A forum to discuss all things related to the Women’s Tennis Association.
Copyright © 2024 | MH Magazine WordPress Theme by MH Themes
A forum to discuss all things related to the Women’s Tennis Association.
Copyright © 2024 | MH Magazine WordPress Theme by MH Themes
konta won! go jo and save my bracket!
Upset Alert Thursday
WTA Bracket excitement potential!
Simona Halep vs Lucie Safarova. Their h2h is 3-1 Simona. But they have not played each other since 2014, Cincinnati. Lucie is maybe finally starting to play well in singles. And when she’s on, Safarova is dangerous. Simona will be ready. Happy for Lucie healthy but GO Simona!
Ana Konjuh v Karumi Nara. Total toss-up! Flip the coin.
There’s more but Simona and Lucie are starting now… :D?
Qualifier, Richel Hogenkamp might be tired, but if not, she could upset Timea Babos. Richel got a win over Heather Watson, first round. If Timea starts slow, like she did versus Barbara Haas, she could lose.
Johanna Larsson vs Denisa Allertova. Most of our brackets picked Johanna but Denisa is flying high after her first round win over Ana Ivanovic. Should be a good one. Johanna should make it but it could be close — the odds are fairly close.
Kiki Mladenovic vs Pavlyuchenkova. I think most everyone picked Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Odds are similar to Larsson v Allertova tho, and Kiki Mladenovic can got into a groove with her serve and power — she beat Anastasia at the US Open once before, the only time they played. But it was a first round match and I don’t remember the match. Anyway I’m up for a tight match, I hope! Kiki could make it.
Karolina Pliskova vs Montserrat Gonzalez. This one should be a routine win for Karolina. I hope so, many of us picked Karolina DEEP.
There’s more but Simona and Lucie are starting now… 😀
Odds for today’s matches: http://www.oddsportal.com/tennis/usa/wta-us-open/
Easy access for those wanting to check their bracket:
http://www.tourneytopia.com/RacquetBracketUsOpenWTA/jalep2/default.aspx
What a mess of a post. ??? Sorry…to caffeinated and excitable. Let me edit my posts somehow……please….
rc can we keep the pool private please? mary has just been posting that i am talking to myself when talking to margot and has been reading all the comments. i am sure that nny as well would like the bracket to be private. anyone can read by clicking on the links…
Amy,
Yes, thanks for bringing up the issue of Mary reading the comments. It’s hard when you have someone so out of control who is determined to continue with such abhorrent behavior. She has gone off the deep end and is out of control. I read her comments about Amy talking to herself as deuce,
Does Margot know what had been going on here? She would probably be glad that she left. I mean, we all know that they are two different people.
It’s just too bad that we have to deal with this insanity. But the overall tone and tenor of her posts are getting more hysterical.
let’s not talk about margot right now ok nny? but yes all the links need to be closed right now. mary shouldn’t have access to the pool
rc,
You see where I am in the bracket challenge,m. So I don’t even want to check my picks, it’s been a disaster. I am much better with the men!
Thanks for the heads up about the matches coming up. You have such a wealth of knowledge about the women. I enjoy reading your previews.
Nny, the gaps are not that big in terms of points. It’s all crowing about the one point 1st round and 2 point 2nd round right now. You picked Serena, i think, right? Kerber looks fantastic – I watched a recording last night wow……I love Kerber! You will be fine. I’m upset about the what’s going on with Mary and Amy….have not read it or had time to check it out.
Take heart, Nny. You just took Muguruza too far this but it’s normal. Normal to pick a risk —many times I’ve been on the bottom! As for poor Muguruza she’s not at all consistent this season. Wins the French, super talented, sweet young lady, but emotionally fragile at times. I think she’ll grow out of it. She’s just in a weird space dealing with the pressure of being so highly ranked and seeded for events.
rc,
I actually should not have pucked her to go deep, I knew that she was having problems and hot knocked out early in Rio. I think the pressure has gotten to her. She has risen to the top faster than I thought she would.
I think she needs to find a way to deal with the success, because there is a lot that comes with it.
