WTA 1000 Guadalajara 9/17 - 9/23 2023

[ashkor87]

Guadalajara is presumably like te hardcourt version of Madrid.. court not especially fast but ball flying because of altitude..? must be hard on the lungs too..

[ashkor87]

Altitude at Guadalajara is around 6000 feet, versus 2000 at Madrid.. according to wiki.

[meganfernandez]

Maybe time to talk about the Big 4. Coco has done enough to be included.. though I would want to see one more big result.. 1000 or YEC....

There’s no Big Anything in the WTA.

Coco had a blazing summer and it was legit. We saw her level - it is impressive. I expect she will maintain a higher average level than she did before, but might not win another Slam for awhile. Only because I expect Iga and Sabalenka to continue to dominate. Rybakina is too inconsistent. She might pop in and out of finals and is always a threat but she isn’t consistent.

[ponchi101]

Only part I disagree with Megan is that Iga and Sabalenka will NOT continue to dominate, because nobody is dominating anything in the WTA. We had 4 Slam winners this year, three of them first timers, and seven different finalists, 4 of them first timers.
We have had 10 new winners in the last 15 slams.
If you don' like parity, the WTA is not for you. And in January, with Osaka coming back just expect one more option in the mix. She will be competitive, but I doubt it will be an automatic domination from her.
As Megan says: there is no Big Anything in the WTA. Just a lot of evenly matches players.

[ti-amie]

Only part I disagree with Megan is that Iga and Sabalenka will NOT continue to dominate, because nobody is dominating anything in the WTA. We had 4 Slam winners this year, three of them first timers, and seven different finalists, 4 of them first timers.
We have had 10 new winners in the last 15 slams.
If you don' like parity, the WTA is not for you. And in January, with Osaka coming back just expect one more option in the mix. She will be competitive, but I doubt it will be an automatic domination from her.
As Megan says: there is no Big Anything in the WTA. Just a lot of evenly matches players.

The bolded part is spot on.

And Megan is right. There is no big anything in the WTA.

[JTContinental]

Sascha Vickery takes BHM's place in the draw after she suffered a freak injury in her hotel room, horrifyingly detailed in the Injury and Illness thread

[meganfernandez]

Only part I disagree with Megan is that Iga and Sabalenka will NOT continue to dominate, because nobody is dominating anything in the WTA. We had 4 Slam winners this year, three of them first timers, and seven different finalists, 4 of them first timers.
We have had 10 new winners in the last 15 slams.
If you don' like parity, the WTA is not for you. And in January, with Osaka coming back just expect one more option in the mix. She will be competitive, but I doubt it will be an automatic domination from her.
As Megan says: there is no Big Anything in the WTA. Just a lot of evenly matches players.

The bolded part is spot on.

And Megan is right. There is no big anything in the WTA.

Big Something requires a few years of dominance, I think. Iga can still get there, Sabalenka is getting there. But we shouldn't turn to that phrase lightly. The ATP has a Big 2 right now, I guess.

I expect Iga to start dominating again, if not as much because Sabalenka and Gauff have improved, but still winning most of those matchups and continually going deep in tournaments.

I don't know what to expect of Osaka. Not much until maybe the US Open. So many unknowns. Or she could make a deep run at the Aussie and IW with renewed interest.

Back to Guadalajara? Dolehide took out Peyston Stearns in a 3-TB match.

[ponchi101]

Two time champ at Melbourne, on courts that fit her game fantastically. I think Naomi will come back and be a force to reckon with immediately, ON HARD COURTS. Not saying she will win the Aussie (although I will not rule it out) but if she is a floater and is non-seeded, a lot of people better beware.

[ti-amie]

Day 5 Order of Play

Estadio Akron de Tenis Starts at 12:00 PM

BLR A. SASNOVICH vs FRA C. GARCIA (3)
FOLLOWED BY
UKR D. YASTREMSKA vs BLR V. AZARENKA (10)
NOT BEFORE 3:00 PM
TUN O. JABEUR (1) vs USA A. PARKS
NOT BEFORE 6:00 PM
AUS S. HUNTER vs GRE M. SAKKARI (2)
FOLLOWED BY
USA M. KEYS (4) vs USA E. NAVARRO

