TENNIS - Wimbledon 2025 R3
Jul. 6th, 2025 11:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
feather_ghyllDay five
I watched a lot of Osaka vs. Pavluychenkova. Osaka had started off better, and was up 3-0, before Pavluychenkova settled in. Osaka was serving well, but by the start of the second set, her ball toss had become a problem, and it was Pavluychenkova who was up 3-0. Osaka made her way back into the set, but faltered again and her opponent didn’t. Same story in the third set, I think. Entertaining to watch because both were big hitters. Osaka has never got beyond this point at Wimbledon, I’m not sure that Pavluychenkova has either.
I focused on the Centre Court feed, Taylor Fritz was facing Alejandro Davydovitch Fokina, who is not a 6 foot 8 serve monster, in a rematch of the Eastbourne semi. D F dropped his serve in his first game, could not break back immediately, although he had chances, and had no more real chances in the first set. Ditto the second, both of which affected D F’s mood, while John McEnroe repeated the line about his serve probably seeming like it was coming in slo-mo to Fritz.
D F held his first service game in the third set, so there was some hope, but he was soon broken, and Fritz was serving for the match. He faltered just a little, just enough, for battler D F, who broke, and won the third. Fritz rattled through the fourth set, with the knowledge that he could/should have won that in three. Still, an easier ride than his first two matches, give or take one extended period where he had to get patched up for drawing blood after a dive, someone in the crowd fell ill (Fritz passed on some water a la Alcaraz) and then Fritz got more time with the physio to deal with a foot issue.
Next up, Alcaraz facing Struff, again. Struff hasn’t had a good 2025 until Wimbledon, and although Alcaraz wasn’t totally settled at the start, he was better still than in his first two rounds, and Stuff wasn’t getting many first serves in. It wasn’t a competitive 6-1.
Alcaraz broke early in the second, but at 2-1, when he should have consolidated, maybe his concentration wavered, and Struff’s level improved. He broke back and started playing much more like his best, with big serves, forward momentum, good net play. Alcaraz’s focus snapped back almost immediately, but he was now in a match. Struff won the second set.
Alcaraz upped his intensity at the start of the third, insisting on a break and most of his service games were untroubled, so he won the third, and there were examples of the forehand, drops, a lob and good volleys from him – actually good volleys from both. The fourth set was tighter, Struff was more competitive in all of Alcaraz’s service games, and he had to fight to win all of them. At 4-4, we’d reached the business end of the set, and there was a sitter of a volley that Struff sent out, leading to a couple more errors, handing Alcaraz a chance to serve out the match when up 5-4, which he duly took. Struff played well for the last three sets, but just blinked at the crucial juncture, which Alcaraz, given his 2025 and where he’s at, didn’t.
Last on, with the roof closed in case of failing light was Raducanu vs. Sabalenka as the Beeb would have it. Like the former pros, I felt like pointing out Sabalenka is the world no. 1, with two more slams than Raducanu, more tournament wins this year alone, who plays at a higher level consistently. Get real! Yes, even in a Wimbledon when seeds were tumbling out (as Keys had done already that day.)
Still, what followed was the women’s of the Championship so far, and would have been a worthy quarter final/semi final/final. Raducanu was on fire, Sabalenka a little too much so. Raducanu’s return game was strong, she’d upped her game from the previous round, even, and was rewarded with a break, which she consolidated. The crowd believed. However, the tigress fought back, playing with more margin so she made fewer mistakes, breaking back and created set point after set point on Raducanu’s serve. Raducanu saved seven of ‘em. SEVEN, and then won the game, taking it to a tiebreak. It was close, with mini breaks being exchanged, Raducanu got a set point or two, but Sabalenka fought back, won another set point and won that, finally. The last two points were won by finesse points, a reminder of how well rounded her game has got.
There had been some obsessing over racquets, specifically the tension of the strings in that set, from both.
To her absolute credit, Raducanu started the second set as if she hadn’t just lost the last, and Sabalenka knew she was still in a match. Raducanu broke again, consolidated, having thrown in more body serves and turned into a wall. The crowd believed. Sabalenka did her thing of letting you know via her face what she thought of every last shot, but mostly snapped back, channelling her emotions into her shots, and raised her level some more to break back and shut the door. 7-6, 6-4, but that was a match.
Sabalenka acknowledged that that was top 10 playing she was facing, and although she must have known the crowd would be against her (don’t know if she’s played under the roof at Wimbledon before), she used what she’d learned at the French to control her emotions. This should stand her in good stead for the rest of Wimbledon, and about the only player left with weapons in her quarter is Anisimova, although all due respect to every player who has won where higher ranked players have faltered.
