feather_ghyll (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
feather_ghyll) wrote2023-06-19 08:20 am
feather_ghyll) wrote2023-06-19 08:20 am
TENNIS: Nottingham Open
Amazon Prime offered me the opportunity to watch some of the Nottingham Open, about which I’ve read over the years, and (on the day of deadly stabbings and injuries that also happened there) I watched Haddad Maia, the defending champion and no 2 seed play Snigur, a lucky loser and a Ukranian. I get that Haddad Maia wanted to defend the championship that started her wonderful year, but surely, after she’d lost in the semi-finals at Paris, you’d have thought she and her team would have reconsidered. It’s a very short turnaround from one of the biggest matches of her life, and the transition from clay to grass is notoriously tough.
I watched the match from about 2-1 onwards, and Haddad Maia was erratic, while Snigur was composed, returning the more powerful shots with depth, and either drawing an error or placing the ball just so.
I then watched the second-round match where Maria Sakkari, no. 1 seed, faced Alize Cornet, experienced giant killer. I don’t know if Sakkari knew that the no. 2 seed was out, but regardless, I doubt she’d have been delighted by this opponent, although apparently Cornet has not had a great 2023 so far, but she knows how to play on grass.
And she made it awkward, and Sakkari was off – probably not just because of Cornet – but it was the Frenchwoman who was winning the game points in the first set (and although some of it was Sakkari’s response, the break point conversion rate was not flattering.) Sakkari eventually won one game and started the second set better, but she could never sustain her good play. There’d just be too many errors from her racquet, while Cornet played a much more solid and consistent match with some flair. There were only three disbelieving meltdowns at calls, two from Sakkari, two involving an umpire’s overrule – they don’t have Hawkeye at Nottingham, and part of its appeal is to get time on the grass, which Cornet admitted in her winner’s interview. Apparently she’s never played there before, but it was a deliberate attempt to get as much out of the grass court season as possible. Early days yet, but worth it.
Other seeds tumbled, and often to British players – there were a record four of them in the quarter finals! And then three won through to the semis!
On Saturday, AKA semis day, I stuck to iPlayer, joining the first women’s semi finals at the resumption of play after a rain delay. It was Katie Boulter vs Heather Watson, ensuring a Brit would be through to the final. I thought Boulter had bigger shots, but Watson would be better in the forecourt, and so it was in the first, but Watson started the second more strongly, and was up, which is when I started to get drowsy. I roused to find that Boulter had fought back and was close to winning in two sets rather than it going to three sets as I’d expected. And the highest ranked British player did win, coming through to her first final at this level.
Next up Jodie Burrage vs Alize Cornet, and the Frenchwoman had more experience of semis at this level. It was a closer run match – with less of one player dominating for a stretch. Burrage was the stronger at the end of the first set, and, indeed, at the second, although I stuggled with drowsiness again. There were frustrations from both players about line calls in a recurring theme of the tournament.
I hadn’t really realised that iPlayer had the rights to the men’s tournament before, and it seemed as if the women were always on the Centre Court, but I think that reflects the fact that stronger female players were competing as their tournament was at WTA level, while the men’s was a Challenger level, which means less points than ATP. (And is a change for tennis.)
Murray, ranked 44, was the no. 1 seed here, but his opponent was the no 3 seed, Borges, of whom I’d never heard was only just in the top 100. Granted, three male seeds had made it through to the semis, whereas none of the women semi-finalists were seeds.
Murray started off better, and though Borges won his second service game and kept the defecit to one game thereafter, the first set was comfortably Murray’s. The second set was ‘scrappier’ to quote Murray, who started putting more pressure on with his return game, but didn’t consolidate his breaks until towards the end of the set. He must be happy with his grass-court preparation, having won Surbiton last week, and he’ll now be facing a qualifier.
I didn’t watch the finals live, and as it wasn’t up on iPlayer when I was ready to watch the tennis, I watched the women’s finals on Amazon first. Although Boulter was British no. 1, there really wasn’t much between her and Burrage according to rankings, although she had yet to drop a set. [ETA: But Burrage had faced higher ranked opponents on the way to the final.] And Boulter started better, breaking Burrage to gain a 3-0 lead, with power and hand skills. Although Burrae regrouped a little, and even got one of the breaks back, Boutler, who’d been returning well (especially the second serves) broke to win the first set. She then proceeded to start the second set well, and although it was a bit more competitive, where Burrage made errors, Boulter, in the main, kept it controlled and was overall the better player on the day, winning her first WTA-level tournament, at a location that was local to her. Good start for the grass court tournament. And apparently Laura Robson was tournament director.
I can’t say I watched the men’s final as intently. For one thing, the sound quality wasn’t as good, which was disconcerting, there were problems with the scoreboard coming up, and it was getting late for me. So, I fast forwarded a lot.