I can live with being last. It happens. But thanks for the kind words!
If we can get a pre GS page exclusively for discussing WTA picks that would be great. Ricky wouldn’t have to do anything time consuming or in-depth, just announce Complete tournament draw pick page for AO and bam…we take over …discuss!
Thursday matches cont…
Timea Bacsinszky vs Varvara Lepchenko (USA). This one also could be closer than the odds suggest. Bacsinszky isn’t quite at her best and Lepchenko got a strong win over veteran, Shaui Peng.
Caroline Garcia vs Katerina Siniakova . The popular shy bracket pick, Garcia, could be in trouble. She’ll need to be aggressive and confident. Siniakova is on the rise, imo.
Laura Siegemund vs Nicole Gibbs! tight, tight, tight…. ??
Carla Suarez-Navarro vs Shuai Zhang. If Zhang is on fire as she was at the AO, CSN is in danger.
And I always worry about Venus Williams, she could win big or lose. Her opponent is Julia Georges who played well last match but in general has been cold in singles.
rc,
I also worry about Venus. It’s true that she could lose at any time or win big. I don’t remember how far I picked her to go. But I do agree that Georges is cold right now,
My fear is that Georges might be coming out of the cold…she beat much higher ranked, odds favorite, Yanina Wickmayer. I was surprised! But didn’t see the match.
The match of the day might very well be Nicole Gibbs v Laura Siegemund. Siegemund was hot last spring, has cooled off, and Nicole has a fan base – go USA. I don’t cheer players according to what country they are from but in this case — I do cheer Nicole. Go Gibbsy!!
but georges played well again konta at rg and took her out (although konta was very nervous and make it easy for her) and then did nothing no?? i picked georges on the basis of how she played against konta to take out wickmayer.
Smart picking amy. I underestimated Georges.
Pliskova is my concern atm. Also had to have a look at young Montserrat Gonzalez. Smart girl, I’ve been guessing. She might take a set off Plisokova — hope not more than that! I picked Pliskova deep and I rarely do but she won Cincinnati!
Pliskova made it in 2. Darling Montserrat played well, had the time of her life, got a main draw win over Danka Kovinic though….big boost for the Paraguayan.
i picked venus to beat pliskova in the fourth round! now what could go wrong with that?!!!
I thought about Venus, it’s a legit pick, amy solid. Gosh part of my decision was not wanting a Venus v Serena semi, I admit. The other choices were Pliskova
and Aga Rad. Biggy Al in our bracket, who is a savvy picker, picked Pliskova over Aga Rad. He likes what he’s seem of Pliskova this summer. She has the game to beat Serena if she serves well. Much more likely a good match than Aga v Serena. I picked Aga sort of counting on inexperienced Pliskova choking along the way.
Anyway Venus is quite possible.
that was exactly what influenced me too rc!! ie i was going pick by pick and i picked venus to beat aga and thought oh no not venus-serena in the semi! so i changed my pick from venus to aga. but i was very very dubious about aga getting that far tbh. aga is amazingly gifted but she seems to slip up in slams and go out earlier than she should and i don’t really believe she has the power to get to the semis of the us open.
i should probably have picked pliskova rather than venus though
wow nishi is in a battle with someone i have never heard of. dropped a set and 4 all in the third. what’s up??
The mighty Karen Khachanov, Russian, only just 2O yrs. old, inside top 100. He’s Delpo’s size and has potential similarities. He seems smart, can move, stretch and reach, cover the net, more mentally stable than a Paire type.
Haven’t seen that match – it’s interrupted now. But I’m worried 🙂 what kind of trouble Kei is having? Kei should work it out but we’ll see! Epic win and upset if it happens.
i reckon nishi will come through. hope so!! unless he is injured again which would be the pits…
At least there’s the roof this year.
After Murrey on Ashe it’s Venus v Goerges
Evening session – Servena v King, then Delpo v Johnson
I’m going to need to leave the tennis in a few minutes. Was hoping to see whatsup with Kei but….