I expect Raducanu will be disappointed, especially because she had leads in both sets, but Sabalenka is the best player in the world right now. Raducanu’s level would have troubled most of the rest of the field. Knowing that she’s got that level now, if she can bring it to the ‘north American swing’, getting seeded at the US Open should be a realistic goal. That was one of her better matches against a top 10/5 player (and if she hadn’t won the US Open in the way she did, as most 22 year olds haven’t, that level would just be an encouraging sign.)
In other news, there are still Brits in the draw, Norrie (who has form here) and Kartal (who has improved on last year). Fonseca is out, as are Svitolina (and her husband.) But I think that Fonseca has shown at Wimbledon too that he’s the real deal – give him time.
Day six
Rain meant that there wasn’t really any play on the outside courts until play started on Court No. 1 under the roof, where I paid the most attention. First up Mirra Andreeva vs. Hailey Baptiste, with Andreeva now the second highest seed left in the woman’s draw. She continued to play like being a top 10 player means something, I don’t think I’ve seen Baptiste before, and you could see her power play at times, but her serve and forehand weren’t firing much, while Andreeva generally had an answer, especially when she was drawn forward by a too obvious dropshot. Baptiste was better in the second, and even troubled Andreeva in one service game, but couldn’t quite bring enough to make it anything other than a two-set victory.
Next up was Krejickova vs. Navarro, who were (gasp!) seeded to meet, in what I thought would be a proper tester for both. The roof had been opened, but after two games, which went to serve, they had to stop play due to rain, but didn’t cover the court or close the roof. After a fifteen-minute delay, Navarro was serving, and Krecjikova started outplaying her with more variety and depth of return. She won the first set quite easily although there were a few points that showed her lack of match play in indecisiveness making her late on a few shots, and therefore missing.
At the start of the second set, Krejickova continued where she’d left off and was up a break, but instead of consolidating, she let Navarro back in. At the time, one wondered if her mind had wandered ahead. Navarro was always going to compete, and seemed to have made some adaptations to play in a more attacking way. Krejickova’s ball toss started getting errant again, and Navarro broke and won the second set.
Off Krejckova went for a toilet break, Navarro took the time to chat to her coaching team. As the third set went on, it became nigh on impossible for either to hold their serve, and it became increasingly obvious that Krejickova wasn’t right. She called for the doctor and trainer, who took her blood pressure and oxygen levels but okayed her playing on. She became more erratic and frustrated. The thing was, she was able to break at least once in this state, because she wasn’t thinking too much, and playing with an attacking mentality to curtail the points. But she wasn’t really able to hold serve, and cried before a service game close to the end. Navarro was able to win, but Krejikova must be so frustrated that her body let her down (after overcoming back problems and a thigh strain) because she often looked the better player than the higher ranked Navarro.
It also became clear that the next women’s champion would be a new one because Rybakina lost to Clara Tauson. Swiatek swatted Danielle Collins aside on Centre Court, after Sinner did his usual demolition job. De Minaur, Dimitrov and Cilic came through – the last two being veterans, as did the uber veteran Djokovic, outplaying another Serb.
I watched Ben Shelton (lefty, huge serve) and Marton Fucsovics (a lucky loser who has come through to at least this stage in the past), and after the somewhat distressing-at-times second match, it was fun, with Shelton coming out firing, serving in the high 140mphs, taking advantage of a shaky service game from Fucsovics early to lead for most of the first set. But the other guy settled, and consistently returned better, while Shelton’s athleticism impressed. The second set went to a tiebreak, where the difference was one brilliant point from Shelton.
Two sets down, the fact that he’d already played two five setters and qualifying started showing in Fuscovics’s game, and Shelton broke, then broke again. He probably wasn’t as focused as he should have been in the service game where he was meant to serve it out but broke in the next to make it through to the second week without having dropped a set. You can see why he’s already no. 10 and with that serve and plus-one, a danger on grass. He probably needs to work on the return and making his slice more effective on this surface, but he’s fun to watch.
Given the fall of so many seeds (theories abound, something about how the slice works this year because of the dry weather in the run-up), I’ve been reminded that they used to do seedings differently to ranking at Wimbledon, taking account of past record (so Alcaraz might have come before Sinner, Djokovic would have been higher, Gauff probably wouldn’t have been seeded no. 2, although goodness knows what you’d have done with Vondrousova and Krejikova. And sorry, I’ve probably spelt the latter’s surname three different ways and all of them wrong.)
