As expected, Iga Swiatek got the job done to the tune of a third French Open title. It was a cakewalk for her most of the way before she was seriously tested in the final this past Saturday by Karolina Muchova.
Now the WTA Tour turns to the grass-court swing, and there are a couple of titles up for grabs this week with top players like Swiatek, Aryna Sabalenka, and Elena Rybakina taking a short break. The action is taking place in Nottingham and ‘s-Hertogenbosch, and among those getting right back in gear following their exploits at Roland Garros Garros are Veronika Kudermetova, Victoria Azarenka, and Maria Sakkari.
Here is a look at some of the contenders in Nottingham.
Donna Vekic
This grass-court swing is often the time of year when Vekic makes her move. The Croat has secured one of her four WTA titles on grass, and it came at this same Nottingham event in 2017. She also reached the last 16 at Wimbledon in 2018. It’s no surprise that Vekic’s big-serving, power-hitting game works well on the green stuff. She has a favorable draw this week, too, and that was even before Beatriz Haddad Maia bowed out.
Camila Giorgi
Giorgi is an absolute boom-or-bust kind of player. The Italian can lose to anyone at any time, but she can just as easily–or almost as easily–capture a title when she gets hot. Giorgi has impressed on the lawn throughout her career, earning 54 match victories on this surface. She is in the same section of the draw as Sakkari, but Sakkari isn’t in excellent form at the moment and has never been great on grass.
Magda Linette
Linette has found her footing on the slick stuff in recent seasons, compiling a 15-10 such record dating back to 2019. The Pole won an ITF grass-court tournament that year and then advanced to the third round at the All-England Club a few weeks later. Linette would not run into either Sakkari or Giorgi until the semis this week and would not face Vekic until the title match.
who ya got?
The Nottingham bracket looked like a good place to find some grass lovers with Beatriz Haddad Maia and Vekic, but they are already out. Sakkari, Giorgi, Linette, and Magdalena Frech are still in. The Swiss, Golubic is the one that knocked out Vekic. It’s a bit early in these tournaments to know much.
In s-Hertogenbosch, Samsonova, Alexandrova, and Kudermetova, and possibly Andrescu could all do well.
In Nottingham, Brits, Boulter, Dart, Watson, and Burrage, might be the ones to watch. They all beat my picks!
The schedule for next week’s grass tournaments gets better!
I see Maria Sakkari is out to Alize Cornet. And that is the end of my Nottingham bracket!
S-Hertogenbosch WTA bracket picks for our group are looking good. (except if you picked Azarenka to win)
V.Kudermetova, B.Andreescu, L. Samsonova, and E. Alexandrova are still in, and the group has some combination of those four.
19 yr old American Ashlyn Krueger knocked out Vika Azarenka in straight sets. I passed over her when picking, but she is over six feet tall and has a great serve, forehand, backhand, and slices. She knows how to use her weapons. The QFs are not yet complete, but Ashlyn is in, and she awaits the winner of Bianca Andreescu and Viktoria Hruncakova.
Next week the bracket draw challenge promises to be more exciting, with most big stars going to Berlin and other grass favorites going to Birmingham! 😀
Finals at Hertogenbosch and Nottingham Sunday, June 18:
Hertogenbosch
V.Kudermetova vs. E.Alexandrova
Nottingham
K.Boulter vs. J.Burrage
Well done us for picking Alexandrova d Kudermetova. Apart from that rough week .
Yes, that divinization did turn out well for us! It was a tough week, but we pushed on. 😀
Oh no, lightning strikes my Birmingham WTA bracket already!
Elina Svitolina Monfils FTW was my winner pick, and she is knocked out!😬
That’s bad luck.
Well…..you did tease me about Azarenka pick! I should’ve “Backed the Brits” but so often, with the exception of Andy, they never fail to disappoint.
And the Brits were all there. I’m happy I got to know them better. I went deep with Katie Boulter this week. We shall see about them.
Come on Dasha and Jelena!!!
Yes. Are you watching a match, amy? I see the score, go Ostapenko!
Tennis Channel rarely shows a WTA match.
Okay, I see Dasha’s score.
Dasha is playing in Berlin. Dasha needs some work the magic right now.
Was watching Jelena and Dasha but switched to watch Carlos who is losing….
It would help if Charlie did lose, just this once. It’s the match TC is showing. It’s 5-5 second set. Rinderknech was lucky to get that first set.
Y would it help if he loses???
Carlos said the tournament he most wants to win is wimby.
