'23 RG Day 11 OoP & Discussion

[ponchi101]

She does not give up, and she plays good defense. And, she is doing well in this tournament, but it is not as if she has suddenly become a juggernaut. She did little during the clay court swing. QF's at Rome (Kalinina) and QF's at Stuttgart, where she won her 1st two matches when her opponents retired. This result is not the second coming of Seles.

[ashkor87]

That was a strange, nervy first set...maybe the wind..? Swiatek will probably hand out her customary bagel in the second set but ..she didn't play all that well in the first..netted several easy put,-aways

[ashkor87]

Coco not keen on bagels! Playing aggressively...vey right thing to do!

[ashkor87]

Knocked Iga to the ground with a (perfectly legitimate) body shot at the net.. !

[Suliso]

Convincing enough by Swiatek, I would say. Pretty good tournament for Gauff too. Played to her ranking and will lose only one spot Monday.

[ponchi101]

Two RG's in which she lost to Iga. Nothing bad about that.
However. 14 straight sets lost to Iga. She is not alone in that department, but it is something that has to be worked on.

[Suliso]

As ashkor might say Gauff is currently solid tier 2. Not yet able to threaten tier 1 players.

[ashkor87]

Two RG's in which she lost to Iga. Nothing bad about that.
However. 14 straight sets lost to Iga. She is not alone in that department, but it is something that has to be worked on.

I am wary of saying anything about Coco on this forum but .
Last year she was extremely lucky with her draw..I mean Trevisan in the semis?! This year, not quite so lucky but until this round, she did not have to bear even a Tier 2 player to get here..
That said, her performance today was impressive..she held up quite well, not blown away ..much better than last year.

[jazzyg]

Gauff's record against top 20 players since the start of last year is 6-18, and that does not count a pair of straight-set losses to Halep in 2022 when Halep was just outside the top 20.

She made progress this tournament, stopping an 0-for-the-year streak when losing the first set by taking two in a row, but off of clay that balky forehand is going to kill her unless she does something about it. It hurts her on clay, too, but not as much because she has more time.

[ponchi101]

I am still stuck in what to with her. If indeed it is the FH (and I think she hit one winner today from that wing), how come with such an experienced coaching team nobody notices and/or does anything to correct it?
BTW. My peeve: she missed a few volleys that, had she hit a normal one, were sitters.
But there is a reason why I am sitting at home and her coaches are with her in Paris.

[jazzyg]

That level from Etcheverry I would have thought would beat Zverev in four sets, but it was the reverse. Zverev has raised his game considerably and played a vintage match, including his usual bad patches when he bunched his errors to get broken. Etcheverry played at a high level from start to finish, but the difference in first serve determined the outcome.

Etcheverry likely will struggle on faster services, but I expect him to be a serious factor on clay for years to come. He has everything but the serve.

[Suliso]

I guess Zverev is just a class higher player overall.

[ti-amie]

Ruud romping through the first set so far. Rune was lucky to win one game...and Ruud takes the first set 6-1.

[ti-amie]

Ruud quickly up 3-1 in the second set...

[ponchi101]

I guess Zverev is just a class higher player overall.

Indeed. And people are at times too quick to write somebody off. Zverev has a huge 1st serve, the groundstrokes are excellent, because his BH is so good he never runs around it so his court positioning is always more balanced, and he is adept at the net.
I say he is now favored to reach the final. There, I don't think he would be able to deal with Djokovic, but last year he romped over Carlitos.