I watched a lot of Osaka vs. Pavluychenkova. Osaka had started off better, and was up 3-0, before Pavluychenkova settled in. Osaka was serving well, but by the start of the second set, her ball toss had become a problem, and it was Pavluychenkova who was up 3-0. Osaka made her way back into the set, but faltered again and her opponent didn’t. Same story in the third set, I think. Entertaining to watch because both were big hitters. Osaka has never got beyond this point at Wimbledon, I’m not sure that Pavluychenkova has either.
I focused on the Centre Court feed, Taylor Fritz was facing Alejandro Davydovitch Fokina, who is not a 6 foot 8 serve monster, in a rematch of the Eastbourne semi. D F dropped his serve in his first game, could not break back immediately, although he had chances, and had no more real chances in the first set. Ditto the second, both of which affected D F’s mood, while John McEnroe repeated the line about his serve probably seeming like it was coming in slo-mo to Fritz.
D F held his first service game in the third set, so there was some hope, but he was soon broken, and Fritz was serving for the match. He faltered just a little, just enough, for battler D F, who broke, and won the third. Fritz rattled through the fourth set, with the knowledge that he could/should have won that in three. Still, an easier ride than his first two matches, give or take one extended period where he had to get patched up for drawing blood after a dive, someone in the crowd fell ill (Fritz passed on some water a la Alcaraz) and then Fritz got more time with the physio to deal with a foot issue.
Next up, Alcaraz facing Struff, again. Struff hasn’t had a good 2025 until Wimbledon, and although Alcaraz wasn’t totally settled at the start, he was better still than in his first two rounds, and Stuff wasn’t getting many first serves in. It wasn’t a competitive 6-1.
Alcaraz broke early in the second, but at 2-1, when he should have consolidated, maybe his concentration wavered, and Struff’s level improved. He broke back and started playing much more like his best, with big serves, forward momentum, good net play. Alcaraz’s focus snapped back almost immediately, but he was now in a match. Struff won the second set.
Alcaraz upped his intensity at the start of the third, insisting on a break and most of his service games were untroubled, so he won the third, and there were examples of the forehand, drops, a lob and good volleys from him – actually good volleys from both. The fourth set was tighter, Struff was more competitive in all of Alcaraz’s service games, and he had to fight to win all of them. At 4-4, we’d reached the business end of the set, and there was a sitter of a volley that Struff sent out, leading to a couple more errors, handing Alcaraz a chance to serve out the match when up 5-4, which he duly took. Struff played well for the last three sets, but just blinked at the crucial juncture, which Alcaraz, given his 2025 and where he’s at, didn’t.
Last on, with the roof closed in case of failing light was Raducanu vs. Sabalenka as the Beeb would have it. Like the former pros, I felt like pointing out Sabalenka is the world no. 1, with two more slams than Raducanu, more tournament wins this year alone, who plays at a higher level consistently. Get real! Yes, even in a Wimbledon when seeds were tumbling out (as Keys had done already that day.)
Still, what followed was the women’s of the Championship so far, and would have been a worthy quarter final/semi final/final. Raducanu was on fire, Sabalenka a little too much so. Raducanu’s return game was strong, she’d upped her game from the previous round, even, and was rewarded with a break, which she consolidated. The crowd believed. However, the tigress fought back, playing with more margin so she made fewer mistakes, breaking back and created set point after set point on Raducanu’s serve. Raducanu saved seven of ‘em. SEVEN, and then won the game, taking it to a tiebreak. It was close, with mini breaks being exchanged, Raducanu got a set point or two, but Sabalenka fought back, won another set point and won that, finally. The last two points were won by finesse points, a reminder of how well rounded her game has got.
There had been some obsessing over racquets, specifically the tension of the strings in that set, from both.
To her absolute credit, Raducanu started the second set as if she hadn’t just lost the last, and Sabalenka knew she was still in a match. Raducanu broke again, consolidated, having thrown in more body serves and turned into a wall. The crowd believed. Sabalenka did her thing of letting you know via her face what she thought of every last shot, but mostly snapped back, channelling her emotions into her shots, and raised her level some more to break back and shut the door. 7-6, 6-4, but that was a match.
Sabalenka acknowledged that that was top 10 playing she was facing, and although she must have known the crowd would be against her (don’t know if she’s played under the roof at Wimbledon before), she used what she’d learned at the French to control her emotions. This should stand her in good stead for the rest of Wimbledon, and about the only player left with weapons in her quarter is Anisimova, although all due respect to every player who has won where higher ranked players have faltered.
