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Post by bangkokbobby on Jun 6, 2017 0:50:53 GMT -5
more pics on my blog: Simona Halep, Karolina Pliskova, Elina Svitolina and Caroline Garcia Reach Roland Garros 2017 QuarterfinalsSimona Halep While the Roland Garros 2017 quarterfinalists in the top half of the draw are all worthy players but lacking in top 10 seeds, the bottom half of the draw has 3 of the top 5 seeds, including arguably the favorite, 3rd seed Simona Halep. She sure looked awesome in crushing Carla Suarez Navarro, 6-1 6-1. As good as Halep looked, this isn’t golf where a great score one day carries over to the next round. It will be 0-0 when Simona takes on 5th seed Elina Svitolina in the quarters. Either of them is capable of going all the way. 2nd seed Karolina Pliskova has quietly moved through the draw. It’s about to get a lot louder when she takes on France’s Caroline Garcia. Will the French crowd turn on Pliskova like they did with Garbiñe Muguruza? It might not work with Karolina, who beat Serena Williams at last year’s US Open with a partisan American crowd against her. 3 SIMONA HALEP d. 21 Carla Suarez Navarro, 6-1 6-1   2 KAROLINA PLISKOVA d. Verónica Cepede Royg, 2-6 6-3 6-4   28 CAROLINE GARCIA d. Alizé Cornet, 6-2 6-4   5 ELINA SVITOLINA d. Petra Martić, 4-6 6-3 7-5   |
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Post by bangkokbobby on Jun 7, 2017 1:01:25 GMT -5
more pics on my blog: Timea Bacsinszky, Jeļena Ostapenko First Into Roland Garros 2017 SemifinalsTimea Bacsinszky Timea Bacsinszky wrote another chapter in her Roland Garros comeback story. Out of tennis in early 2013, she received an email that she still was eligible for Roland Garros qualifying. She didn’t qualify that year, but it spurred a comeback that has now seen her go semifinals, quarterfinals, semifinals for 2015 through 2017 in Paris. This year’s semifinal ticket was punched with a windy, rain interrupted win over Kristina Mladenovic, 6-4 6-4. To reach the final, Bacsinszky will need to best 19 year old rising star Jeļena Ostapenko, who beat Caroline Wozniacki, 4-6 6-2 6-2. The Latvian teen doesn’t have a WTA level title yet in singles. What a breakthrough it would be if her first one ends up being a Major. 30 TIMEA BACSINSZKY d. 13 Kristina Mladenovic, 6-4 6-4    JEĻENA OSTAPENKO d. 11 Caroline Wozniacki, 4-6 6-2 6-2    |
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Post by bangkokbobby on Jun 7, 2017 23:43:39 GMT -5
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Post by bangkokbobby on Jun 8, 2017 23:44:01 GMT -5
more pics on my blog: Simona Halep, Jeļena Ostapenko Reach Roland Garros 2017 FinalSimona Halep Pity those who have ignored the women’s draw at Roland Garros 2017 because of who wasn’t here. Look, I wish Maria Sharapova had been in the tournament. So I understand the disappointment in not seeing all the big names. But tennis doesn’t need Sharapova, Serena or Vika to produce high quality, dramatic sports theater. The women’s singles semifinals were a fine example of that with two terrific matches. Simona Halep followed her great escape against Elina Svitolina with a 6-4 3-6 6-3 victory over 2nd seed Karolina Pliskova. Had Pliskova triumphed, she would have overtaken Angelique Kerber as world #1. Instead, 3rd seed Halep has a chance to be the one to unseat Kerber as #1. To do so, Simona must win the final. Standing in her way will be Jeļena Ostapenko, who leads all players (male and female) in winners at this year’s Roland Garros. She hit another 50 winners to win the battle of the birthday girls against Timea Bacsinszky, 7-6 (4) 3-6 6-3. On paper, with lots more experience, Halep appears to be the favorite. But Ostapenko is playing with no trace of fear. And why should she? Her average forehand speed at this event actually exceeds that of Andy Murray. She can hit an opponent off the court with her weapons. No woman moves on clay better than Simona. She will need to use her superior movement to get back shots from Jeļena that would be winners against other players, making the newly 20 year old hot extra shots and force her into overhitting and errors. 3 SIMONA HALEP d. 2 Karolina Pliskova, 6-4 3-6 6-3    JEĻENA OSTAPENKO d. 30 Timea Bacsinszky, 7-6 (4) 3-6 6-3    |
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Post by bangkokbobby on Jun 11, 2017 0:31:53 GMT -5
