Petra Kvitova def Tsvetana Pironkova 6-3 6-7(5) 6-2
The Kvitova-Pironkova match should have been on center court. It was a battle between Wimbledon 2010's two losing semifinalists. However, the AELTC decided to put this match on Court 1 so that Maria Sharapova could defeat Dominika Cibulkova with a double breadstick.
The match started out like I thought it would. Kvitova raced ahead breaking Pironkova's serve and holding her own. She got to a 5-1 lead before Pironkova staged a mini comeback broke Kvitova's serve before Kvitova closed out the set 6-3.
Then it all started to go wrong for Kvitova. She lost the next set 6-7 getting broken along the way. However, she regrouped and won the third set 6-2.
Pironkova didn't really do anything wrong in the match. She was able to stretch Kvitova to three sets using her varied play. Pironkova got a lot of balls back, and her slice stayed low and got her a lot of errors from Kvitova's racket. So she can tell herself that she still had an amazing Wimbledon reaching her second consecutive quarterfinal and going out in style.
Kvitova can take some positives from the match as well. Although she didn't win the second set, she was able to improve her game slightly before the third set. However, she does need to work on a plan B. When things weren't going her way in the second set, she continued to make silly error after silly error. She also needs to work on her net play some more as she gave away some silly points at net. Other than that, she can go into her next match knowing that she plays Azarenka. Azarenka doesn't have the weapons to overpower Kvitova like Serena did in 2010, and she doesn't have the variety to annoy Kvitova like Pironkova did. Hopefully Kvitova doesn't choke since she has a great chance to get to the finals of a major and win it.
Showing posts with label Analysis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Analysis. Show all posts
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Friday, June 24, 2011
Andy Roddick [8] vs Feliciano Lopez
Lopez defeats Roddick in straight sets 7-6 (2) 7-6 (2) 6-4.
Lopez played an amazing match against the number 8 seed. Discounting serve speed, (where he was only slightly behind Roddick) Lopez beat Roddick in every stat. He had more aces, fewer double faults, a higher first serve percentage, a higher winning percent on both serves, more winners, fewer unforced errors, a better percentage of receiving points won, a better break point conversion ratio and a better percentage of points won at net. He also had a 57:7 winners to unforced errors ratio. Lopez hit some amazing passing shots as well as some great forehands and volleys. With that kind of tennis, we could see Lopez into the quarterfinals and possibly into the semifinals. If that possible quarterfinal match between Lopez and Murray happens, I wonder who Judy Murray would be voting for.
Sadly for Roddick, this loss came with a barrage of questions from the media about his possible retirement. Seriously? He's still ranked in the top ten, and he is still fit. It's almost as bad as the question addressed to Rafael Nadal about his decline as a tennis player which was asked after Nadal's victory over Ryan Sweeting. If Roddick can find any consolation though, he can tell himself that he was thoroughly outplayed by a superior player on that day.But Roddick really needs to be more aggressive. He can't be content with pushing forehands and slicing backhands. He can't continue to rely on his first serve. Otherwise, he will continue to lose third round matches at the majors.
Lopez played an amazing match against the number 8 seed. Discounting serve speed, (where he was only slightly behind Roddick) Lopez beat Roddick in every stat. He had more aces, fewer double faults, a higher first serve percentage, a higher winning percent on both serves, more winners, fewer unforced errors, a better percentage of receiving points won, a better break point conversion ratio and a better percentage of points won at net. He also had a 57:7 winners to unforced errors ratio. Lopez hit some amazing passing shots as well as some great forehands and volleys. With that kind of tennis, we could see Lopez into the quarterfinals and possibly into the semifinals. If that possible quarterfinal match between Lopez and Murray happens, I wonder who Judy Murray would be voting for.
Sadly for Roddick, this loss came with a barrage of questions from the media about his possible retirement. Seriously? He's still ranked in the top ten, and he is still fit. It's almost as bad as the question addressed to Rafael Nadal about his decline as a tennis player which was asked after Nadal's victory over Ryan Sweeting. If Roddick can find any consolation though, he can tell himself that he was thoroughly outplayed by a superior player on that day.But Roddick really needs to be more aggressive. He can't be content with pushing forehands and slicing backhands. He can't continue to rely on his first serve. Otherwise, he will continue to lose third round matches at the majors.
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