Talk About Tennis 2.0

On clay, Kostyuk's power should win the day against Raducanu's speed and defense
..assuming this is a 'normal' clay court

ORDER OF PLAY - SATURDAY, 26 APRIL 2025

Manolo Santana Stadium - start 11:00 AM

WTA - [7] Mirra Andreeva vs [27] Magdalena Frech (POL)
ATP - [6] Alex de Minaur (AUS) vs Lorenzo Sonego (ITA)

Not Before 3:30 PM
ATP - Matteo Arnaldi (ITA) vs [4] Novak Djokovic (SRB)

Not Before 8:00 PM
WTA - [31] Linda Noskova (CZE) vs [2] Iga Swiatek (POL)
ATP - Joao Fonseca (BRA) vs [11] Tommy Paul (USA)

Arantxa Sanchez Stadium - start 11:00 AM

ATP - Tomas Martin Etcheverry (ARG) vs [10] Lorenzo Musetti (ITA)

Not Before 1:00 PM
WTA - [5] Madison Keys (USA) vs [30] Anna Kalinskaya
WTA - Ann Li (USA) vs [4] Coco Gauff (USA)

Not Before 7:00 PM
ATP - [5] Jack Draper (GBR) vs Tallon Griekspoor (NED)

Not Before 9:30 PM
WTA - [19] Donna Vekic (CRO) vs [11] Emma Navarro (USA)

Stadium 3 - start 11:00 AM

WTA - [13] Diana Shnaider vs Anastasija Sevastova (LAT)
WTA - [18] Liudmila Samsonova vs Yuliia Starodubtseva (UKR)
ATP - [17] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) vs Jan-Lennard Struff (GER)
ATP - [15] Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) vs Nicolas Jarry (CHI)
ATP - [16] Frances Tiafoe (USA) vs Luciano Darderi (ITA)

Court 4 - start 11:00 AM

ATP - Kei Nishikori (JPN) vs [29] Denis Shapovalov (CAN)
ATP - [26] Jiri Lehecka (CZE) vs Cameron Norrie (GBR)

Not Before 1:30 PM
WTA - [16] Beatriz Haddad Maia (BRA) vs Belinda Bencic (SUI)
ATP - Marcos Giron (USA) vs [30] Matteo Berrettini (ITA)
ATP - [24] Karen Khachanov vs Reilly Opelka (USA)

Court 5 - start 11:00 AM

ATP - [32] Sebastian Baez (ARG) vs Damir Dzumhur (BIH)
ATP - [LL] Gabriel Diallo (CAN) vs [LL] Kamil Majchrzak (POL)
ATP - [Q] Jacob Fearnley (GBR) vs [19] Tomas Machac (CZE)
ATP - Alexandre Muller (FRA) vs [21] Ugo Humbert (FRA)

Court 6 - start 11:00 AM

WTA - Ulrikke Eikeri (NOR) / Eri Hozumi (JPN) vs Timea Babos (HUN) / Luisa Stefani (BRA)
WTA - Shuko Aoyama (JPN) / Cristina Bucsa (ESP) vs [6] Anna Danilina (KAZ) / Irina Khromacheva
WTA - Storm Hunter (AUS) / Ellen Perez (AUS) vs Leylah Fernandez (CAN) / Yulia Putintseva (KAZ)
WTA - Madison Keys (USA) / Maria Sakkari (GRE) vs Magda Linette (POL) / Rebecca Sramkova (SVK)

Court 7 - start 12:00 PM

WTA - Hao-Ching Chan (TPE) / Giuliana Olmos (MEX) vs [2] Sara Errani (ITA) / Jasmine Paolini (ITA)
WTA - [8] Sofia Kenin (USA) / Lyudmyla Kichenok (UKR) vs Monica Niculescu (ROU) / Katarzyna Piter (POL)
WTA - [1] Gabriela Dabrowski (CAN) / Erin Routliffe (NZL) vs Sorana Cirstea (ROU) / Anna Kalinskaya

given the form he is in, DeMinaur really should win this title...! The others are not really in peak form..

impressive win by Rybakina over Andreescu.. she looked in good touch.. maybe she can win this tournament, Wimbledon champions should ! (like Kvitova)

Tennis is a weird sport. Gabriel Diallo lost in the 2nd round of qualifying to Borna Coric, but then got into the draw as a lucky loser. Coric lost in the first round of the main draw whereas Diallo is now into the 3rd round.

It tells you how many matches are always really 50-50. And, as we know, when matches are 50-50, you are bound to string 3 matches in a row every once in a while.
Or 5, like Ostapenko last week.

Good win for Bencic over Haddad Maia on her weakest surface. Perhaps she could get into seeding range for Wimbledon.

Also Djokovic at last has aged out.

Suliso wrote: ↑Sat Apr 26, 2025 3:44 pm Good win for Bencic over Haddad Maia on her weakest surface. Perhaps she could get into seeding range for Wimbledon.

Also Djokovic at last has aged out.

Recovering from a muscle tear at that age is much harder.
Well, I said it a few years ago. NONE of the new crop was going to beat the Big Three. It was going to be time. And it was that.

Don't you think Sinner did last year? Alcaraz as well.

I always thought Connors had too much pride to keep playing while losing, but he hung on for a while ..Djokovic probably won't...

Djoko will run for President of Serbia...soon..

Suliso wrote: ↑Sat Apr 26, 2025 4:27 pm Don't you think Sinner did last year? Alcaraz as well.

No. I think that he had already started the decline.
It is a thin line. For example, you can say that indeed, Sinner finally took him down (and Alcaraz). I can say that he was already past his prime. It is just that now he is losing to Arnaldi's and Mencik's and much lower ranked players, so it is easier to spot.
And, BTW. It is not as if I can claim that "I said it" last year (that he was already in decline). I did not. But now it seems to me that he was. His last great victory was at the Olympics, and he also bested Carlos at the Aussie. So, his last bangs. Now we get the whimpers.

Imagine the kind of "good" hangover that Alona must have had that Sevastova lost love & love to Shaider.
She probably wanted to go back home to start driving that Porsche.

skatingfan wrote: ↑Sat Apr 26, 2025 3:38 pm Tennis is a weird sport. Gabriel Diallo lost in the 2nd round of qualifying to Borna Coric, but then got into the draw as a lucky loser. Coric lost in the first round of the main draw whereas Diallo is now into the 3rd round.

The last 5 years or so I feel Borna's cool with just picking up a pay check and living a nice $500k/year life.

ponchi101 wrote: ↑Sat Apr 26, 2025 4:58 pm

Suliso wrote: ↑Sat Apr 26, 2025 4:27 pm Don't you think Sinner did last year? Alcaraz as well.

No. I think that he had already started the decline.
It is a thin line. For example, you can say that indeed, Sinner finally took him down (and Alcaraz). I can say that he was already past his prime. It is just that now he is losing to Arnaldi's and Mencik's and much lower ranked players, so it is easier to spot.
And, BTW. It is not as if I can claim that "I said it" last year (that he was already in decline). I did not. But now it seems to me that he was. His last great victory was at the Olympics, and he also bested Carlos at the Aussie. So, his last bangs. Now we get the whimpers.

He's just got to accept it. It's is hard to accept when you still have those occasional matches that you play about as good as you ever have, tricking you into thinking you're "back".