more pics on my blog: Jeļena Ostapenko Wins Roland Garros 2017Jeļena Ostapenko In 2016, Jeļena Ostapenko lost in the first round of every Major. What a difference a year makes. The 20 year old Latvian blasted 50-plus winners again to come back from a set and 0-3 down to defeat Simona Halep and win Roland Garros 2017, 4-6 6-4 6-3. Going into the match, Jeļena was winless in three WTA finals. She becomes the first player to make a Major their first title since Gustavo Kuerten won Roland Garros on June 8, 1997. That happens to be the day Ostapenko was born. She is the first unseeded player to reach the women’s final since Mima Jausovec in 1983 and the first unseeded woman to win since Margaret Scriven in 1933, when only 8 players were seeded. Jeļena won’t need to worry about seeding at Wimbledon as her Roland Garros win will propel her ranking from 47 to 12. Her bank account will also rise. She entered Paris with $1,288,260 in career prize money. Her win on Saturday earned her a little more than $2.3 million. She is the first Latvian Major winner. Ostapenko certainly has the firepower to keep winning. The key is controlling her errors. She is a winner machine, but also an unforced error machine. However, the talk about how she will do moving forward can wait for another day. Let the 20 year old enjoy what she has accomplished. JEĻENA OSTAPENKO d. 3 Simona Halep, 4-6 6-4 6-3     |
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Post by bangkokbobby on Jun 11, 2017 12:07:14 GMT -5
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Post by bangkokbobby on Jun 25, 2017 12:44:51 GMT -5
more pics on my blog : Petra Kvitova A Champion Again, Wins 2017 Aegon Classic BirminghamPetra Kvitova When Petra Kvitova had her left hand slashed by a home invader last December, it was fortunate she didn’t lose her life. Fighting off the knife wielding attacker was an act of survival, but one that left her dominant hand with career threatening damage. Luckily, the medical doctors and physical therapists who are working with Petra have done such a great job that instead of being out at least a year and possibly more, as was initially feared by some, the 2-time Wimbledon singles winner is back six months later and a champion again in only her second event back. The Czech star won the 2017 Aegon Classic Birmingham in comeback fashion over Ashleigh Barty of Australia, 4-6 6-3 6-2. It’s Petra’s 20th WTA singles title. Petra Kvitova Petra won this match without her A game. A lot of that had to do with Ashleigh, who was doing a great job of mixing power and touch, keeping Kvitova from getting in a sustained rhythm. Even though the 6-4 first set score appears close, Barty was in control. She was rolling through her service games like she was late for a flight. Even though Petra won the second set, the match really was won when Barty was serving at 2-all and up 40-0. Instead of winning that game to stay on serve, Ashleigh didn’t win another point in that game as Petra broke her…and Barty didn’t win another game as Petra swept the last four to close things out. Petra Kvitova Clearly, Petra can win Wimbledon. She has already done so twice before. And there is no surface that agrees with her more than grass. If you take the US Open, Roland Garros and the Australian Open all put together, Petra has been to the quarterfinals or better a total of 3 times. Just at Wimbledon alone the 27 year old Kvitova has been to the quarterfinals or better 5 times, the semifinals or better 3 times and won the title twice. That said, she wasn’t completely sharp against Barty. Her most impressive win of the week was probably against the surging Kristina Mladenovic in the quarterfinals. However, at the end of the day, even if she wasn’t 100% of her best, she was still the one holding the trophy when the dust settled. Being one of my four current Mount Rushmore favorites (Keys, Kvitova, Sharapova and Halep) and considering what she’s had to come back from physically and emotionally after being attacked by a knife wielding assailant, this is probably the happiest I’ve been to see a winner since Madison won this event last year. (WC) 7 PETRA KVITOVA d. Ashleigh Barty, 4-6 6-3 6-2    |
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Post by bangkokbobby on Jun 29, 2017 23:33:03 GMT -5
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Post by bangkokbobby on Jul 15, 2017 17:15:41 GMT -5
more pics on my blog: Garbiñe Muguruza Wins Wimbledon 2017Garbiñe Muguruza Big stages bring out the best in Garbiñe Muguruza. A few weeks ago in Eastbourne, the 23-year old Spaniard/Venezuelan was beaten 6-1 6-0 by Barbora Strycova. I honestly don’t think those types of losses bother Garbi much at all. She seems to live for the large spotlight. In the largest spotlight in the sport, a Wimbledon final, against a 5-time champion and crowd favorite Venus Williams, Muguruza captured her second Major title with a 7-5 6-0 win over the 37-year old American. Garbi becomes the only player ever to defeat both Williams sisters in a Major singles final, her first being last year’s win over Serena in the Roland Garros championship match. Muguruza might not be the kind of player that racks up 40 or 50 career singles titles (she has 4 now), but if she finishes with 16 singles titles and 8 of them are Majors, who cares?  