'23 WTA 500 Tokyo 9/25 - 10/1 2023

[ponchi101]

Players with extreme topspin have been successful on hard courts. Rafa has won enough there to be able to say he is good on hards. Wilander also has one Aussie and one US to back that claim. Sure, I would rather have Pete's FH on hard courts than Rafa's, but it is not such a limiting factor.
In the WTA, Sabatini's sole slam came on hards, and Conchita made one Aussie final. Two players with extreme spin on their main weapon (their BH's). I think Iga's FH does well on hards, and her BH is not a liability (last time I saw her, which was not recently, I admit).

[ti-amie]

Day 6 Order of Play

Center Court Starts at 11:00 AM

CZE L. NOSKOVA vs RUS A. PAVLYUCHENKOVA
FOLLOWED BY
RUS D. KASATKINA (6) vs GRE D. PAPAMICHAIL
FOLLOWED BY
FRA C. GARCIA (5) vs UKR A. KALININA
NOT BEFORE 5:00 PM
JPN M. DOI vs GRE M. SAKKARI (4)
FOLLOWED BY
Quarter finals
NOR U. EIKERI/EST I. NEEL vs JPN S. AOYAMA/JPN E. SHIBAHARA (2)

Show Court Starts at 12:30 PM

Quarter finals
RUS E. ALEXANDROVA/RUS A. KALINSKAYA vs USA N. MELICHAR-MARTINEZ/AUS E. PEREZ (4)
Quarter finals
RUS V. KUDERMETOVA/RUS A. PAVLYUCHENKOVA vs JPN M. KATO/UKR N. KICHENOK
Quarter finals
JPN E. HOZUMI/JPN M. NINOMIYA vs MEX F. CONTRERAS/GRE D. PAPAMICHAIL

[Owendonovan]

#23 Post by ponchi101 » Mon Sep 25, 2023 9:52 am
ashkor87 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 25, 2023 5:25 am
Rybakina has pulled out now..well done, WTA!
She says it is because of illness. I gather the WTA really has no say there.
There is something wrong with her, and maybe something that is lingering. Injury or illness, she is not at top level.

#37 Post by ashkor87 » Tue Sep 26, 2023 11:10 am
Her coach seems even more immature than she is...

There's a link.

(my computer abilities are top notch as you can see here by my amazing cut and paste job)

[ponchi101]

#23 Post by ponchi101 » Mon Sep 25, 2023 9:52 am
ashkor87 wrote: ↑Mon Sep 25, 2023 5:25 am
Rybakina has pulled out now..well done, WTA!
She says it is because of illness. I gather the WTA really has no say there.
There is something wrong with her, and maybe something that is lingering. Injury or illness, she is not at top level.

#37 Post by ashkor87 » Tue Sep 26, 2023 11:10 am
Her coach seems even more immature than she is...

There's a link.

(my computer abilities are top notch as you can see here by my amazing cut and paste job)

You don't need to copy-paste The icon with the two little bubbles allows you to multiquote. This is the location of those instructions:
viewtopic.php?p=9771&hilit=multiple+quotes#p9771

And your post cracked me up

[ashkor87]

Players with extreme topspin have been successful on hard courts. Rafa has won enough there to be able to say he is good on hards. Wilander also has one Aussie and one US to back that claim. Sure, I would rather have Pete's FH on hard courts than Rafa's, but it is not such a limiting factor.
In the WTA, Sabatini's sole slam came on hards, and Conchita made one Aussie final. Two players with extreme spin on their main weapon (their BH's). I think Iga's FH does well on hards, and her BH is not a liability (last time I saw her, which was not recently, I admit).


Examples abound both ways. Remember Borg never won the USO despite winning 11 majors. I always thought it was because of excessive topspin....

[ashkor87]

Kudermetova's punishing hard shots have defeated Swiatek and her topspin.. though it is really Swiatek's UFEs that cost her.

[Suliso]

Swiatek's has had a fairly mediocre season by her standards. Yes, another GS title on her favorite surface but nothing else of significance really.

[ashkor87]

Impressive win by Pegula over Kasatkine.. saw just a bit of the higlights video.. she seems to have served really hard and well..her serve was always good enough but she seems to heva raised it a notch.. good for her

[meganfernandez]

Swiatek's has had a fairly mediocre season by her standards. Yes, another GS title on her favorite surface but nothing else of significance really.

She lost to Rybakina three times (one was a retirement), Sabalenka twice, Pegula twice, Gauff once... maybe her confidence is a little dented, especially off clay. It will be interesting to see how she does at the year-end championships.

[ashkor87]

Swiatek's has had a fairly mediocre season by her standards. Yes, another GS title on her favorite surface but nothing else of significance really.

She lost to Rybakina three times (one was a retirement), Sabalenka twice, Pegula twice, Gauff once... maybe her confidence is a little dented, especially off clay. It will be interesting to see how she does at the year-end championships.

When you see someone able to hit amazing shots and keep them in, you wonder how she does it..when she can't do it any more, you don't know what went wrong either!

[ti-amie]

Day 8 Order of Play

Center Court Starts at 12:00 PM

Semifinal
RUS V. KUDERMETOVA (8) vs RUS A. PAVLYUCHENKOVA
FOLLOWED BY
Semifinal
GRE M. SAKKARI (4) vs USA J. PEGULA (2)
FOLLOWED BY
Final
JPN E. HOZUMI/JPN M. NINOMIYA vs NOR U. EIKERI/EST I. NEEL

[ashkor87]

I expect Pegula to win this ...she is not going to lose to Tier 2 players like Sakkari and Kudermetova...of course, the court may be a tad too slow for her....

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

Day 9 Order of Play

Center Court Starts at 12:00 PM

Final
RUS V. KUDERMETOVA (8) vs USA J. PEGULA (2)

[ashkor87]

Wow! Never heard of them before!