I expect Raducanu will be disappointed, especially because she had leads in both sets, but Sabalenka is the best player in the world right now. Raducanu’s level would have troubled most of the rest of the field. Knowing that she’s got that level now, if she can bring it to the ‘north American swing’, getting seeded at the US Open should be a realistic goal. That was one of her better matches against a top 10/5 player (and if she hadn’t won the US Open in the way she did, as most 22 year olds haven’t, that level would just be an encouraging sign.)
In other news, there are still Brits in the draw, Norrie (who has form here) and Kartal (who has improved on last year). Fonseca is out, as are Svitolina (and her husband.) But I think that Fonseca has shown at Wimbledon too that he’s the real deal – give him time.
Day six
Rain meant that there wasn’t really any play on the outside courts until play started on Court No. 1 under the roof, where I paid the most attention. First up Mirra Andreeva vs. Hailey Baptiste, with Andreeva now the second highest seed left in the woman’s draw. She continued to play like being a top 10 player means something, I don’t think I’ve seen Baptiste before, and you could see her power play at times, but her serve and forehand weren’t firing much, while Andreeva generally had an answer, especially when she was drawn forward by a too obvious dropshot. Baptiste was better in the second, and even troubled Andreeva in one service game, but couldn’t quite bring enough to make it anything other than a two-set victory.
Next up was Krejickova vs. Navarro, who were (gasp!) seeded to meet, in what I thought would be a proper tester for both. The roof had been opened, but after two games, which went to serve, they had to stop play due to rain, but didn’t cover the court or close the roof. After a fifteen-minute delay, Navarro was serving, and Krecjikova started outplaying her with more variety and depth of return. She won the first set quite easily although there were a few points that showed her lack of match play in indecisiveness making her late on a few shots, and therefore missing.
At the start of the second set, Krejickova continued where she’d left off and was up a break, but instead of consolidating, she let Navarro back in. At the time, one wondered if her mind had wandered ahead. Navarro was always going to compete, and seemed to have made some adaptations to play in a more attacking way. Krejickova’s ball toss started getting errant again, and Navarro broke and won the second set.
Off Krejckova went for a toilet break, Navarro took the time to chat to her coaching team. As the third set went on, it became nigh on impossible for either to hold their serve, and it became increasingly obvious that Krejickova wasn’t right. She called for the doctor and trainer, who took her blood pressure and oxygen levels but okayed her playing on. She became more erratic and frustrated. The thing was, she was able to break at least once in this state, because she wasn’t thinking too much, and playing with an attacking mentality to curtail the points. But she wasn’t really able to hold serve, and cried before a service game close to the end. Navarro was able to win, but Krejikova must be so frustrated that her body let her down (after overcoming back problems and a thigh strain) because she often looked the better player than the higher ranked Navarro.
It also became clear that the next women’s champion would be a new one because Rybakina lost to Clara Tauson. Swiatek swatted Danielle Collins aside on Centre Court, after Sinner did his usual demolition job. De Minaur, Dimitrov and Cilic came through – the last two being veterans, as did the uber veteran Djokovic, outplaying another Serb.
I watched Ben Shelton (lefty, huge serve) and Marton Fucsovics (a lucky loser who has come through to at least this stage in the past), and after the somewhat distressing-at-times second match, it was fun, with Shelton coming out firing, serving in the high 140mphs, taking advantage of a shaky service game from Fucsovics early to lead for most of the first set. But the other guy settled, and consistently returned better, while Shelton’s athleticism impressed. The second set went to a tiebreak, where the difference was one brilliant point from Shelton.
Two sets down, the fact that he’d already played two five setters and qualifying started showing in Fuscovics’s game, and Shelton broke, then broke again. He probably wasn’t as focused as he should have been in the service game where he was meant to serve it out but broke in the next to make it through to the second week without having dropped a set. You can see why he’s already no. 10 and with that serve and plus-one, a danger on grass. He probably needs to work on the return and making his slice more effective on this surface, but he’s fun to watch.
Given the fall of so many seeds (theories abound, something about how the slice works this year because of the dry weather in the run-up), I’ve been reminded that they used to do seedings differently to ranking at Wimbledon, taking account of past record (so Alcaraz might have come before Sinner, Djokovic would have been higher, Gauff probably wouldn’t have been seeded no. 2, although goodness knows what you’d have done with Vondrousova and Krejikova. And sorry, I’ve probably spelt the latter’s surname three different ways and all of them wrong.)
