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St. Pete' 500k Main Draw

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rex
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St. Pete' 500k Main Draw

Post by rex » Mar Sun 14, 2021 5:36 pm

(1)Alexandrova v BYE
Voegele v Martincova
Siniakova v Flipkens
(wc)Gasparyan v (7)Mladenovic

(3)Ferro v BYE
(Q)Rodionova v (wc)Zvonareva
Zavatska v (Q)Gasanova
(LL)Buyukakcay v (5)Pavlyuchenkova

(6)Ostapenko v Badosa
(Q)Cristian v Lapko
(Q)Wang Xinyu v Tomova
(4)Kuznetsova v BYE

(8)Kasatkina v (Q)Tauson
Bogdan v Sasnovich
(wc)Mishina v (Q)Rakhimova
(2)Kudermetova v BYE

This is a watered-down 500k due to all the player withdrawals, the best players heading for Miami the following week, which is understandable. The rest of the field is marginally ok talent-wise, but the interest for me is the Dane, Clara Tauson. She gets Kasatkina in the lst round, a match I intend to see regardless of time. Following this 18 year old talent, for I believe she's a top-10 talent down the road, the destination closer than one thinks. Other players of interest here is Ostapenko and Pavly', but Jelena at 23 (24 in June) still has no control of her shots from the baseline and continues to make reckless errors, engaging in self-whipping, not evolving at all even with Marion as her coach and Anastasia is clearly a wasted talent at 29, belying the promise she showed in her early 20's. Yet, Clara is the deal here for me and, surprisingly, there is a poll on the Women's tennis forum for this event and guess who is the overwhelming favorite to win this event by a wide margin? Tauson, as a qualie...... Such is the perception of this girl by many. However, I'm not one of those to project her to win here, matter-of-fact I have no favorite to win with this field, because Kasatkina is her lst rounder and Kudermetova is in her section of the draw, as well, both are not easy wins for Clara.

Watched Clara finish her qualifying match on a stream versus a nice player in Kherhove, who is 29 and ranked 180th, but much appreciated her game, nevertheless. Didn't see all of the match, but I caught the end of the lst set, which she won, then she ran away with the 2nd set. She did another get between her legs running from the net and nailed the return for a point. This girl is complete with deceptive movement given her 6' feet inches in height. Read some of her background and learned that she and her dad watched hundreds of Roger Federer matches and what better player to learn and model one's game after than the master, a complete player if there ever was one. She had 8 aces in that match, very decisive and proficient around the net, can finish from either side from the baseline and her instincts are well-developed. When she grows into her power when she hits her prime......mercy. One little thing that I find disturbing is her attitude regarding line calls, even with cameras. She gets testy, which can be unsettling and a distraction to her game. Yet, she's only 18 and can grow out of that in time.

rex
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Re: St. Pete' 500k Main Draw

Post by rex » Mar Mon 15, 2021 8:33 am

Nice effort by Ostapenko in dismissing Badosa in 2 by 6-2 scores. Haven't seen Jelena play with controlled aggression, complimented with nice serving in some time. The winners she nailed reminded me of her FO performance against Simona for the title. Hope this continues for her.....

CrossCourtBH
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Re: St. Pete' 500k Main Draw

Post by CrossCourtBH » Mar Mon 15, 2021 9:31 pm

@ rex your assessments are interesting & informative, thanks.

I was watching intermittently (I think it was the finals) and heard her say this is the 3rd time (re bad calls).
IIRC she also asked the chair directly.
Don't you think that is three wrong calls too many.
Watching her contest calls - (why not - if they were wrong) - I thought it would be best if electronic calls were implemented in all matches.

BTW does uwp have to be entered prior to the tournament - I think I should start entering uwp...

rex
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Re: St. Pete' 500k Main Draw

Post by rex » Mar Tue 16, 2021 9:20 am

CrossCourtBH wrote:
Mar Mon 15, 2021 9:31 pm
@ rex your assessments are interesting & informative, thanks.

I was watching intermittently (I think it was the finals) and heard her say this is the 3rd time (re bad calls).
IIRC she also asked the chair directly.
Don't you think that is three wrong calls too many.
Watching her contest calls - (why not - if they were wrong) - I thought it would be best if electronic calls were implemented in all matches.

BTW does uwp have to be entered prior to the tournament - I think I should start entering uwp...


In that match (I didn't see the match) it was reported that 2 of the calls were correct with one a bad overrule. The calls I was referring to was the qualifying matches at St. Pete where she was challenging the camera, for there are no lines persons. It was a waste of time.

Re the PD game and the selection of either or both uWP or fmKo, the option to choose is available to the time the lst ball is struck in the main draw of an event.

rex
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Re: St. Pete' 500k Main Draw

Post by rex » Mar Tue 16, 2021 9:30 am

Clara loses to Kasatkina in 2 sets, the 2nd set a breaker, 6-4 7-6. Clara played poorly today, needlessly overhitting in the lst set to put herself into harms way. She was down 1-5 when she ceased whipping herself with bad errors to come back to lose the set 4-6. She had 15 winners to Daria's 5, but gifted 16 times. The 2nd set it was a little closer, for she broke Kasatkina twice on serve to stay in the match with Daria unable to finish the match on serve, sending the set into the breaker, where Clara didn't win a single point. Clara was visibly frustrated with her own performance, gifting needlessly and making easy errors on sitters, botching volleys with her coach in the stands showing frustration at the ineptitude by throwing his hands up in the air on one point. Just one of those matches for the talented 18 year old.

I think her next event is Bogota, unless somehow she gets into Miami, which already has announced their qualifiers, sans her.

CrossCourtBH
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Re: St. Pete' 500k Main Draw

Post by CrossCourtBH » Mar Tue 16, 2021 2:05 pm

@ rex

Thanks for explaining in some detail - my bad - knowing what transpired I agree with you.

Really enjoy your descriptions of matches - so vivid!

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