WTA Roland Garros / French Open, Paris, France, 2019

[MargaretMcAleer]

Goodness me broken to love first game of the 2nd set....

 

[kskate2]

Serena needs to add topspin and stop trying to kill the ball. Then more of her shots will land in

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Kenin really mixing up her serves well in this match

 

[kskate2]

Yeah. Serena has not settled down well enough to read her serve yet

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Gee the clay courts look really dry,they will need a good watering after the final days play.

 

[kskate2]

Don't they normally water them between sets and matches

 

[kskate2]

3-1. Sofia 3 games away

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Don't they normally water them between sets and matches

Sometimes they do,though some players do not like it,saying it can unsafe....also at some clay tournaments I have attended they come out and rake them

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

That was a tough hold by Kenin to consolidate the break....

 

[kskate2]

I wonder if they ask the players in advance if they want them watered in between or if they just do it as a matter of maintenance because that's a rule of the tournament

 

[tenisplayrla08]

Anisimova coming back to win the tiebreak. Was up 3-1. But went down 4-6. Won it anyways. Begu with two set points and couldn't close it out. Impressive from Anisimova.

Serena's lack of match play definitely showing. Kenin confident. Serena spraying errors all over the place. And hasn't been able to play herself into enough form yet to pull herself out of this. Real bad miss there at 40-15. Gets the hold anyways. Time running out. But. It's not gone. And this is Serena we're talking about. Kenin will have to keep up her great play and find some mental fortitude here in a bit I'm betting. Because Serena is coming. She almost always comes for you eventually.

All square in the second set for Alexandrova and Bolsova.

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

I wonder if they ask the players in advance if they want them watered in between or if they just do it as a matter of maintenance because that's a rule of the tournament

So far at this tournament I have not seen any watering of the courts midway through a match? I guess it is up to the umpire to determind the state of the court,then advise players the court needs water.

 

[kskate2]

Serena's lack of match play definitely showing. Kenin confident. Serena spraying errors all over the place. And hasn't been able to play herself into enough form yet to pull herself out of this. Real bad miss there at 40-15. Gets the hold anyways. Time running out. But. It's not gone. And this is Serena we're talking about. Kenin will have to keep up her great play and find some mental fortitude here in a bit I'm betting. Because Serena is coming. She almost always comes for you eventually.

That's been my whole argument with her comeback. She doesn't play enough. Needs to play a small tourney or something to get reps, rhythm and timing. A shot of confidence wouldn't hurt either

 

[tenisplayrla08]

Anisimova breaks to open the second. But goes down 2 break points trying to hold. But gets it back to deuce and holds. Begu with a miss or two. Anisimova just looking so impressive to me. Obviously she has easy power and the serve. But she's not like Sabalenka or Andreescu or even Osaka. More reserved.

Barty/Petkovic living up to the billing. Mostly. Barty with the early break to start the second. 4 or 5 games in a row. But Petkovic took her to deuce before Barty held for 2-love.

And as they cross the 1 hour mark, Serena looks to be finding her way through. Took an hour to warm up maybe. And had to fight for it. Was not perfect. But has the break.

 

[kskate2]

Back on serve 3-3. The kid blinked a bit

 

[MargaretMcAleer]

Can that be the turning point of the match? Serena finally breaks in the 2nd set 3 all

 

[tenisplayrla08]

Just saw that Anisimova is 2/10 on break points. Now 2/11. But has another. And gets it. 3-0 Anisimova.

 

[kskate2]

Can that be the turning point of the match? Serena finally breaks in the 2nd set 3 all

Could be. She's donating a few more errors this set than the 1st

 

[tenisplayrla08]

That's been my whole argument with her comeback. She doesn't play enough. Needs to play a small tourney or something to get reps, rhythm and timing. A shot of confidence wouldn't hurt either

Well as we're seeing. She can play herself into form. She can find it, even while she struggles. And once that starts to happen. The serve starts to click. And then it's at least a bit smoother sailing. We've definitely seen her comeback from nowhere and win. It's not as easy now as it was in, say.... 2007 (2007 AO). But even last year, she'd been back a while. But she hadn't had much success or played all that much before the run to the Wimbledon final last year.

But yes. It would be better if she played more. She does need to rest more now. At 37. But needs to play more than she has lately. But she did also have a knee injury. Though I don't think that's why she missed Madrid. That was so she could go to the Met Gala. But, at this stage, she's allowed to do that. She deserves to do that.

 

[kskate2]

Serena let her off the hook there. She better back it up by holding