WTA 500 Abu Dhabi 2/6 - 2/12 2023

[ashkor87]

Lop-sided scores like 6-0, 1-6 are a sign of a slow court..because serve doesn't count for much..if one player is playing 5% better in a set, she can win virtually every point...we are seeing this here

[ponchi101]

I thought Krejcikova would take that match, after her good run at the Aussie. But these matches are very even. 5 & 6, it could have gone either way.
A total of 9 breaks, and 27 break points in total. As you say, serving was not the key aspect here.

[ashkor87]

Impressive win by Rybakina over Pliskova..didn't expect her to be up so soon..

[ti-amie]

Day 6 Order of Play

Stadium Court
Starts at 03:00 PM

USA S. ROGERS vs SUI B. BENCIC (2)
UPCOMING
RUS D. KASATKINA (1) vs CHN Q. ZHENG
UPCOMING
BRA B. HADDAD MAIA (6) vs KAZ E. RYBAKINA (3)
UPCOMING
RUS V. KUDERMETOVA (4) vs RUS L. SAMSONOVA (8)

Court 1
Starts at 04:30 PM

JPN M. KATO/ROU M. NICULESCU vs CHN Z. YANG/RUS V. ZVONAREVA (4)

[JazzNU]

Haddad Maia playing an unnecessarily long match against Putintseva after not closing her out in the 2nd set like she should've. Thought she had a decent chance at beating Rybakina, but not sure she's up for it after that grueling match.

[ashkor87]

Haddad Maia playing an unnecessarily long match against Putintseva after not closing her out in the 2nd set like she should've. Thought she had a decent chance at beating Rybakina, but not sure she's up for it after that grueling match.

At a minimum, BHM vs Rybakina will be fun to watch...volleyers can do well on this kind of surface- disrupt things just when the baseliner is settling down into a nice rhythm!

[ashkor87]

Bencic is the one to bet on, though..only Rybakina can actually beat her ..

I know Belinda is a quality player, but not to the level that you can say she is a 70% favorite for any tournament. It is a very strong field she is facing.

You may remember I had predicted she would win the Olympic gold after the devastation in the first couple rounds .people in this forum thought it was a stretch. Fact is, Bencic is very reliable, on hard courts, so long as she doesn't come up against a grand slam champion- class player .she will reliably beat most other people.

[ashkor87]

Btw QZ is, in my estimation, a future major champion, has every chance of beating Bencic. It will show us how good QZ is..

[Deuce]

Qinwen played a fantastic match vs. Kasatkina today. She completely dominated the 1st set - Kasatkina won her only game when it was 0-5.
The 2nd set was much closer than the 6-2 score indicates. Kasatkina raised her level (it couldn't have gotten any lower than in the 1st set), and there were a lot more good, long rallies in the 2nd set than in the 1st.

I said a year or so ago that Qinwen may well turn out to be the dominant player that everyone thought Sabalenka would be. I still believe that's definitely a possibility.
It looks like we can look forward to a nice rivalry in the top 10 (maybe top 5) between Qinwen and Rybakina over the next 10 years or so. They are rather similar players.

[Deuce]

I think there is something significant troubling Kasatkina. She has not been herself so far this year... She's getting blown out in a lot of sets.
I don't think the problem is physical, as there is no indication of any injury at all.
She doesn't seem happy at all on the court. She seems resigned to defeat much more often than before. She was always a fighter out there - but lately, she seems to give up much easier. It seems that she is very much lacking confidence out there now - like she goes into each match hoping not to lose instead of believing she will win.

Maybe something is happening in her life that is preoccupying her in a negative way... Maybe something with a close relationship... maybe something related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and her outspokenness about that - maybe she's worried about her family's safety in Russia...
Whatever it is, something sure seems to be bothering her this year.

[Deuce]

Samsonova was impressive in her straight sets win over her doubles partner for this tournament Kudermetova.
She plays Qinwen next (in the semi), and if both players play as well as they played today, it will be a hell of a high quality match.

[ashkor87]

QZ was moving wonderfully in the front of the court against Kasatkina...not just hitting hard..seems to have added some variety to her game
Samsonova does seem a bit slow on her feet, hurts her on faster courts. (this one isnt, of course)

[ashkor87]

well, could see only highlights so cant really tell but it didnt look like BHM came to the net much. Teed off on Rybakina's second serve, so presumably Rybakina must have missed a lot of first serves, as she did in patches even at the AO..
if someone actually saw the match..?

[ashkor87]

well, could see only highlights so cant really tell but it didnt look like BHM came to the net much. Teed off on Rybakina's second serve, so presumably Rybakina must have missed a lot of first serves, as she did in patches even at the AO..
if someone actually saw the match..?

the stats tell a good story.. Rybakina got 62% of her first serves in, which is good but BHM got 76%. Both had 5 break points, Rybakina converted 1, BHM converted 3. Rybakina won only 25% of second serve return points, BHM won 45% which is sort of normal).
On second serve,BHM actually had a higher win rate than on first serve! 'you are only as good as your second srve' is an adage as old as the game itself, and clearly still true!
what the stats say is that BHM second serve was the difference, and Rybakina's inability to attack it..

[Deuce]

Bencic easily over Haddad Maia, 2 and 3 in the first semi-final....
She's playing some good tennis so far this year.