Murray started off the better, and although 20-year-old Caseaux improved, Murray having the first set in the bank gave him an advantage (as if being former world no. 1, having beaten Federer and many, many Frenchmen weren’t advantage enough) as the second set progressed and they both kept their serve. Murray pressed at the right time and won it pretty handily. Result? A 10-match winning streak on grass (although facing Di Minaur at Queen’s is going to be a step up in opponents. Let’s see if all this leads up to a better Wimbledon than last year.) To his surprise, it turned out that his wife and children were there for the end of the match.
I watched the match from about 2-1 onwards, and Haddad Maia was erratic, while Snigur was composed, returning the more powerful shots with depth, and either drawing an error or placing the ball just so.
I then watched the second-round match where Maria Sakkari, no. 1 seed, faced Alize Cornet, experienced giant killer. I don’t know if Sakkari knew that the no. 2 seed was out, but regardless, I doubt she’d have been delighted by this opponent, although apparently Cornet has not had a great 2023 so far, but she knows how to play on grass.
And she made it awkward, and Sakkari was off – probably not just because of Cornet – but it was the Frenchwoman who was winning the game points in the first set (and although some of it was Sakkari’s response, the break point conversion rate was not flattering.) Sakkari eventually won one game and started the second set better, but she could never sustain her good play. There’d just be too many errors from her racquet, while Cornet played a much more solid and consistent match with some flair. There were only three disbelieving meltdowns at calls, two from Sakkari, two involving an umpire’s overrule – they don’t have Hawkeye at Nottingham, and part of its appeal is to get time on the grass, which Cornet admitted in her winner’s interview. Apparently she’s never played there before, but it was a deliberate attempt to get as much out of the grass court season as possible. Early days yet, but worth it.
Other seeds tumbled, and often to British players – there were a record four of them in the quarter finals! And then three won through to the semis!
On Saturday, AKA semis day, I stuck to iPlayer, joining the first women’s semi finals at the resumption of play after a rain delay. It was Katie Boulter vs Heather Watson, ensuring a Brit would be through to the final. I thought Boulter had bigger shots, but Watson would be better in the forecourt, and so it was in the first, but Watson started the second more strongly, and was up, which is when I started to get drowsy. I roused to find that Boulter had fought back and was close to winning in two sets rather than it going to three sets as I’d expected. And the highest ranked British player did win, coming through to her first final at this level.
Next up Jodie Burrage vs Alize Cornet, and the Frenchwoman had more experience of semis at this level. It was a closer run match – with less of one player dominating for a stretch. Burrage was the stronger at the end of the first set, and, indeed, at the second, although I stuggled with drowsiness again. There were frustrations from both players about line calls in a recurring theme of the tournament.
I hadn’t really realised that iPlayer had the rights to the men’s tournament before, and it seemed as if the women were always on the Centre Court, but I think that reflects the fact that stronger female players were competing as their tournament was at WTA level, while the men’s was a Challenger level, which means less points than ATP. (And is a change for tennis.)
Murray, ranked 44, was the no. 1 seed here, but his opponent was the no 3 seed, Borges, of whom I’d never heard was only just in the top 100. Granted, three male seeds had made it through to the semis, whereas none of the women semi-finalists were seeds.
Murray started off better, and though Borges won his second service game and kept the defecit to one game thereafter, the first set was comfortably Murray’s. The second set was ‘scrappier’ to quote Murray, who started putting more pressure on with his return game, but didn’t consolidate his breaks until towards the end of the set. He must be happy with his grass-court preparation, having won Surbiton last week, and he’ll now be facing a qualifier.
I didn’t watch the finals live, and as it wasn’t up on iPlayer when I was ready to watch the tennis, I watched the women’s finals on Amazon first. Although Boulter was British no. 1, there really wasn’t much between her and Burrage according to rankings, although she had yet to drop a set. [ETA: But Burrage had faced higher ranked opponents on the way to the final.] And Boulter started better, breaking Burrage to gain a 3-0 lead, with power and hand skills. Although Burrae regrouped a little, and even got one of the breaks back, Boutler, who’d been returning well (especially the second serves) broke to win the first set. She then proceeded to start the second set well, and although it was a bit more competitive, where Burrage made errors, Boulter, in the main, kept it controlled and was overall the better player on the day, winning her first WTA-level tournament, at a location that was local to her. Good start for the grass court tournament. And apparently Laura Robson was tournament director.
I can’t say I watched the men’s final as intently. For one thing, the sound quality wasn’t as good, which was disconcerting, there were problems with the scoreboard coming up, and it was getting late for me. So, I fast forwarded a lot.
Murray started off the better, and although 20-year-old Caseaux improved, Murray having the first set in the bank gave him an advantage (as if being former world no. 1, having beaten Federer and many, many Frenchmen weren’t advantage enough) as the second set progressed and they both kept their serve. Murray pressed at the right time and won it pretty handily. Result? A 10-match winning streak on grass (although facing Di Minaur at Queen’s is going to be a step up in opponents. Let’s see if all this leads up to a better Wimbledon than last year.) To his surprise, it turned out that his wife and children were there for the end of the match.