Li to collapse entirely. Serena didn't even have to roar, just a little growl at the start of the second set and that was that - Li's strategy, execution, confidence and belief deserted her.

That didn't hurt as bad as the AO final loss, but it still hurt.

Even Ivanovic can win 6-0 sets off Pironkova. Local wildcard fail.

Don't you love the way a tournament specifically designed for 2013 tournament champions opens with a match between two players who haven't won a tournament in two years.

They should change this to a showcase of younger players (which was the original intent) - top 8 teenagers this year would give us a field of: Bouchard, Keys, Svitolina, Robson, Beck, Schmiedlova, Vekic, Putintseva. I'd watch that. It'd have prestige, all of them battling to be the leader of the next generation, something that this sorely lacks.

lmao Tsonga. With a spot in London on the line and in a third-set TB vs Nishikori, he reaches MP. Then this happens:

Tsonga DF
Nishikori second serve ace
Nishikori ace
Tsonga DF

And that's JWT out of the WTF!

loved that Janowicz stare after Nadal went for the body

Last 8 in Paris = Last 8 in London!

ferrer squeaks out that set and levels it

Berdych's bleach dipped shorts !!!

yea idk y he cant wear normal clothes

Federer (y)

also Djokovic making so many wanky errors

Delpo got robbed while signing an autograph at the train station... passport, everything stolen. Poor guy. :(

‏@piersnewbery
Bag and passport stolen, 2hrs with French police, eurotunnel, London press conference, practice. Del Potro's day... pic.twitter.com/laq1kivccI

http://i.imgur.com/sSEEinZ.jpg

great tiebreak from gasquet. such a horrible draw for him though :(

lol delpo

Dammit Rafa, Stan should've won that set.

Hey look it's Stan losing another so-close-but-so-far match. And all the time you knew what was coming, including when he hit that amazing winner to go up 5-4 and a minibreak in the TB. For a career year, it's been characterised by a lot of heartbreak. Poor Stan.

oh Pony, that was woeful.

overall this Djokovic/Del Potro match was magic right up until Pony forgot he was playing tennis

yes, that is what was so frustrating! There was no excuse for that sudden, terrible service game. I just don't know how many of these close losses to Nole I can take. :((

otoh looking forward to the Federer-Delpo shootout - their past couple of matches were pretty great.

Wawrinka serves out a set for once!

He is 0-4 in TBs this week, though.

Hurrah, Stan (probably) in the SFs :D

Does anyone know the maths of what it would take for him to finish ahead of Fed?

minimised my stream after Nadal won that first set and he goes and wins 4 points in the next 5 games

Fed ratio of great shots to utter cringe about 1:4 right now. Pony playing very well. Go go go Pony

oh look Roger remembered how to play tennis. :/

of course my stream conks out at 30/40.

Peak Roger Niculescu. Boom boom pow serving gets Delpo the set anyway.

hahahahahahahahaah roger niculescu.

tense final game but Delpo managed to close it out, phew. Could see this going three.

:/

Federer has been brilliant in spurts but v unimpressed with Delpo losing concentration after taking a lead in both sets...by no means Peak Delpo

alright, no more fuckups, Pony!

Wow at this stat

TennisTV ‏@TennisTV 17m
Number of times Federer broken in first 3 games of deciding set: 2008=61%, 2009=66%, 2010=68%, 2011=75%, 2012=80%, 2013=100%

SIIIIIGH

DELPO TWEENER LOB (even though he lost the rally goddamnit)

Oh Pony. so many wasted leads. ;_;

what a weird match

Such poor concentration by Pony. Federer was so scrappy, I guess. Good shot vs Nadal indoors I guess.

Pony looked mentally spent tbh, which is not that surprising given the past few weeks for him.

Looking good for 2014 though!

rafa will destroy him tomorrow I feel

Fed misses three BPs. That was probably his chance there, gone

looks like the classic Fedal pattern of Fed threatening early and wasting BP opportunities and then eventually getting more and more beaten down by Nadal and starting to shank everything. 2 more BPs now though

Peak Fedal rally to get Fed two break back points

That first break chance came so out of the blue though, he hadn't got a point in Nadal's first two service games.

I'd still predict a 7-5 Nadal set on that though.

Certainly if Fed throws this service game away like that

A bad challenge, 1/4 on BPs vs 2/2 for his opponent... all peak Declinerer that game.