TENNIS: Queen's 2021 last few rounds
Jun. 21st, 2021 07:59 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllI'm sorry, I haven't checked any name spellings.
Saturday
I watched most of the final set of the quarter finals, where Tiafo didn’t have enough to beat Shapalov, and the consensus seemed to be that that had worked as good warm up for the semi, instead of being a problem.
We went on to the semis nearly immediately, and the big theme was that all the semi-finalists were between 22 and 25/26, so there was much talk of the future post the big three. This was the first time I’d seen De Minour (sp?) at Queen’s this year, though I remember seeing him come short against someone like Nadal a few years ago. I could see why comparisons were made to fellow Australian Lleyton Hewitt. Berrettini had too much for him in the first set, and, I think, in the second set, because it was clear his opponent was trying to come in more, but not really creating problems for the Iralian. But then I fell asleep and was awoken by the end of the match.
Benrettini hadn’t dropped a set or been much trobled on his serve all tournament.
Next came the more competitive match, although I expected Shapavalov might have too much for Norrie, and I was sunk in gloom after nerves, really, lost Norrie his opening service game. But he settled against ‘Ball Toss’ Shapalov, more than holding his own at the baseline and eventually getting the break back, pressing and getting the first set.
Game on. Shapalov rallied, but never enough to break, and Norrie remained at a very high standard, while his opponent was up and down – literally slipping a lot on the grass.
By breaking when he did, Norrie was serving for the match, and continued to play to the same level. Thoroughly deserved win (against a top 15 player.)
A Queen’s final isn’t too shabby at all.
Sunday
I didn’t catch who won the toss, but it might well have been Berrettini’s choice to put Norrie in to serve first, given his wobble the other day. It didn’t work is he was hoping for a repeat. But it was Norrie playing a loose game that lost him the first set. Still, it was always an interesting match, and Norrie regrouped, so by the second set, if you ignored Berrettini’s aces and unreturnables, his opponent was more than matching him, and he responded exceptionally well to his break points in that second set, forced a tiebreak, which he played better, taking the first set off his opponent all week.
And we settled down for a third, clinging on to the fact that when it had gone to three sets at Queen’s finals of late, the person who won the first set rarely won. But Berrettini did not slump after losing the second set. Norrie was still playing well, and returning even massive serves well, so you could see why he’s had a terrific year. In the penultimate game, as Norrie went up 40-0, I admit I was trying to remember if they had a tiebreaker in the third, which is when Berrettini pressed and pressed and broke. A good challenge wasn’t enough to trouble the Italian’s serve in the next game, and he did indeed win.
Fair play. His grass-court game has improved – he can hope for better results at Wimbledon, where I don’t think anyone much will want to play him. Neither will they want to meet Norrie, who got the consolation prize of a Wimbledon seeding thanks to others’ inuries although I wonder how disappointed he will be at reaching three ATP finals and not winning one, even if this should go down as a fabulous (perhaps unexpected because up till now he wasn’t much cop on grass) run at Queen’s.
Saturday
I watched most of the final set of the quarter finals, where Tiafo didn’t have enough to beat Shapalov, and the consensus seemed to be that that had worked as good warm up for the semi, instead of being a problem.
We went on to the semis nearly immediately, and the big theme was that all the semi-finalists were between 22 and 25/26, so there was much talk of the future post the big three. This was the first time I’d seen De Minour (sp?) at Queen’s this year, though I remember seeing him come short against someone like Nadal a few years ago. I could see why comparisons were made to fellow Australian Lleyton Hewitt. Berrettini had too much for him in the first set, and, I think, in the second set, because it was clear his opponent was trying to come in more, but not really creating problems for the Iralian. But then I fell asleep and was awoken by the end of the match.
Benrettini hadn’t dropped a set or been much trobled on his serve all tournament.
Next came the more competitive match, although I expected Shapavalov might have too much for Norrie, and I was sunk in gloom after nerves, really, lost Norrie his opening service game. But he settled against ‘Ball Toss’ Shapalov, more than holding his own at the baseline and eventually getting the break back, pressing and getting the first set.
Game on. Shapalov rallied, but never enough to break, and Norrie remained at a very high standard, while his opponent was up and down – literally slipping a lot on the grass.
By breaking when he did, Norrie was serving for the match, and continued to play to the same level. Thoroughly deserved win (against a top 15 player.)
A Queen’s final isn’t too shabby at all.
Sunday
I didn’t catch who won the toss, but it might well have been Berrettini’s choice to put Norrie in to serve first, given his wobble the other day. It didn’t work is he was hoping for a repeat. But it was Norrie playing a loose game that lost him the first set. Still, it was always an interesting match, and Norrie regrouped, so by the second set, if you ignored Berrettini’s aces and unreturnables, his opponent was more than matching him, and he responded exceptionally well to his break points in that second set, forced a tiebreak, which he played better, taking the first set off his opponent all week.
And we settled down for a third, clinging on to the fact that when it had gone to three sets at Queen’s finals of late, the person who won the first set rarely won. But Berrettini did not slump after losing the second set. Norrie was still playing well, and returning even massive serves well, so you could see why he’s had a terrific year. In the penultimate game, as Norrie went up 40-0, I admit I was trying to remember if they had a tiebreaker in the third, which is when Berrettini pressed and pressed and broke. A good challenge wasn’t enough to trouble the Italian’s serve in the next game, and he did indeed win.
Fair play. His grass-court game has improved – he can hope for better results at Wimbledon, where I don’t think anyone much will want to play him. Neither will they want to meet Norrie, who got the consolation prize of a Wimbledon seeding thanks to others’ inuries although I wonder how disappointed he will be at reaching three ATP finals and not winning one, even if this should go down as a fabulous (perhaps unexpected because up till now he wasn’t much cop on grass) run at Queen’s.