Very nice chatting up WTA stuff today! But the problems here beg to be addressed. Ricky’s spread pretty thin right now. Mediation is needed.
lovely to chat with you rc!! talk soon…
not sure what you meant above about the problems although i agree…
On my way… left a note on the bracket. I don’t know…
Just know that chatting tennis is way more fun than perpetual interblog trouble ?
nishi won. venus beat georges easily! phew…go venus…! go nishi!
Another whopper error!! Scratch this out delete, delelte “Carla Suarez-Navarro vs Shuai Zhang. If Zhang is on fire as she was at the AO, CSN is in danger.”
My mind was elswhere. Shuai Zhang plays Sam Stosur not CSN.
Sam Stosur will have her hands full with sensational Shuai Peng attempting to knock out a seed and repeat her AO performance. There. Got it straight. sorry.
Carla Suarez-Navarro has a tricky match with Jelena Jankovic. CSN the odds favorite but you never know about Jelena.
I heard about Nishi being in some tough battle with an unknown player. ESPN is showing Murray’s match with granollers.
What do you think of Murray, Nny? I picked him to win. Picked a Rafa v Murray final because I’m doubting Nole.
rc,
I don’t know how far Rafa will go. I posted some thoughts late last night after his match ended. Vamosrafa and I were analyzing his game after the Seppi match. It’s hard to judge, because Seppi doesn’t have the game to trouble Rafa.
We need to see how Novak looks in his next match. I don’t know if the four days off is a good or bad thing for him. He may need the rest if he is dealing with an injury, or he may get cold with too much time off. We should know more after seeing him in another match.
Murray is really looking good right now. Winning does that for a player. He is finding ways to win even when not playing his best, which is what the greats are known for.
Rafa has not played enough slam matches and this will be a challenge for him. I think he’s got a great draw and the opportunity is certainly there.
I don’t know that he can go up against Murray or Novak and beat them. But I think he has a good chance to get to the semis. I want to see how his body holds up if he has to go four or five sets in a match. I will be watching how he hits that forehand.
It’s hard to know how well Novak is playing! He’s got WO’s, retirements, ….
I’ve seen more of Rafa than Andy and I like what I see from Rafa. Andy we know is strong. In my 2 ATP brackets (which are sucking btw) I picked Andy to win US Open. One with a Andy v Rafa final and one witha an Andy v Djokovic final. I did some silly ATP picks,tho.
I don’t know what’s going on, amy. There’s no way to make it a private pool at this point. It can be set-up that way — where the admin approves entrants and blocks access, I think. I’ll look into it. Maybe email Ricky if this is blowing up into something …….very very sad, if it is so. Ruins the day to enjoy tennis, in fact.
ok don’t worry rc. we’ll just ignore her. but it isn’t much fun that she even trolls about our conversations on the bracket!!
you had mugu going out early as well as me didn’t you??
do you think petra might make a run?
Mugu was a disaster, a stressed, emotional, deer in the headlights, couldn’t move well, get her feet under her….sad to see her do that AGAIN. it was Bouchardesque.
Petra is almost out of steam. She is not in shape and is fatiguing easily – depending on opponent and hot / humid conditions. She also doesn’t like playing US Open. She thrives in small towns like New Haven, Connecticut, where she’s won several times. But even in New Haven she couldn’t produce the tennis there to defend her title.
pity – i love petra – the mono may have left her weak for some time to come. who do you reckon might be the next big seed/name to go out? what is your gut saying???
i picked venus to go deep, deeper than anyone else i think. was a bit surprised no-one fancied her as a pick as she’s had a good year
Well, I’m worried about Petra getting past Elina Svitolina (actually Svitolina is sort of a the wicked witch atm because she causes so many problems for my favorites, lol) I mean I like but I think she’s STILL GROWING – bigger and stronger.
