ILE rolling non-slam Tennis thread

Oh it's the Hsieh comeback that's on now!

From 6-3, 5-3, Hsieh lost seven straight games, and has now won four straight games.

Hsieh wins 6-3 5-7 6-4. Second title of the year. Thrilled for her! At points in that match you could see why she was touted as the Next Hingis back in 2001...

Aw well done! Tough break for Robson, but she'll get there soon I think.

Aaaaaand we have the second British/Taiwanese final in 3 weeks in Osaka. Kai-Chen Chang showed up Stosur as the Worst Slam Champion Ever again (in over a decade Stosur has only won three titles, and none since the USO), having already ended the Robson hype in the QF - both in third set TBs. (She also beat McHale in R1, though I believe McHale is still recovering from mono.) Watson, OTOH, has cruised through a cushy draw without needing to beat anyone of particular note. Watson is much more the favourite than Robson was three weeks ago and won't give Chang as much pace to feed off. If Watson wins, she leapfrogs Robson to retake the GBR #1 spot, and also becomes the first British woman in the top 50 for probably like 93489392 years.

Also, I watched the end of Flipkens beating Ivanovic 6-4 6-0 in Linz yesterday. As hilarious as you'd expect. Ana literally couldn't even sustain a simple rally - against Flipkens! - let alone come close to winning games.

Any day Ivanovic loses is a good day!

Though Majoli was the far more likeable and interesting player (even if I hate her for beating Hingis), she trails Stosur in achievements imo (5 extra titles and her F wins were over some good players) - I'd take Stosur's three extra slam SFs.

Peak Errorer has come out v Murray. Quality shanking!

pretty amazing match already

The Fed/Murray match yesterday was pretty much decided by two games - the terrible one where Fed DFed three times, and the AMAZING one where Murray came back from 40/0 with five scorching returns.

That game just there at 3-3 is the same thing, though more slice than accustomed to seeing maybe?

Oh, so much for my guess that this would lead to an easy hold.

So much crazy crazy forehand errors, and Djoko going ham on a racquet!

Djoko saves match point and now its momentum shift in the 2nd!

Few unforced errors from Djoko: tie break now

This is an epic!

Incredible: 13-11 Djoko

unbelievable

The FH from Djoko when facing his first match point during the breaker was really godlike.

Djoko wins in the end...can't wait till the Aus Open, these guys will have some titanic battles in the coming year.

From what I watched (and had to switch off after the 2nd set) I felt there was more outpouring of emotion from Andy almost everytime he hit the net. Needs to perhaps re-assert a bit more control in future but I didn't see Lendl about (?)

Saw the end of the second set. Murray served for it at 5-4 and was 30-0 up when Nole played a completely ridiculously great point including a mid-rally tweener and finishing with a dropshot winner, and that inspired him to take it into a TB. The TB itself was kinda chokey, Andy was stupidly passive and Nole should have finished it off much sooner but kept letting Andy back in. Left for brunch after that. Oh well, makes a change to see Andy choke the Masters finals and win the big ones lately.

Watson won her final though! Saving four MPs! The true British talent this week.

I'm quite glad she's keeping her nose in front of Robson and grabbing all the milestones first - Laura's hype outweighs Heather's by so much, it can't be easy being permanently in someone else's shadow.

Though Majoli was the far more likeable and interesting player (even if I hate her for beating Hingis), she trails Stosur in achievements imo (5 extra titles and her F wins were over some good players) - I'd take Stosur's three extra slam SFs.

I didn't mean accomplishment-wise re: Stosur (I think Myskina and Schiavone probably battle for least accomplished Slam champ). I meant in terms of game.

congrats Heather Watson!

(btw lex, now I know why I thought you hated Robson; you like Watson more and I misread your posts comparing them)

yeah, Robson's got the strokes but I'm just less drawn to players who can't run. I like them both though, they've got got v appealing personalities (which is a relief tbh, given how much the British media will go on about them).

Just watched 18-yr-old Margarita Gasparyan give Safarova hell in the Moscow 1R - she's def a name to look out for. 1) Single-handed BH klaxon, 2) a Russian who can somewhat serve shock, 3) SHE HAS BEPA'S HOTT EX-MODEL COACH!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6Gtq-TaX1Y

how she actually won this tournament is beyond me, given that her semifinal against arvidsson (!) was probably the worst match i've ever seen.

hideous outfit, too:

http://i2.cdn.turner.com/si/dam/assets/121019022329-caroline-wozniacki-epa298-story-body.jpg

She looks like an upside-down cupcake.

Stosur is now 3-12 in career finals.

I can't even imagine what it must be like to be a Stosur fanatic given how many winnable matches she chucks away. I mean, it almost makes me glad that I choose to split my affections between Kvitova and Li who are only morons sometimes.

Also the skirt = Neapolitan ice-cream. Horrible, horrible, horrible.

Yay Venus

Now is a good time to retire btw

kmt Tsonga

serving at *4-5 in the third, you've just saved two MPs like a boss with big serves, and then what do you do? why a FH of stupidity into the tramlines and then a DF on MP, of course

Petra's gonna go 0-3 y'all

I think her fists might actually be made of ham

Margarita Gasparyan

Master of the duduk! Right, I'm going to look out for this one.

I took another look at Petra's group and I think lex is OTM

when Petra loses to Errani, I will lol and cheer

Good opening set - Serena opened in shock'n'awe mode, Kerber clawed her way back in, then it was pretty level until Serena broke for the match

Ben Rothenberg ‏@BenRothenberg
Sign in Istanbul: "Serena the Best...since Steffi." Always nice to keep players grounded in historical context with your signs, I guess...

:D

lol I just looked at the score, what happened in the second set of Williams-Kerber? Did Serena go "oh FUCK NO" and hulk out or did Kerber fall apart/get unlucky for a very long stretch of time?

there was an amazing game at 1-1 where Kerber went all out on Serena's serve but missed two of her trademark FH DTLs on crucial deuce points (both would have been winners), then she subsided (kept persisting with stupid dropshots). Serena was pretty impenetrable throughout the match - her defence really helped Kerber miss those FHs and continued to be so right until she nearly got broken to love serving for it (but came back to win the game).

shot of the year?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2v7e1_sOyE&list=FLDyFht6g9fJa0451t3HYWOw&index=1&feature=plpp_video

wow, that tiebreak was insane. kerber wins 13-11!

lol Petra withdrew? and Stosur took her place?

bring on the 0-3

WHY DID I MISS THAT SET

Tuned in just in time to see Vika being her usual classy self

Insane point from Dimitrov in that video btw

lulz and in Basel, Bellucci has just taken Federer to a third set

kerber is serving so well under pressure

yessssssss that epic hold. one game away

this Wozniacki advert over and over again when the girl isn't even here ;_;

I think you meant "lol"

LOLOLOLOLOL @ Azarenka's petulance

xp tears of laughter!