TENNIS: US Open 2016 so far
Sep. 7th, 2016 02:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllI’ve been on holiday for a few days, staying in a hotel that had Eurosport, but in German, which I don’t understand beyond ‘ja, nein, gutt, aber und schnell’, as I never attended the Chalet School. But a lot of English tennis jargon found its way in and you can work out who a player beat if the commentators keep mentioning their names. What's important is that it meant that I saw more of the US Open than I ever have, although, conversely, I had only a partial grasp of the slam - I only learned today that Djokovic is through because of THREE walkovers, which is remarkable.
Although I didn't watch a whole match, I caught Murray beating Granolliers, Venus Williams beating Georges (Germans and German speakers got a little more attention than their ranking warranted, understandably) and Serena Williams also beating King. Those were second round matches on Arthur Ashe.
They chose to give us Sock beating Cilic, which is a big win for the American player, but it looked like Keys's comeback against Osaka was a more dramatic match. I then saw Nadal seem in form and in control against Kusnetsov. Those wre third round matches.
Serena Williams thrashed Johanssen. I had to watch Thiem coming through instead of Del Potro, justifying his wild card by backing up his Olympics form, beating Ferrer. (But I only found out that Dan Evans had pushed Wawrinka to five sets in the third round from another channel). But I did see a bit of Murray winning against Lorenzi.
I have to admit, I was surprised in round 4 that Wozniacki beat Keys, but Keys was pushed by Osaka, and although on paper she has bigger weapons, Wozniacki was more composed. I saw most of Nadal versus Pouille, but not the end bit, which is the important bit, where Nadal lost to Pouille.
I did see the end of Pliskova versus V. Williams, which was very exciting, because the younger, less experienced player won, and then I saw Murray dismantle Dimitrov, who barely troubled him.
Predictions? Ha! Murray looks good, Djokovic is having an easy ride and Del Potro's rematch with Wawrinka is tasty. I think the answer to whether one of the younguns will have a breakthrough here is 'no'. Serena looks focused and indomnitable, but might wobble in the final stages and Kerber has been admirably good. But, as I said, although I've seen more tennis on the blue courts from colourfully dressed players than ever before, I haven't had a feel for the whole thing.
Although I didn't watch a whole match, I caught Murray beating Granolliers, Venus Williams beating Georges (Germans and German speakers got a little more attention than their ranking warranted, understandably) and Serena Williams also beating King. Those were second round matches on Arthur Ashe.
They chose to give us Sock beating Cilic, which is a big win for the American player, but it looked like Keys's comeback against Osaka was a more dramatic match. I then saw Nadal seem in form and in control against Kusnetsov. Those wre third round matches.
Serena Williams thrashed Johanssen. I had to watch Thiem coming through instead of Del Potro, justifying his wild card by backing up his Olympics form, beating Ferrer. (But I only found out that Dan Evans had pushed Wawrinka to five sets in the third round from another channel). But I did see a bit of Murray winning against Lorenzi.
I have to admit, I was surprised in round 4 that Wozniacki beat Keys, but Keys was pushed by Osaka, and although on paper she has bigger weapons, Wozniacki was more composed. I saw most of Nadal versus Pouille, but not the end bit, which is the important bit, where Nadal lost to Pouille.
I did see the end of Pliskova versus V. Williams, which was very exciting, because the younger, less experienced player won, and then I saw Murray dismantle Dimitrov, who barely troubled him.
Predictions? Ha! Murray looks good, Djokovic is having an easy ride and Del Potro's rematch with Wawrinka is tasty. I think the answer to whether one of the younguns will have a breakthrough here is 'no'. Serena looks focused and indomnitable, but might wobble in the final stages and Kerber has been admirably good. But, as I said, although I've seen more tennis on the blue courts from colourfully dressed players than ever before, I haven't had a feel for the whole thing.