Grandstand Caliente Starts at 12:00 PM

USA S. STEPHENS vs COL E. ARANGO
FOLLOWED BY
POL M. FRECH vs RUS E. ALEXANDROVA (8)
FOLLOWED BY
CAN L. FERNANDEZ vs BEL E. MERTENS (13)
NOT BEFORE 4:30 PM
UKR M. KOSTYUK vs LAT J. OSTAPENKO (6)
FOLLOWED BY
TUN O. JABEUR/USA P. STEARNS vs CAN L. FERNANDEZ/USA T. TOWNSEND (2)

Court 1 Starts at 12:00 PM

ITA C. GIORGI vs ESP C. BUCSA
NOT BEFORE 2:00 PM
UKR A. KALININA (12) vs USA S. KENIN
FOLLOWED BY
TBD vs USA C. DOLEHIDE
FOLLOWED BY
TBD vs CAN G. DABROWSKI/NZL E. ROUTLIFFE (3)
FOLLOWED BY
USA A. KULIKOV/BRA I. GAMARRA MARTINS vs USA D. COLLINS/NED D. SCHUURS

Court 2 Starts at 02:00 PM

CHI A. GUARACHI/ROU M. NICULESCU vs RUS V. KUDERMETOVA/RUS A. POTAPOVA
FOLLOWED BY
CAN E. BOUCHARD/MEX M. NAVARRO OLIVA vs SVK T. MIHALIKOVA/CHN Y. XU
FOLLOWED BY
USA A. PARKS/BEL Y. WICKMAYER vs TBD

[ashkor87]

Meanwhile, the tournament has been hit with a spate of withdrawals - latest being Bencic (gastro trouble i gather - that will teach her to eat enchiladas on an empty stomach)

[JTContinental]

10 Americans made the second round

[meganfernandez]

10 Americans made the second round

And only 2 of them were byes! Unseeded American Elvina Kalieva, ranked #182, got a first-round bye - I assume she is a lucky loser for Haddad Mia. The luckiest... $17.000 and 60 points for losing the right match. Domi Schuurs beat her in the last round of qualifying, drew Trevisan, and lost 0 and 2. Kalieva's match vs Townsend was suspended last night with TT up a set and it's 5-5 in the second. If Kalieva comes back and wins, she will go from $7,600 and 30 points in qualifying to $31,000 and 105 points for R3.

[skatingfan]

And only 2 of them were byes! Unseeded American Elvina Kalieva, ranked #182, got a first-round bye - I assume she is a lucky loser for Haddad Mia. The luckiest... $17.000 and 60 points for losing the right match. Domi Schuurs beat her in the last round of qualifying, drew Trevisan, and lost 0 and 2. Kalieva's match vs Townsend was suspended last night with TT up a set and it's 5-5 in the second. If Kalieva comes back and wins, she will go from $7,600 and 30 points in qualifying to $31,000 and 105 points for R3.

I think you've got ATP points confused with the WTA. For losing in final round of qualifying Kalieva got 20 points, and if she loses in the opening match she'll get an additional 10 points, and if she wins she gets an additional 120 points.

[meganfernandez]

And only 2 of them were byes! Unseeded American Elvina Kalieva, ranked #182, got a first-round bye - I assume she is a lucky loser for Haddad Mia. The luckiest... $17.000 and 60 points for losing the right match. Domi Schuurs beat her in the last round of qualifying, drew Trevisan, and lost 0 and 2. Kalieva's match vs Townsend was suspended last night with TT up a set and it's 5-5 in the second. If Kalieva comes back and wins, she will go from $7,600 and 30 points in qualifying to $31,000 and 105 points for R3.

I think you've got ATP points confused with the WTA. For losing in final round of qualifying Kalieva got 20 points, and if she loses in the opening match she'll get an additional 10 points, and if she wins she gets an additional 120 points.

You're right about 20 points for losing in the final round of qualifying. But for the main draw, R1 losers get 1 additional point and R2 losers get 60. That's per the Guadalajara draw sheet. She got a bye into R2 because she took BHM's spot in the draw, and she had a bye. So does a ll who gets a bye automatically get R2 prize money and points, or do they get R1 (assuming they lose their R2 match)?

[skatingfan]

You're right about 20 points for losing in the final round of qualifying. But for the main draw, R1 losers get 1 additional point and R2 losers get 60. That's per the Guadalajara draw sheet. She got a bye into R2 because she took BHM's spot in the draw, and she had a bye. So does a ll who gets a bye automatically get R2 prize money and points, or do they get R1 (assuming they lose their R2 match)?

Sorry, I was getting mandatory 1000, and non-mandatory 1000 events confused. The WTA really tries to make these things difficult.