ATP M1000 WTA 1000 Madrid 4/25 - 5/7 2023

[ponchi101]

I think Iga played her "bad match of the clay season" against Alexandrova, and now she can simply run the table until RG.
They did not show this match because they had to show 4 reruns of football matches played yesterday in Europe (I kid you now) so I can't tell about quality of play. I will go by your assessments.

[ti-amie]

Coric is through 3 & 3 and will play someone name Carlos Alcaraz next.

[ponchi101]

Still, a good showing. SF's at a MS1000 is a good step for Borna. At 26 maybe it is a bit too late for him, but one good push may bring in a couple of good results.

[Owendonovan]

Coric is through 3 & 3 and will play someone name Carlos Alcaraz next.

I don't think they've played each other yet, could be interesting......

[ti-amie]

Coric is through 3 & 3 and will play someone name Carlos Alcaraz next.

I don't think they've played each other yet, could be interesting......

If Coric is playing injury free you're absolutely correct. Unless Carlitos does what Iga did to Petra Martic and just overwhelm him.

[JazzNU]

Still, a good showing. SF's at a MS1000 is a good step for Borna. At 26 maybe it is a bit too late for him, but one good push may bring in a couple of good results.

Assuming "a bit too late" refers to a Grand Slam, I'd say not necessarily too late. It doesn't happen much in the age of the dominant Big 4 (in this respect Andy deserves mention, his consistency is impressive and he has gotten to a high number of SFs and later at majors and it gets ignored because of the era), but there used to a winner that would slip in now and then that was less expected. Feel like Cincy showed it's not out of the question it can be him. He got thru a very difficult draw to hoist the trophy, so I wouldn't rule him out right now.

Highly unlikely for sure, but in a Thomas Johansson won a Grand Slam kind of way, I wouldn't rule it out. If the Cincy form were to become more consistent for Borna, which seems very dependent on his remaining healthy, I would remove most of the qualifiers and just say, he's got a shot, especially with his record against some of the would be top contenders like Tsitsipas, Zverev, Medvedev, Thiem, and Auger-Aliassime (I'm assuming Sascha and Dominic return to previous form). I don't believe he's played any of the younger contenders often enough to know how he might fare regularly against them.

[ti-amie]

I'm so glad there are some Borna Coric stans on this site. If not for injuries...

[ponchi101]

Always liked him. But, hard to be a fan when you are away from the tour so often.
As JazzNu points out, if Johansson took an Aussie, we may be due for another surprise slam winner. If it is him, no qualms here.

[skatingfan]

Always liked him. But, hard to be a fan when you are away from the tour so often.
As JazzNu points out, if Johansson took an Aussie, we may be due for another surprise slam winner. If it is him, no qualms here.

I guess we'll see. I was sure we'd see a period of open majors when the big 4 were finished, or mostly finished but now it looks like we could just transition to the Carlos Alcarez era - at least on hard, and clay - maybe Wimbledon will be the wildly unpredictable slam for a while.

[JazzNU]

[ashkor87]

I think Iga played her "bad match of the clay season" against Alexandrova, and now she can simply run the table until RG.
They did not show this match because they had to show 4 reruns of football matches played yesterday in Europe (I kid you now) so I can't tell about quality of play. I will go by your assessments.

Why not give Alexandrova some credit?!
Kudermetova will play a similar game, may take set, though her movement is not as good ..depth and pace, power, does trouble Swiatek in fastish conditions...though I dont expect much here.

[ponchi101]

...

Why not give Alexandrova some credit?!
Kudermetova will play a similar game, may take set, though her movement is not as good ..depth and pace, power, does trouble Swiatek in fastish conditions...though I dont expect much here.

Because Alexandrova played an even worse match. If there was one day in which Alexandrova could and should have beaten Iga was that match. It was a very poorly played match from both players. UE's galore.

[jazzyg]

Karatsev beat Zhang comfortably to reach the semis.

Zhang did not play well, and Karatsev still has issues returning serve, but he hits the cleanest ball of anyone on tour in my opinion. I like his chances against Tsitsipas if they play in the semifinals, although Tsitipas should win if he has a good serving day. I love his chances against Struff seeing as how he already beat him 4 and 2 in this tournament. I always notice when a qualifier faces a lucky loser he beat later in the tournament, but I cannot imagine it has ever happened as a semifinal, and it definitely has not happened this deep in a 1000 event before.

[JazzNU]

[skatingfan]

Karatsev is playing one of his few patches of winning consecutive matches this week, and he will probably go back to losing first round for several months next week. His tournament record is really interesting because he wins titles, and then loses a half dozen first round matches.