No-one can play on grass any more it’s a gimme slam for Novak…
I forgot Andy. Maybe this year he can make some noise…
I should not have said that about Charlie. I like him; he’s great for tennis! I wasn’t thinking about Wimbledon, but I was thinking about Andy Murray in London. But I see Margot has Andy winning London, as I do. But I worked it so that he didn’t run into Alcaraz. Margot has him going through Alcaraz!
It’s possible he could beat Alcaraz. He has so much expertise on grass.
I have been picking to win rounds and taking it an extra round for some time. He’s been getting into challengers with tough draws and winning. I’m on Andy’s watch, maybe not as much as Margot, though.
Lord, he’s playing De Minaur now.
Demon seems to like playing him. H2H has to give him confidence..
Difference so far is Demon’s fh..
Andy in trouble. Fh very unreliable..
Ostapenko made it!
It’s a pity I can’t watch Dasha’s match. Dasha held serve there, and it was a crucial point. She is playing Avaneyan, who I don’t know very well. I remember she was tall and had a solid serve.
I am sticking with Carlos right now! Can’t keep watching several matches simultaneously..
It’s do or die for Dasha – third set.
Damn, that was a tough first-round opponent for Dasha. Avanesyan should have been matched with Sabs. But they had Sabs playing Zvonareva.
Back to Charlie.
Ons lost to Niemeier. Disappointing…
Yes, I mentioned Ons on another thread. My Berlin bracket is doing fine. My Birmingham bracket is beyond repair.
I am contemplating writing something about the behavior of the Russian Soldiers on the non-tennis forum. But Putin-loving Wog Boy is posting reading and posting here. I may post a link, regardless; I can’t stop crying. It’s just…evil.
Elena loses to Vekic. Vekic is good on grass but Elena made a huge number of ues. Not a good start to grass for her..
At least she has no points to defend at wimby…nor does Ons..
The players I want to win wimby are Petra, Karolina, Barbora, Ons and Elena.
I supported Iga at RG but want one of the above to win wimby.
I’d love Ons to win Wimbledon, how fabulous that would be. Failing her, Barbora.
Wimbledon is likely to be dry and fast though, favouring big hitters.
Should favour Elena and Petra then. Definitely agree about Ons and Barbora…
Petra into the qfs…😀
I love Petra, who could not, but her last Wimbledon was I think, 2014, 9 years ago, a big ask.
Have you been watching the series on BBC2 about players who changed the course of Wimbledon/tennis history. Its been a fascinating watch.I’ve got even more respect for Billie-Jean now. She was/is magnificent.
No I haven’t seen it Margot! Thanks for letting me know. I will have a look for it on iPlayer.
As for Petra, big problem has been her asthma…As well as the after-effect of her awful injuries of course..
So Saba lost! I missed that. Seem to have watched the wrong matches.
I also missed out on the Cart Horse losing…pity, as I needed cheering up..
I was watching Barbora who just got broken. Thankfully she has broken back…
Great to see Marta and Barbora are playing doubles together…2 of my favourite people…
Cart Horse–Fritz?
I suppose his game isn’t the nicest to watch
Barbora played very well today.
For the first time in months she looks like a real contender..
Barbora in the final!
Come on Jelena!
Meanwhile, Elizabeth things are really imploding in utterly hilarious fashion for Putrid. Prigozhin the head of Wagner has launched a coup in Rostov and seized military sites!😂😂
Last night he launched a massive verbal attack saying the Russian army was being slaughtered needlessly because of Putrid lies and that Zelensky was,never any threat to Russia!😂😂
Said Shoigu the defence minister is a moron and this war was unnecessary😂😂
Utterly hilarious stuff.
Local residents of Rostov are giving Wagner drinks and snacks!😂
So this is a marvellous hilarious civil war!
OMG!they are moving towards Moscow!!😂😂😂
What a fabulous day!
Apparently many regions of Ukraine have run out of popcorn!😂😂
Trenches are being dug around Moscow and some of the elites have flown to Turkey..😂😂
Putrid and Medvedev have scarpered to St Petersburg…😂
Extraordinary days, Amy. Aren’t Wagner a bunch of criminals?
Putin and Prigozin deserve each other, but the poor Russian people deserve neither.
Yes Wagner are revolting criminals. This is good news for Africa Margot. Wagner were responsible for many atrocities now their influence there will diminish. Kadyrov another revolting criminal has left Ukraine with his Chechen forces to fight Wagner in Rostov.
It’s dog eat dog now in Russia.
A lot of Russian people were happy about the war Margot. I don’t have any sympathy with those who cheered on the genocide. It’s not just Putin’s war. He was not the one torturing and raping and murdering in Chechnya, Georgia and Ukraine. Never mind the atrocities of Syria.
