TENNIS: Wimbledon Round Three, Saturday
Jun. 29th, 2014 08:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllI finally got my chance to watch a day full of tennis, althouch because of the rain, the only option for a long time was to watch Centre Court. Nadal and Kulushkin started off competitively, with the underdog sticking to his gameplan and hitting big. Despite how impressive that was, Nadal’s serve wasn’t under that much pressure until the tie-break. Another first set lost, then. But the answer to the question of how long Kukushkin could play at his very best level, while Nadal, at the start, wasn’t playing as well as he can, came quickly enough. I napped csthrough the third set.
Sharapova very quickly gained dominance and never let it go in her match, and Giraldo, whether because of nerves or whatever, didn’t live up to his ranking and much threaten Federer, so as there was now a choice, I switched over to see that although Sue Barker had told me Serena was a set up, Cornet was 4-0 up in the second. Shocked, I switched over to the red button (BBC Two would catch up with me eventually) and was rewarded by a fascinating match. There was a bit of swaying to and fro, as Williams clawed back a few games, but Cornet remembered to continue playing aggressively, finding power, using slices and dropshots and, most importantly, backing herself up afterwards. She deserved to win and at the second time of serving for the match, did so.
The end of week one had a new shocker, then, and although Halep is the highest seed left, everyone will be talking about Sharapova and they may well feel a sense of deja vu. Everyone assumed Serena Williams would be in the final in this slam. I certainly thought it unwise to write her off, but she’s out again. Sharapova must have smiled at the results, although there’s a lot of other players who will be happy too.
Don’t know yet if Lisicki or Ivanovic will be through. It was a nice match, well-poised, until BBC 2 ran out of time and my red button channel only offered Nishikori and Bolellir for a bit, although apparently the Sebian gained her point after losing the first set and got an them off early.
It must have been grim for people who had tickets for this one day, which weren’t tickets for Centre Court. Obviously, a lot stayed until the sun came out, but some may not have been able to.
Sharapova very quickly gained dominance and never let it go in her match, and Giraldo, whether because of nerves or whatever, didn’t live up to his ranking and much threaten Federer, so as there was now a choice, I switched over to see that although Sue Barker had told me Serena was a set up, Cornet was 4-0 up in the second. Shocked, I switched over to the red button (BBC Two would catch up with me eventually) and was rewarded by a fascinating match. There was a bit of swaying to and fro, as Williams clawed back a few games, but Cornet remembered to continue playing aggressively, finding power, using slices and dropshots and, most importantly, backing herself up afterwards. She deserved to win and at the second time of serving for the match, did so.
The end of week one had a new shocker, then, and although Halep is the highest seed left, everyone will be talking about Sharapova and they may well feel a sense of deja vu. Everyone assumed Serena Williams would be in the final in this slam. I certainly thought it unwise to write her off, but she’s out again. Sharapova must have smiled at the results, although there’s a lot of other players who will be happy too.
Don’t know yet if Lisicki or Ivanovic will be through. It was a nice match, well-poised, until BBC 2 ran out of time and my red button channel only offered Nishikori and Bolellir for a bit, although apparently the Sebian gained her point after losing the first set and got an them off early.
It must have been grim for people who had tickets for this one day, which weren’t tickets for Centre Court. Obviously, a lot stayed until the sun came out, but some may not have been able to.
