ILE rolling non-slam Tennis thread

What even was that! Not just bashing the ball into the net, but pushing it long, hitting double faults and then, ugh, losing match point on a botched challenge. I mean I like all four of the semi-finalists but still, this was a cake draw for a biggish title...

lmao the return of Shitra. Not entirely surprising - Pironkova took a set off Peak Petra when she won Wimbledon...

I personally am a fan of a Pironkova/Kerber final but it's pretty funny how much less marquee it is than Keys/Kvitova would have been.

ooh, nice wins for Bencic and Konjuh in AO qualifying. Bencic beat top seed Fichman easily.

Real shame that Konjuh has to have elbow surgery after the AO - the most impressive talent to come along in years and already being held back by injuries.

The Vandeweghe/Rodionova qualifying match must have been a feast of sportsmanship.

btw, if you didn't see Konjuh beating Vinci last week, the whole match is on youtube, but these highlights certainly showcase her talent -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aE1vIcApHvM

This match happened four days after her 16th birthday...

I am a fan of the final we're getting too because the existence of Kerber seems to completely mystify hacks who can't think of anything to say about her. And her game when on is delightful.

Kerber is great. Love that running lefty FH DTL.

I'm surprised (and relieved tbh) she doesn't get more attention from the Pretty Girl Fanboys. She resembles Kournikova so much facially.

I know her name is pronounced Kon-yuh, but I just keep wanting to call her Ana the Konjuror . :/

digging those konjuh highlights. really attractive BH. FH reminds me of vaidisova. serve looks an utter mess though, which is one thing i really really don't need to be seeing in these up-and-comers

technique-wise? It's one of her biggest weapons as far as I can see, though granted in that match it took her a set to iron out the DFs.

Her FH is slightly worrying with the absolutely massive take-back, you can just see her being rushed and shanking everything on faster surfaces. but amazing power in it, and her BH is perfect.

WTF is up with Ferrer this season? Lost sets to Dolgopolov, Young and Garcia Lopez; lost matches to Brands and Lu. None of that is good.

Pironkova tun up! Banging BH return winner to take the first set

She won! So happy for her, I thought it was all over after that 10 minute game

I love her and her completely bizarre career. Three top 10 wins! Didn't drop a set...except in qualifying! First title...off grass!

She won 8 matches in this tournament, which is only three less than she won in the entirety of 2013.

Honestly, probably never seen her play this well even on grass though. BH was brilliant.

omg literally how are there still tennis commentators who think it's acceptable to talk incessantly throughout every rally. let me watch this rivetting watson/falconi match-up in peace!

also lol at zakopalova owning stosur. and they play AO 1R!

and i would be unsurprised to see pironkova flop 1r to soler-espinosa. hope i'm wrong though!

Del Potro making Tomic look like a complete joke. <3

Bepa back in action... please get some Slam / Indian Wells form going!

Vera Zvonareva ‏@verazvonareva 22m
Won my first doubles match since my comeback yesterday and singles today! Excited about upcoming challenges!!!

i saw the last few minutes of the match. the last point was an extended moonball rally that ended with an unforced error. welcome back, bepa!

Love Bepa and nice to see her back but I don't have a great deal amount of faith for this comeback. I'm really surprised it happened at all, thought she'd moved on to post-tennis life what with getting her Masters and all.

43yo Mrs. Krumm beat the in-form Muguruza, over half her age, 6-7 7-5 7-6 in nearly three hours in Pattaya. Amazing tbh

Anyone with me for the Davis Cup? James Ward has inexplicably taken Sam Querrey to a fifth set. There was a godawful brass band playing You Keep Me Hanging On earlier. The BBC commentators are going fucking bonkers over the prospect of us beating the US, but I've just remembered that Eurosport were better than the BBC for the Australian Open, so I've switched over. Already the tone is much more measured.

Jim Courier's suit seems to be talk of the town

I like the Mission Impossible look that the line judges are rocking. Querrey appears to have completely fallen apart.

Well, I have no idea where that came from, but well done James Ward.

haha i always forget davis cup is happening. my sporting patriotism is non-existent but this result is amazing/hilarious, esp considering it's an away tie

I forgot Ward beat Querrey at Queen's in 2011! Maybe not such a shocker after all.

http://www.wtatennis.com/news/article/3653491/title/vote-now-januarys-shot-of-the-month

an actually decent promotional idea from the WTA, wonders will never cease

This should be between Petkorazzi or Pavs, really hope one of them takes it ahead of the bigger names. That Sharapova shot shouldn't even be there given that the point turned on a laughably bad Serena dropshot

what about that Radwanska half volley in the AO quarter final? voted Pav but i actually really like the Wozniacki one too

AO is not a WTA event

...oh yeah

this bencic-cornet match is quite something

wow giorgi is absolutely murdering keys' serve

pironkova playing really well against vinci, up a set and 4-0. vinci was crying during the changeover :-( i remember when she was hitting return winners off of kvitova's serve last year.

Vinci now 0-5 in 2014 :o

Pironkova now 13-2 :o

:o :o

man that is rough. Poor Vinci. :(

also, Pironkova has won more matches in the six weeks of this season than she did in the entirety of 2013.

haas-verdasco is such a fun match right now. some insane forehands from verdasco as usual, one was over 110 mph!

so much tennis on today and so little time to do anything other than dip in and out. end of Haas/Verdasco was funny, FeVer went for huge FHs in the last game and missed. end of the first set of Delpo/Monfils was terrific. Venus has completely collapsed from 4-1 up in the third vs Petra

LOL and Kvitova serves for it, misses a MP then DFs on BP

amazing tiebreak from both

yup they both made me wince for most of the set but they're peaking for this

Petra :D

another tight loss for Venus :(

Amazing women's tennis-esque drama in Berdych v Janowicz. Balls of steel by Janowicz on every set point against him, though.

Examples: obviously a DF the first time JJ got a SP on his serve. The worst drop-shot response ever by Berdych. Berdych hitting a strong second serve then slipping on his feet and being unable to capitalise and losing the advantage.

DF, DF, Ace, Ace, DF. Peak something or other.

Oh god, of course Kvitova is going to flop AGAIN to Jankovic. I hate everything.

can I have a moment for the dumbest, most pointless article I've read this week?

http://espn.go.com/blog/tennis/post/_/id/243/time-to-hand-out-our-tennis-medals

Giorgi d. Petkovic 6-1 6-2. ha

Hooo boy that terrible TB from Shitra. I really like CSN but what the fuck even was that.

No, you know what, we know, we're used to this. Why is Petra yelling and screaming POJD really loudly all of a sudden though. Reminiscent of Ivanovic's desperate AJDEEEEEEEs. Petra, if you really wanted to win that much you'd CHANGE SOMETHING rather than treating every match like Russian roulette

One of the best things about Petra ca. 2011 was that she played a point, and then played the next one the way it needed to be played without letting the previous one faze her if it was a mistake. She no longer does that. When things go bad, they go to complete shit and she has no way of putting the brake on it anymore mentally. I reckon she's out of the top 10 soon and I don't really see anything good for her this season.

I just saw the score of Venus-Wozniacki

lol