ILE rolling non-slam Tennis thread

Murray was OK earlier in this match but ever since attempting to serve for the set has flopped hard. I'm impressed with Vesely's game though - first time I've seen him - youngest man in the top 100 I think? Good power, reacting well to Murray's tricksiness, even winning some of the Murrayesque cat-and-mouse points.

Oof, that game from Vesely.

Oof, that FH tapped softly into the tramlines from Murray

wozniak is about to bagel a-pav; why is she playing well again all of a sudden?

maybe over her injury issues at last? Or maybe an element of Pavs being Pavs - she won four points in the last set and concluded the match with three consecutive DFs.

Vesely can't smash at ALL

got into a betting panic during that ridiculous Pav-Woz match but ended up cashing out at the end of the 2nd set with only £1 loss

Murray v Vesely is so bad now. Still waiting for a service hold in the third set

that MP save o_O

The definition of winning ugly. I wonder if Vesely will be a choker generally or if it was just inexperience showing.

http://www.changeovertennis.com/saga-jiri-veselys-overheads-told-gifs/

vesely wanted off the court there, at least def in that last game

amazing stuff from giorgi, now please please serve it out

forzaaaa :DDD

she did it! this result makes me so happy.

The definition of winning ugly. I wonder if Vesely will be a choker generally or if it was just inexperience showing.

― lex pretend, Monday, March 10, 2014 9:08 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's his first masters appearance... but yeah it was pretty bad. Thiem is much more ready for this kind of stage imo.

Quite enjoyed Victor Hanescu giving Nole a bit of fright last night, before Nole woke up and tonked him. That was the first match I've watched this tournament apart from a half-arsed attempt at pretending to watch Tsonga the other day.

Stan looked awesome against Seppi there.

Sveta's current dress is actually really nice

dolgo 3rd set break v rafa

lol terrible

Well I just assumed Dolgo wouldn't win another point. At least he can lose this in a TB.

bizarre tiebreak

Oh man, how sweet is Kleybanova's comeback looking now? Back-to-back 4Rs in Doha and IW! And still outside the top 100. There'd better be a lot more WCs coming for this girl. Hopefully she can pull off an upset next round.

Amazing results from Giorgi and Dolgopolov! Dolgopolov's been on fire for a month now (have seen none of it, annoyingly), glad he got this upset. And we all know Giorgi has the power to dictate against anyone, and what I saw of the first set before I fell asleep was good stuff from her. And this is proving a tough road back from injury for Ma$ha...

Lovely to see Kleybanova doing well, yeah.

From what I've seen of Thiem he has a better game as well as temperament than Vesely...

RT @rogerfederer: Radio time #flashinglights #surfboard pic.twitter.com/8HpiddMCOf

The GOAT better stan for the Queen!

From what I've seen of Thiem he has a better game as well as temperament than Vesely...

― lex pretend, Tuesday, March 11, 2014 6:38 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah he's a stone cold killer out there. Vesely kind of seems like a claycourt specialist to my eyes?

Halep up 5-0 against bouchard after about 2 minutes

that behind the back shot from Dimitrov!

Gawd, A-Rad is playing atrociously. She was up 4-1, Cornet DFed to open, and now... 13 points in a row to Cornet.

14. These errors are ridiculous. If fucking Jankovic makes the SF this will not be pleasing.

I wonder exactly how many matches or titles Halep will have to win to gain half the hype of Anglo players like Bouchard and Stephens. Only saw a bit of the match but the commentators were virtually rooting for Bouchard and acting as though she "should" be winning

Halep really reminds me of Bepa these days, anyway. Such smooth technique, on-point footwork, incredible ability to redirect the ball, really great aggressive/counterpunching instincts, everything except just that extra touch of raw pace that the absolute elite possess.

Fortunately I doubt Halep is overly bothered that the US meeeedia isn't bothered about her. She'll be #5 soon with a real chance to make #4. Gotta like her chances of a really deep run at the French too and then #3.

that backhand from Cibulkova <3

that was a really strong performance, she's in hella form. satisfying to see her backing up the AO final

Tennis Channel just called Gulbis "the honey badger of tennis; he just doesn't care" after he called Bautista Agut a woman for complaining about time violations

Jankovic in her pink leggings with the tennis dress draping apologetically over them... what a horrible, horrible outfit.

Federer knocks Mirka up with twins again and beats Haas with twin 6-4 sets :D (it was a good match too).

The Radwanska/Jankovic match had everything, and I don't necessarily mean that in a good way. Jankovic's BH was very good, though she seemed to spend a lot of time doing the splits or otherwise being on her arse. She dealt with the lobs well until later in the match, and it's the best she's played in yonks. But she still couldn't beat A-Rad at about 40% capacity. Atrocious serving from A-Rad, it looks like it's back to the pre-2013 speed without even the good placement. I guess without the taping or bandaging or anything on her shoulder, you wouldn't recognise her. Epic drama - 4-0 to 4-4, saving break points and then breaking from 40-15 to win. All in all, quite entertaining with some amazing points, if kind of shitty in places. Halep will cream Radwanska next round, I feel sure.

She did so in Doha, I expect it'll happen again here.

Unsurprised by the Murray loss. Really hope Dolgopolov beats Raonic in the QF.

Watched a bit of Ernie/Bautista, including the amusing moment DJP mentioned.

People always go on about the IW surface being hella slow and yet every year all the servebots seem to excel here. Raonic, Anderson, Isner all in the QF. GO AWAY ALL OF YOU, these people actively prevent me from watching tennis.

rothenberg mentioned something about the bounce being quite high, maybe this helps them?

in other news, only two of the top 8 seeds (nole & fed) are in the QF. when was the last time this happened?

People always go on about the IW surface being hella slow and yet every year all the servebots seem to excel here. Raonic, Anderson, Isner all in the QF. GO AWAY ALL OF YOU, these people actively prevent me from watching tennis.

― lex pretend, Thursday, March 13, 2014 8:54 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

isner likes slow surfaces (clay is probably his best!) because his strokes take forever and when your serve is that good there's only so much the surface can do.

Raonic and Anderson are just playing great tennis in general. Ljubicic has done wonder for Raonic (and made him a much more pleasant player to watch).

in other news, only two of the top 8 seeds (nole & fed) are in the QF. when was the last time this happened?

― groovemaaan, Thursday, March 13, 2014 9:20 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I seem to remember reading that it hasn't happened at a 1000 in 5 years.

nice to finally see Dolgopolov play, still a joy to watch. Raonic was a mess, all those DFs, but he didn't look like he could ever really cope with Dolgopolov's best shots. nice moment at the net afterwards!

A consistent dolgo?

Third straight SF or better!

Stephens' footwork around her BH is woeful. She just doesn't move her feet!

did sam smith just say 'jamie hamilton' ?

Fantastic match there from A-Rad. She was (by her standards, and given her physical tools) very aggressive on Halep's serve and actually wore her out - Halep won most of the cat and mouse points but she was pretty tired by the middle of set two and just collapsed. The match where Halep served to stay in the match was fantastic, despite the fatigue, Halep would not give up. But A-Rad served it out cleanly next game anywa.

Flava Flav wins IW omigod! Well, Na was crap and A-Rad was visibly hobbled by a knee injury.

This Fed/Nole match started out great for Federer but is now looking like being one of those matches where his first serve % goes down to like 50 and he loses his serve once in sets 2 and 3. That last drop shot he tried was vintage Craperer.

oooooooo

DAMN YOU FEDERER, breaking back as I have to go to a job interview grrrr