Back to Petra, she made it to the QF in New Haven and ran into Aga Rad. Until then Petra actually looked stronger than I’ve seen her in a long time AND she did win a Bronze Olympic medal in Rio. I picked her over Svitolina getting to the 4th round. fingers crossed!! But I didn’t see her posing a problem V Angie Kerber, in the 4th round 🙂
The Svitolina over Petra win would be a nice gain in points, amy. We’ll see — then it will be hailed a smart pick — go get a lotto ticket.
i picked svitolina over petra rc. i reckon she has a good chance of winning. angie i take all the way to the final of course.
hahaha she does and I’ll temporarily hate her more for beating Petra. Svitolina is trolling me! 😀
The match is Friday — let’s watch Svito v Kvita!!
Meanwhile, while I wasn’t paying attention, Lucie Safarova has been giving Simona real trouble!
Lucie Safarova is a long-time favorite. But Go Simona!
go simona indeed rc!! is lucie finding some real form now, that’s good…gr8 game no??
Phew, for Simona. Lucie is the sweetest person. I still root for her to win.
Perhaps the only one who can stop Svitolina will be Kerber. I thought about that. But my heart is with Petra.
ANyone have a link to the tenngrand pool?
Which one?
ATP
Oh I think you want this one Hawks:
http://www.tourneytopia.com/RacquetBracketUsOpenATP/TheGrandstandIsBack/default.aspx
thx
Check out Aga and Broady battling at 5-5!
They are in a tight tb! 6-5 Broady
Broady missed and now it’s 6-6 in the tb.
8-7 Aga
Oh no Aga! Missed the wide open shot DTL!
This is crazy!
9-9
Great cc backhand from Aga!
Broady’s shot gird long and Aga wins the first set! Broad let some opportunities get away from her.
Go Aga!
Had to miss the match. Happy Aga made it.
Go Aga!
Aga wins!
Mr. Steve saw Simona.
Steve Tignor @SteveTignor 9m9 minutes ago
Simona Halep flexed her muscles, and her game, against Lucie Safarova. (photo @ata08)
https://twitter.com/SteveTignor/status/771705161907630080
#VamosHalep
#VamosCahill
😀 possible avatar, Hawks.
There an early morning meeting interfering with tennis and depending, will possibly miss all matches ….will be checking scores. Good luck to brackets!
Good call rc!
Nailbiter matches ????
Vinci over Witthoeft. Witthoeft is hot and must like US Open. The 21 yr. old, 102 ranked German beat Misaki Doi in easy straight sets and Yulia Putintseva in 3 sets her last matches. Carina is dangerous but I think Roberta comes thru ?
Konta over Bencic
This was an easy bracket pick because I doubted Belinda would get this far: BB’s form was unknown. Odds still favor Jo, but I’m nervous.
Kvitova over Svitolina or vice versa. Amy picked Svitolina — I considered it. And given Kvitova’s form, I think it’s going to be closer than the today’s odds and Elina definitely has a shot.
http://www.oddsportal.com/tennis/usa/wta-us-open/
The rest I’m not overly worried about:
Bondarenko over Sevastova
Wozniacki over Niculescu (h2h 6-0 Woz)
Cibby over Tsurenko
Keys over Osaka — maybe Naomi gets a set.
well the svitolina over petra pick went well!! still i am very happy for petra and hope that the real petra comes back to the game. but i fear she might do something super-annoying ie beat angie and then lose like a damp squib next round.
have fallen in the bracket because of that pick and expect to fall further. am only person taking venus over pliskova and only one with super-risky pick of konta in the semis. downright foolhardy that one!! but i really like jo…
I know that I did not have Woz going that far. I think that I picked Konta to win. I have to go back and check my bracket picks.
http://www.tourneytopia.com/RacquetBracketUsOpenWTA/jalep2/default.aspx
Bracket link. Big Al sneaking all the way up to the top!
Yes I also fear Petra vs my pick Angie. Either way I’m happy. Love them both but Petra looked better than expected in her third round. Maybe Elina was tired, too. Elina has played a lot lately.
Venus vs Pliskova – not a sure thing either way. If Karolina doesn’t get shy in the moment, she has the young legs and …will see. Pliskova will win a GS, I hope someday. Will be surprised if it’e this GS!
angie’s superb defence makes a big difference though. she can force petra into unforced errors and once petra starts making unforced errors she tends to overhit…
And Angie is looking super. But as we saw at the Olympics and Cincy, she can get tight. #betweentheears
Babos v Halep..
