Premier 5: Toray Pan Pacific Open, WTA Tokyo 2013

[Calvy]

:snigger..she doesnt have a good h2h against Vee..:nono..regardless of her health..

Head to head doesn't mean anything when you haven't played for 3 and a half years.

Serena hadn't played Maria for almost 2 1/2 yrs at one point. I think that head to head didn't mean anything either when they played again.

 

[special700]

Here's Vee and Vika's match

[video=youtube]http://youtu.be/ydExqw3trTg[/video]

 

[Calvy]

Vika finally ran into someone who made her pay for early round scratchy play. Looking forward to catching the match on youtube later on. Good job Venus.

It was nothing to do with this. The only time Azarenka broke into a jog all match was once after getting passed coming to the net. She was clearly under the weather. She displayed zero intensity from the start, no grunt, and was generally spent from the start. Venus acknowledged this after the match. Venus didn't even play well herself, was far better in R1.

"I didn't sleep at all last night," Azarenka said. "You can't play at 20 percent against one of the top players. I've been feeling bad for a couple of days and it just got worse today."

And Vika's win over Serena in Doha can be attribitated Serena having the flu, but a win is a win.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

What impressed me with Vee's win was her fhand.Vee was really dictating on her fhand side

 

[tossip]

Venus has always beaten Vika...has never lost a set to Aza.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Wednesday started in Japan, it's raining!
They closed the roof and Maggie is playing Caro.

I was looking forward to this. I am getting my tennis fix!

 

[Hoergren]

Hope some of you saw this excellent match - well seen from Carolines point of view 61 61 against Rybarikova. And she played well - 15 winners in first set! Forehand really good today. She didn't let Rybarikova come into the game and that's the idea. Time for a Foster today - damn good beer!heart:

 

[RJD11]

Ozza, you do know that Venus 10x better player than Vikka ....rightuzzled. Don't try to make it sound like Venus only beat Vikka because she was getting hot flashes....rediculous.

Yes Venus the player who has one top 25 win all year before today is currently a better player than the world number 2 :huh:. What happened in the past is irrelevant to now. There is a reason Azarenka was an 86.96% favourite.

Yes, you're right. But There is still the fact that Venus still

has her power, experience, and skill. Her illness is the problem.

She is not sharp and plays sloppily because she cannot play

and train properly. But on days that the illness is at held at bay

and the nsaids do their job then the past becomes very relevant

She can make any opponent remember who she was on those days

I just wish there were more days like that.

 

[RJD11]

Eugenie up a set and 3 love over JJ

 

[tenisplayrla08]

Huge win for Eugenie Bouchard over Jankovic here. And this in a year when Jankovic really has righted her ship and has been playing great tennis. Bouchard showing that she truly is going to be a top player. And not in a couple years. Now. Well... next season. This one is basically over. This win puts her in the top 40. But it's really just more important that it's a win over a top 10 opponent, who also happens to be a former world #1, who is playing good tennis and did play well tonight. Bouchard was just better. Basically, she serves better and is perhaps a bit stronger and consistent enough that despite her inexperience she was able to beat someone of Jankovic's caliber. In the next round she'll have to get through Venus or Simona Halep though. So the road will continue to be tough. And while I'd love to see her beat Halep if Halep beats V tonight, I'll certainly be routing for V if she wins tonight. And really, if V is playing healthy and at her best, Bouchard will still be able to push her, but Venus should come out on top of it.

I'm still disappointed that Stephens lost to Bouchard, because at the end of the day I think she's still better. But it simply may be that they're pretty close in level of ability and/or talent and Bouchard was just able to outlast Sloane. I didn't watch the match but it seems that Sloane sort of never recovered mentally from failing to serve out the match at 5-3 in the second. But none of that is to say that I don't like Bouchard or won't root for her. I've been a mild fan of Bouchard's all year and am very happy to see her doing well. This could possibly be considered her breakout tournament. ESPECIALLY if she goes to the semis and even more so if she beats Venus to go the the semis, even though Halep has certainly had the better year and been playing better tennis and is ranked much higher than Venus at the moment.

 

[zalvar]

Venus serving for the match vs. Halep :O

 

[zalvar]

She wins yay Bouchard is next!

 

[tenisplayrla08]

Great win for Venus. Really had to fight for it. Halep helped her out though by sort of quitting. It just seemed that she really got annoyed with herself and let it get to her. Otherwise, I really don't think Venus could have pulled it off. I hate to say that. But that really is what it looked like to me. She definitely showed some great tennis in stretches. But simply wasn't consistent enough to win this without Halep's serious serving problems. But... technically Halep's big problem of the night was bigger than Venus' so Venus was the better player and deserved the win. I do love to see her win! So glad she got it. This may be her first qf of the season. It's certainly one of her few. Maybe the second or third. Hopefully she'll be fully ready to go against Bouchard. Excited for that match.

