'23 Wimbledon Day 7 OoP & Discussion

[ponchi101]

And with 2 match points in hand, Belinda goes on to lose 11 of the next 13 points, and the set, on a DF. What a mess.

[Suliso]

I wish she could have taken this golden opportunity...

Meanwhile Svitolina a break up in the decider over Azarenka.

[ponchi101]

Azarenka/Svitolina ended up being a great match.

[Suliso]

Svitolina takes it 11/9!

[mick1303]

Warm congratulations to Elina! Kharkov is rooting for its daughter.

[skatingfan]

Hurkacz just choked that set away - 6-3 lead, and he dumped four shots in the net, and one long to lose 5 points in a row.

[ti-amie]

Suliso had it right when he said Svitolina could beat Azarenka despite the 5-0 H2H in favor of Vika. Someone on #wimbledon #tennis Mastodon made the point that unlike other new mother's who return to play Svitolina seems to have come back a better player. If you can catch a replay I don't remember the old Elina staying that focused and aggressive, not to mention smart, during an entire match. She used to do what Bencic did today play a tough two sets (or one) and go on walkabout in the second or third set depending on the circumstances. I wouldn't pick her to win it all but she's playing the way a lot of us thought she was capable of back in the day.

As for Iga vs Belinda, Bencic needed to win it in two. Once it went to three I switched to the Azarenka/Svitolina match.

It's rare for the WTA to have two riveting matches playing at the same time. I thought it was a good afternoon/evening of tennis.

[ponchi101]

I also feel Elina is hitting harder than before.

[ti-amie]

The comment was kind of tacky and unnecessary no?

[ti-amie]

The shade

[ti-amie]

Ed Salmon
@fogmount
With Djokovic leading Hurkacz, 7-6 7-6, play is suspended for the night due to the #Wimbledon curfew.

[skatingfan]

I think Boulter/De Minaur is the tennis pairing we need right now.

[skatingfan]

This match could easily be 2-0 for Hurkacz. I think the 3rd set tomorrow will be quick.

[ponchi101]

Good for Vika. This is no longer, in any way, a controversy or a story. The Ukrainians will not shake hands with the Russians/Belarusians, and let's move on.

[jazzyg]

Svitolina used to hit hard but she stopped doing it for a long time. I remember watching her win Toronto in 2017 when she obliterated Halep 6-1, 6-1 in the semis and Wozniacki 6-4, 6-0 in the final after routing Venus 6-2, 6-1 in an earlier round and thinking there was no way Halep could ever beat her on a hard court. I then declared the fourth-round match at the US Open between Svitolina and Keys the de facto final and thought I was right after Keys won in three sets all the way up until Stephens eviscerated her in the final.

But I've never seen Svitolina play with as much aggression since that Toronto tournament. I understand she was not beating power players in Halep and Wozniacki, but she was the aggressor on every point in those matches and was so defensive in almost every match I saw her play in the following years, never looking like a slam contender even when she reached a couple of semis. I did not see any of the WTA year-end event she won, so I don't know how she played there.

Today was a travel day for me so I missed all of the Swiatek-Bencic match (sorry Bencic lost because this was a huge opportunity for her to fulfill her potential but she came up short again) and the Svitolina-Azarenka match (very happy Svitolina won). Seems like they might have been the most dramatic of the tournament. Got to my destination just in time to see Djokovic win the second-set tiebreak against Hurkacz in apparently almost an exact replica of his first-set tiebreak win.