Timea Babos is super strong. This is not easy for Simona. Timea can be a slow starter and get stronger as the match goes on. Timea gets this 2nd set and the decider will be a battle. 😀
Also watching Thiem v Carreno-Busta …worried about Thiem. PCB has been on fire!
And keeping an eye on Vesnina v CSN.
Came home to find I bought heavy cream instead of half and half…and bought my favorite fresh ground …coffee is extra, extra good and fattening!
wow halep in trouble…come on simona…thiem is fighting back now…
did you pick vesnina or carla? i picked carla but a lot of people i think picked vesnina?
coffee needs cream unless you drink it black as i do….
i said to margot (or rather myself!) that i was worried that angie might choke before the final..
Simona in trouble…..yikes. Hai Simona. Don’t want Simona getting bludgeoned by Timea Babos!
Golly and Aga v Caroline Garcia match is starting like now.
Seems the schedule is fast today. There’s a hurricane off-shore I heard. Maybe that’s the rush.
simona in big trouble. can she get back into to the match?
aga really should beat garcia!!
I’m upset about it for sure! — look how strong Babos is!
Carla Suarez-Navarro bringing lots of confidence to the US Open. Wow. Vesnina isn’t easy to beat. It’s her birthday, she says…It’s also Thiem’s B-day. What sign are they 🙂 ??
virgo shirley?!
Frankly, you are right, yes.
Babos is a moose ….sorry….I’m not happy about this.
simona can still break back rc!! but babos has a lot more winners than simona for pretty much the same unforced errors. not looking gr8
simona breaks back. should win now…
Well… bashing it out from the baseline with Babos scares me. I’d bet Babos in a boxing match. Thankfully, she’s getting tighter than the free swinging 2nd. But you can see how dangerous she is. I always look for Babos in a draw ?
I must remember that WTA is still crazy unpredictable…it’s all a crapshoot and anything, absolutely anything can happen 😀 I’ll be sad for Simoana …oh bad day if Garcia beats Aga, ouchouchouch lol
well it would be a shocker if garcia beats aga…garcia often hits a lot of errors.
Garcia is capable of so much more than she’s producing in singles matches. She’s another shy one on a big stage, typically. Garcia and Mladenovic, both of them have more than they produce in singles match-play. I love Kiki Mlad.
Go Simona! back on serve, at least for now. Babos has no trouble with shyness. She’ aggressive.
aga is doing fine. thiem up a break in the fourth and about to win i would say…
go dom…bamos!!
Finesse drop shot Simona ?? Come on sweetie…! We need another break. It’s not safe yet…
At least all is well with Dominator and Aga, atm.
dom is fighting off break points so pcb is still fighting but he should get it done this set. aga is cruising.
Thanks, amy. for the update! I picked Dommie to the semi’s lol Go Theam Thiem.
I’ll have to go find Aga’s match on Youtube later today. She’s something special, Aga Rad.
This is Simona match is Killing me. Babos could break now, serve, and win it……….uck
have to try and get a bit of work done rc. see you later on…don’t supppose i will be working too much longer…
good luck simona, dom and aga….!
Okay, nice to watch with you 🙂
I’ll be here ’til the bitter end today.
Match Point, Simona…and she gets it. Babos double faulted on mp. Nerves…got to her. I’ve seen Babos choke before. But if she can get better on big points, she’ll be a force. For now she’s dangerous.
Yay Simona!!
That was something to see such a tough match end with a DF!
I am sure Halep will take it!
Delpo is sucking. I shoulda picked Ferrer like Alison Hodge did. Alison is very skeptical and conservative in her picks, most of the time. She went with a Ferrer v Stan QF in that section, while I went with Thiem v Kyrgios.