 

[tossip]

Venus will be good against Halep,she beat her post Sjogren in Rome 12

:clap love my Vee!! next is Eugenie...Venus likes the hard hitters and Eugene has no chance against the Queen...:nono

 

[ozza]

Serena hadn't played Maria for almost 2 1/2 yrs at one point. I think that head to head didn't mean anything either when they played again.

I thought it was self-explanatory, but I mean when their games have changed so much in that time. Federer leads the head to head with Djokovic, but you'd have to be crazy to be think he is a favourite to beat Djokovic anymore.

 

[ozza]

And Vika's win over Serena in Doha can be attribitated Serena having the flu, but a win is a win.

I don't deny this. This is how tennis works. If everyone played to their best every day, the same player would win nearly every time.

That's why it isn't that predictable, because this doesn't happen. That's why if say a match is 75-25 in one player's favour, the 25% player will still win some of the time.

 

[ozza]

Yes, you're right. But There is still the fact that Venus still

has her power, experience, and skill. Her illness is the problem.

She is not sharp and plays sloppily because she cannot play

and train properly. But on days that the illness is at held at bay

and the nsaids do their job then the past becomes very relevant

She can make any opponent remember who she was on those days

I just wish there were more days like that.

Obviously Venus has her problems (not just the illness, but the back injury). Everyone knows that. That's why she's ranked where she is.

You had people giving it big in here though who clearly hadn't even watched the match. Venus didn't actually play that well (she was a lot better in R1). The main reason she won was because of her serve. Off the ground she was flashy, but in general was in trouble in the majority of the long rallies (something which didn't hinder today against Halep either).

Azarenka was trying to go big very quick, which of course you are going to do when you are not really moving. This was an impossible ask vs Venus' serve though, it's too big to just be slapping big returns and hope to win that way, and in the end that is what won Venus the match.

Venus was miles from her best in this match, but unfortunately you are unlikely to ever see her best anymore. As you say she can't train hard, so even in days where her illness effects are dampened, she's not going to be in prime condition anymore is she.

 

[ozza]

Stephens blew a big chance at cementing an Istanbul position this tournament. She really should have beaten Bouchard, and Jankovic was well below par today. Now instead of her getting big points, there are big points available for a number of the players chasing an Istanbul spot.

 

[tossip]

Stephens blew a big chance at cementing an Istanbul position this tournament. She really should have beaten Bouchard, and Jankovic was well below par today. Now instead of her getting big points, there are big points available for a number of the players chasing an Istanbul spot.

I would rather have Jankovic at Instabul than Stephens...Janky has more personality and is a lot of fun.Sloane will bring her negativity and boring ass..

 

[kskate2]

Yes, you're right. But There is still the fact that Venus still

has her power, experience, and skill. Her illness is the problem.

She is not sharp and plays sloppily because she cannot play

and train properly. But on days that the illness is at held at bay

and the nsaids do their job then the past becomes very relevant

She can make any opponent remember who she was on those days

I just wish there were more days like that.

Obviously Venus has her problems (not just the illness, but the back injury). Everyone knows that. That's why she's ranked where she is.

You had people giving it big in here though who clearly hadn't even watched the match. Venus didn't actually play that well (she was a lot better in R1). The main reason she won was because of her serve. Off the ground she was flashy, but in general was in trouble in the majority of the long rallies (something which didn't hinder today against Halep either).

Azarenka was trying to go big very quick, which of course you are going to do when you are not really moving. This was an impossible ask vs Venus' serve though, it's too big to just be slapping big returns and hope to win that way, and in the end that is what won Venus the match.

Venus was miles from her best in this match, but unfortunately you are unlikely to ever see her best anymore. As you say she can't train hard, so even in days where her illness effects are dampened, she's not going to be in prime condition anymore is she.

I hadn't watched the match at that time, but it still doesn't diminish what I said earlier. Vika went through Cinci and USO playing scratchy uneven tennis until the finals. No one made her pay for the poor serving, DF's, ill-advised dropshots and otherwise inconsistent play. While Venus didn't play her best level as you mention, she served and played well enough to get the job done on a day that Vika didn't bring her "A" game for whatever reason.

I applaud her effort for playing the match, but you and I both know that Vika wouldn't have played if she didn't feel she had a chance to win the match. There's a good possibility that other opponents would have still lost against a sub-par Victoria.