The championship turned on one key game. Venus was up 5-4 in the first set with two set points at 15-40 on Garbiñe’s serve. Had Williams won either of those set points, who knows if Muguruza comes back. Instead, Garbi fought both set points off and eventually won that game. Her forehand had been shaky early in the match, but on the first set point when it mattered most, it was rock solid as Venus repeatedly picked on it. She didn’t lose another game the rest of the match, reeling off the final 9 games of the match to become a Wimbledon champion.  With her coach Sam Sumyk not here, Muguruza was coached by the last Spanish woman to win Wimbledon, Conchita Martinez. Martinez also beat a 37-year old legend in 1994 to win her title, Martina Navratilova. We’ll see what decisions are made concerning who coaches Muguruza moving forward. We’ll also see if Garbi stats winning more of the week to week events on the tour calendar. But as I said before, who cares? If she goes on paying her best on the biggest stages and winning a Major every year, that sounds pretty good to me. 14 GARBIÑE MUGURUZA d. 10 Venus Williams, 7-5 6-0    |
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Post by bangkokbobby on Jul 16, 2017 15:03:08 GMT -5
more pics on my blog: Claire Liu Wins 2017 Wimbledon Girls’ SinglesClaire Liu Before I comment on this result, if you want to see this match and have the WatchESPN app, do a search for Liu inside the app. I don’t know how long they will keep the replay of the Girls final available, but one day later it’s there. I’m rewatching it as I post this. I also don’t know if it only works in the United States but it’s worth a try. For the second straight Major, the Junior Girls’ singles title match was an All-American affair. 17-year old Claire Liu, the junior world #2, was in both finals. After finishing runner-up to 15-year old American Whitney Osuigwe at Roland Garros, Liu followed up by winning the Girls’ singles crown at Wimbledon. She defeated fellow 17-year old American Ann Li, 6-2 5-7 6-2. Both players demonstrated heart and grit. Li was down triple championship point 2-6 4-5 0-40 and fought back to win the second set. Liu bounced back from losing those 3 championship points in the second set, and a questionable call by the chair umpire not to replay a point in the penultimate game of that set, to win the final set going away. Ann Li and Claire Liu Claire Liu, who teamed with American Usue Maitane Arconada to win the Wimbledon Girls’ Doubles title last year, has a game reminiscent of Caroline Wozniacki. Liu keeps the errors down going for large targets. For example, if there is an opening down the line, she’s hitting two feet inside the line. Ann Li, on the other hand, plays with more pop on her shots. She took out the #1 seed, American Kayla Day, in the quarterfinals. In some ways, Ann has more pro level strokes than Claire, but at this point in her development gives away too many free points with unforced errors. If Li ever learns to harness her power, she could be a good WTA level player. But knowing when to go big and when to play percentages matters too, and Liu understands that expertly. Wozniacki, Martina Hingis and Angelique Kerber rode that style to world #1. But on this day it doesn’t matter what kind of WTA level player either of them will be. Today, they are both winners in my book. Claire Liu is forever a Wimbledon champion. 3 CLAIRE LIU d. Ann Li, 6-2 5-7 6-2    |
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Post by bangkokbobby on Aug 9, 2017 21:58:26 GMT -5
more pics and video on my blog: Madison Keys, 2017 Bank of the West ChampionMadison Keys This is a few days late due to outside commitments, but I couldn’t let a title victory by my current favorite player in the world, Madison Keys, go unsung on my blog. The 22-year old American won her third WTA title, and first both on hard court and in the States, at the 2017 Stanford Bank of the West Classic. Not only did Maddie win, she played her best tennis of an injury plagued season in defeating the reigning Wimbledon champion, Garbiñe Muguruza, in the semifinals and then one of the hottest players on tour this year, Coco Vandeweghe, in the final. Both matches were very high quality, with Maddie’s 7-6 (4) 6-4 victory over Coco featuring only one service game break. And that came in the penultimate game of the match. Keys has been touted as the next big thing in women’s tennis and looked the part here. The question at this point is health and consistency. As a fan, I’m happy if she’s happy just being out there. But of course I hope she fulfills her vast potential. 3 MADISON KEYS d. 6 Coco Vandeweghe, 7-6 (4) 6-4     |
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