Running tennis thread 2024

BTW, right after beating Rybakina in three sets, Paolini teamed with Italian compatriot Sara Errani for a straight-sets win over Americans Emma Navarro and Diana Shnaider to advance to the women's doubles semifinals.

Gauff also won today in doubles (with Katerina Siniakova) and will be playing in both the singles and doubles semis,

 

Bummed when she lost. Biggest upset in my lifetime.

 

Paolini made Andreeva look like... well, a teenager. A convincing 6-3, 6-1 victory to put her into the final. Her live ranking is now up to 7.

Just played a beautiful match. I'm always amazed at how well she handles high balls for someone so short (full disclosure: high balls consistently kill me).

She'll face Swiatek in the final after Iga rolled over Gauff in the first semi.

 

Annual rant about how can you not get your seeding right so the semifinals would be 1-4 and 2-3. Why do you not think its weird that 1-3 should be a semifinal?

 

That’s how the men’s draw came out!

 

So why is that so difficult to put together on the women's side?

 

The seedings are set to make sure those in a grouping,eg 1-4, don’t meet before that round. Otherwise it’s a random draw.

 

Right. The men’s draw just happened to turn out that way.

 

Drat. Had a little taste on Sinner to win in five sets. Ran out of gas at the end.

 

Great match. Loved Carlito's on-court interview, when he said the key to winning on clay is you have to "enjoy suffering."

 

Paolini will be playing in both the singles and doubles finals -- she and Sara Errani beat Marta Kostyuk and Elena-Gabriela Ruse 1-6, 6-4, 6-1.

I watched much of the match (thanks, T2!) -- an enormous contrast of styles. Kostyuk and Ruse, both big hitters, were overpowering in the first set, blasting through in just 28 minutes. But the Italians managed to slow the pace, hitting back nothing but slow, high balls again and again and turning every point into a long grind. After a 28-minute first set, one game in the second lasted just short of 20 minutes. You could see Kostyuk and Ruse getting increasingly frustrated and then worn down. For the match, Errani and Paolini hit just 17 winners but had only 19 unforced errors. Kostyuk and Ruse had 41 winners and 51 unforced errors.

The player who fascinated me most was Errani. She has no power at all in her game. I've noted Paolini doesn't have much of a serve, but Errani's looks like something I'd see on a Sunday afternoon on the municipal courts I play at. Kostyuk and Ruse targeted her on practically every shot, but after the first set Errani was able to get to just about everything and lob it back until her opponents made a mistake. And when she went to the net, she was fantastic.

They'll play two more high-power, high-energy players -- Gauff and Siniakova -- in the final. I'll be very interested to see how that matchup plays out.

 

After an awful first set, Zverev looked super strong in polishing off an ailing Ruud in four. His serve was ridiculous. At one point one the announcers — McEnroe, maybe? — said he was serving “like a cyborg.”

Zverev had had a very good year on the court. He’s on a really good roll right now, coming off his win in Rome, and clay is his best surface. He’ll give Alcaraz all he can handle in the final.

Also, the announcers noted that before the match today, Zverev finalized a settlement in his domestic abuse case. It’s gonna cost him a few hundred thousand, but no admission or judgment of guilt.

Zverev settles abuse case before French semi