For those who are innocent and hate Putin and Prigozhin and Kadyrov this is their chance to rise up. For them I have e every sympathy
Russian imperialist attitudes are a big problem inside Russia. One of the reasons Putrid undertakes these wars is because they make him more popular.
That’s how he rose to power. By going to war with Chechnya on drummed up pretexts and talking in extremely vulgar and violent ways about kicking the s77t out of the Chechen people. Made him very popular.
Barbora to play Jelena!😀
Petra beats Garcia!😀
As for tennis, I am excited for the Finals!
Berlin:
Kvitova vs. Vekic
Birmingham:
Krejcikova vs. Ostapenko
Brackets: I have made my picks for Bad Homberg, but Eastbourne will be dicey. The draw includes Petra and all the Berlin and Birmingham players that
went deep. Really? Petra played twice today, as did the other finalists from Berlin. Petra looked tired in her second match. I didn’t get to watch any matches from Birmingham, but I would guess Krejcikova and Ostapenko might pull out of Eastbourne. I am burnt out tonight with picking draws.
I do my brackets in two ticks, always meaning to go back and check/change, but I never do. Do hope Ons is OK, have her going quite deep.
That is what I did this time – did it in 2 ticks, with no time to go back, not much attempting to guess who would pull out—4 am, awake and done.
I’m always confused this early in the morning with no coffee.
Oh, 🤦 now I realize there is a day to finish Eastbourne brackets. I love the venue at Eastbourne.
My Gosh, Andrey beat RBC 😀 Medday couldn’t do it.
Where did Casper Ruud go? Ghosted.
Marta and Barbora into the doubles final. Lovely to see Marta laughing and looking happy…
Petra! Great to see her in the final.. 😀
Thanks for all the updates, amy! I heard on Democracy Now; it’s an independent daily newscast with regular donors like me. Amy Goodman is the lead newscaster, and I trust their reporting. Yesterday my head was spinning with the news about that Wagner guy and the report about a possible coup. Sometimes I don’t know who Or what to believe. But you, the way you tell it, makes sense. It’s exciting to think that Putrid may lose his chokehold on Russia. And we can get about the rebuilding of Ukraine!
Whatever happens Putin’s position is weaker and if Wagner believes there wont be reprisals, well..ho, ho, ho.
That is what I did this time – did it in 2 ticks, with no time to go back, not much attempting to guess who would pull out—4 am, awake and done.
I’m always confused this early in the morning with no coffee.
Oh, 🤦 now I realize there is a day to finish Eastbourne brackets. I love the venue at Eastbourne.
My Gosh, Andrey beat RBC 😀 Medday couldn’t do it.
Where did Casper Ruud go? Ghosted.
Meddy game doesn’t match up to RBAs .When I watched it commies said Rublev takes time away by standing on baseline.
Last minute panic to get brackets in.These Sunday starts are a pain.All will be different next week anyway
I typed nearly an entire page about it, but you must go to page two.
A little odd that it went there 😀
Very annoying the finals are on at the same time! Am watching Barbora and Jelena..
I only have one choice right now, amy! It’s De Minaur vs. Charlie. or before they started, it was Bublik vs. Rublev.
It’s so frustrating. I only have livescore for Barbora and Jelena. And no doubt nothing for Kvitty and Vekic. I have to wait and look for a decent replay for WTA matches unless there is an American in the mix.
Barbora and Jelena are both playing fabulously..
Higher quality than the men’s final…
Thanks, amy. I appreciate any descriptions you throw my way.
Following the first set TB
Jelena takes the set. Was slightly better in the tb.
Very high quality match.
Ostapenko must like the conditions and be in the mood to play Krejcikova. She’s been known to just quit trying if something is off. Princess O 😀
Looks like the match is nearly over..
Jelena has taken control.
Jelena better not rest on her laurels. Krejcikova will be fighting. Ostpenko can blow a lead.
Ostapenko made it, but she gave Krejcikova room to make it close. And Barbora is so generous at the net. Nice moment.
Congrats to both Jelena and Barbora for a tremendous final!!
Krejcikova is such a lovely person and such watchable tennis. I hope she or Ons wins Wimbledon.
Congrats to Bublik! He beat Rublev. Sorry Andrey.
I am missing out on a great match: Petra vs. Donna.
That second set tb was close! Thank God the ATP matches were over, and I watched this Final. Petra is such a great Champion, and she didn’t give in to Donna in the end. Donna’s sad puppy face is tempting, but Petra recognized the situation and showed why she is a grass court Champion.
Congrats to Petra Kvitova!!
Better luck next time, Donna (you will get there)