Thursday, March 21, 2013

Venus and Kimiko go at it again

In 2011, Venus Williams and Kimiko Date-Krumm stunned the crowd when they battled for three hours under the Centre Court roof. Williams beat the 40-year-old Date-Krumm 6-7, 6-3, 8-6. Tonight in second round play in Miami, Williams defeated Date-Krumm 7-6, 3-6, 6-4, in an intense 2 1/2-hour contest. The third set was really intense. Williams went up an early break for a 3-1 lead, but was broken right back. She broke back, then Williams broke back and went up 5-3. And was broken when she served for the match. Date-Krumm saved a total of five match points, but after double-faulting at 4-5, she lost the match when Williams prevailed on her sixth match point.

Caroline Wozniacki won her match, but she had to work for it. Karolina Pliskova took the first set 7-5, Wozniacki took the second one 6-3, and despite breaking right away in the third, the Dane had to fight pretty hard. She was broken back immediately by Pliskova. Then they broke each other again. Wozniacki held in the eighth game, and she won the match after Pliskova saved two match points.

Peng Shuai took the first set off of Petra Kvitova, who beat her 5-7, 6-2, 6-2. 10th seed Marion Bartoli retired against wild card Andrea Petkovic, Ajla Tomljanovic defeated Julia Goerges, and Mona Barthel lost to Magdalena Rybarikova.

Yesterday, Vicky Duval advanced to the second round when she defeated Andrea Hlavackova 7-6 6-4. Duval's next opponent will be Jelena Jankovic.

18 comments:

Daniel said...

And the Venus/Kimiko match is almost 3/4 of a century in age on the court!

Diane said...

And such a show they put on, too. The "old" players on the tour really shine, and you never know when one of them is going to make a comeback. Kimiko is truly amazing, by any standard.

March 22, 2013 at 11:33 PM

Doug Messenger said...

Is Kimiko better than back in the day, or... and this is interesting... is the competition not as good, despite better equipment and better fitness?

Diane said...

It's a good question. I think that her many skills from back in the day confound some of today's players. To me, she is living proof that the sport--to a great extent--exchanged finesse and cleverness for power.

Doug Messenger said...

Agreed. And a huge percentage of the players have the same game. Sit back and outlast the opponent, whether gently, like Radwanska or aggressively, like Kerber. The exceptions, though, are at the top: Serena, Petra, Viktoria, Li, etc.
Back in the day, all sorts of radically different games were present. Think Sabatini, Graf, Hingis, Shriver, Novotna, Navratilova, Austin, Evert, Jaeger. All different. And the courts differed more, from very fast to very slow. Add indoor carpet, now extinct.

Doug Messenger said...

It took more thinking than today, where most of the women have identical grips, takebacks, and strokes.

Bobby Skipsey said...

This is why Kvitova is so refreshing. She has power and finesse. Doug should have added Seles, Wade, Casals to that list. And, of course Sabatini, whose variety off the ground was fantastic. Every shot in the book. At one point, she beat Graf nine out of eleven matches, including one seven straight run. Then, she changed from her Prince to the Yamaha, and was never again the same player. So, what to do. Well, more variety in court surfaces and perhaps racquet head size restriction to say, 97 square inches and a lowering of stiffness, to diminish power.

Diane said...

Radwanska is such a joy to watch that, what she lacks in aggression (and she's been showing a bit more lately), she makes up for in creativity and anticipation. And while she doesn't beat Serena, she has beaten Maria a couple of times, and frequently beats others who have more power than she does. At least she's not boring!

And as long as we're making that list, I'll add one of my all-time favorites--Mandlikova :)

Bobby Skipsey said...

Banning the co-poly strings would be good too, because it would do away with the mind-numbingly long rallies that extreme topspin brought into the game. Pushers, pushers everywhere.

Anonymous said...

DOWNLIGHT Pictures (20) ccia (Mario Prada's granddaughter) and then[url=http://www.jppradabagsstore.webstarts.com/#234554][b]プラダ 店舗[/b][/url]
with the rich extra products go through Patrizio Bertelli established a dealing partnership. 1970s frame circles environmental changes,[url=http://www.jppradabagsstore.webstarts.com/#234536][b]PRADA[/b][/url]
Prada within easy reach the tend of bankruptcy. 1978 Miuccia her husband, Patrizio · Bertelli common receiver Prada and http://www.jppradaoutlet2013.com led Prada shortly before a fresh milestone. Miuccia served as the Prada chief architect, by her gift of the latest thing knack constantly sorting out of the key of confrontation and innovation.[url=http://www.jppradabagsstore.webstarts.com/#234535][b]プラダ トート デニム[/b][/url]
Patrizio · Bertelli, a originative entrepreneur, not only established a Prada worldwide artefact distribution channels as nicely as the store moulding system, also skilfully Prada routine brand concept and … la mode advanced technology in the course of the fulfilled combination.
 
Miuccia took across the commemoration,http://jppradabagsstore.webstarts.com Prada is quiet a small brand renowned in Europe.[url=http://www.jppradabagsstore.webstarts.com/#234539][b]プラダ ポーチ[/b][/url]
The intergenerational relations without some invention and breakthroughs, it is easy to decline. Miuccia looking for varied redone materials and household leather, after multiple attempts, from the Known Strength parachute information establish in nylon make-up, lightweight, sound fundamental, then, "black nylon dialect poke" a gun and red.

Anonymous said...

This piece of writing will assist the internet viewers for setting up new webpage or even a blog from start to end.


Visit my weblog: chloe バッグ

Anonymous said...

It's fantastic that you are getting thoughts from this post as well as from our dialogue made here.

Here is my page: miu miu 財布

Anonymous said...

Undeniably believe that which you stated. Your favorite reason seemed to be on the internet the
easiest thing to be aware of. I say to you, I certainly get irked while people think about worries that they just don't know about. You managed to hit the nail upon the top and also defined out the whole thing without having side-effects , people could take a signal. Will likely be back to get more. Thanks

Feel free to surf to my web site: 激安コーチバッグ

Anonymous said...

When someone writes an post he/she retains the image of a user in his/her brain that
how a user can be aware of it. Thus that's why this piece of writing is amazing. Thanks!

My webpage - コーチ 財布

Anonymous said...

Hi there, I read your blog on a regular basis.

Your story-telling style is awesome, keep it up!

Have a look at my site; コーチメンズバッグ

Anonymous said...

I have read so many content concerning the blogger lovers but this paragraph is
genuinely a pleasant paragraph, keep it up.

Also visit my web blog :: オークリー

Anonymous said...

Its like you read my mind! You seem to know a lot about this,
like you wrote the book in it or something. I think
that you can do with a few pics to drive the message home a bit, but other than that, this is wonderful
blog. An excellent read. I'll certainly be back.

Also visit my web-site: air jordan

Anonymous said...

I am really impressed with your writing skills as well as with the layout on your blog.
Is this a paid theme or did you modify it yourself? Either way keep up the nice quality writing, it
is rare to see a nice blog like this one nowadays.

My web page :: rayban サングラス