Nny, you are very sharp making ATP picks…miss you in the ATP bracket pool! I’m swimming near the bottom of the ATP pool. 😉
just had a look at the match stats. delps has 6 winners and 19 unforced errors! what’s wrong with him? am only looking at live scores. he really ought to beat ferrer who has been awful this season.
go delps. you have to win this match!
nick is perfectly capable of beating stan rc!!
rc,
I should have gone with the men’s bracket challenge! At least with the men I know what I am doing!
Delpo/Thiem should be a good one. I am liking Delpo’s chances right now. He’s playing well. I think that I initially predicted he would get to the quarterfinals.
But don’t give up on the WTA bracket! You learn fast, I’ve seen 😉
It’s taken me the past 3 years focusing on WTA to start sorting it out.
Radwanska Advanska’s! woot!
who is konjuh? don’t know anything about her..
Yes, Ana Konjuh, Croatian, born in 1997, very talented and touted to go far a couple years ago. She’s well into the top 100, I forget the number, but just lately I’m seeing her winning more. She’s been slower than Bencic, Ostapenko, or Kasatkina…other’s in her age/class. But she’s big and strong, perhaps struggled with fitness and injury last year. It takes more time to get it right for some. That’s a nice win for her over American, Lepchenko. That will help her financial state and ranking!
Er, she shouldn’t be too dangerous for Aga Rad but Ana Konjuh is a bit of a Babos.
ok thanx for the info! don’t think she has much of a chance of beating aga. but i’ve seen aga take some awful slam losses. any idea why sometimes she plays so poorly?
Sometimes she’s over-played – tough draw, too many 3 setters and doesn’t have it at the pointy end of a big tournament. Only the very top players can usually beat her though, that’s why she’s up at the top. Those players are typically Serena, Azarenka, and Sharapova. Cibulkova got her a couple times this year, too. She can beat Petra and Venus but not if they are on full power, I was just thinking Venus might be vulnerable by the time she got that far this draw, especially if Venus had to play young, hot Karolina Pliskova.
Konjuh v Radwanks — had to compare their seasons/ytd activity.
http://www.wtatennis.com/head2head/player1/21432/player2/11530
well i initially picked venus to beat her then straightaway switched my pick back to aga. mainly because i lost my nerve. i actually thought that if they met venus would win. unless she was totally out of gas…
I’m watching Pliskova right now and wow. She’s looking so confident. Perhaps Big Al of our bracket pool got it right! ya think? He picked Pliskova over Aga Rad.
Pliskova has never beaten Aga but I see it happening now. I thought Pliskova would maybe not equal her Cincy win form and have a drop in level.
Big Al’s impressive, Bold Bracket:
http://www.tourneytopia.com/RacquetBracketUsOpenWTA/jalep2/pool/entrypicks.aspx?entryid=582835
If Pavluchenkova gets into this match and it appears she is pressing Karolina on serve, she might soften Pliskova up for Venus — also depends on how Venus gets through vs Laura Siegemund — lots of if’s. This section gave me fits!!
Karolina having the yips serving out the match. Finally match point and she makes it through to the 4th round in a GS for the first time in her career. Congrats!
Well it’s Wimbledon 2nd round that makes me a little bit nervous bout the Aga-Konjuh match. The first set looked like Konjuh had nothing to threat the Pole, but then out of nothing Konjuh started playing lights out hyper-agressive tennis and had three match points. Radwanska saved them all and at 7-7 in the third Konjuh stepped onto the ball and got injured basically handing Aga the 9-7 win.
If Ana Konjuh plays like she did in the second and third set of that encounter, she definitely can make her second career meeting with Aga a very tight match.
Oh….I forgot about their Wimbledon match, manwerty. Aga dodged a bullet. But since you mention it, I’m more nervous. Well I’m guessing Aga and Ana won’t have forgotten that match. I thought Kiki Bertens would play well here and knock out Konjuh. By this point, Ana is confident and probably relishing another shot at Aga. ? Go Aga!
Right now I’m busy worrying about Kei Nishikori. Mahut, another 34 yr. old having a banner season. And Karlovic, even more impressive. Add Paolo Lorenzi to the list getting his first ATP title at 34.