Friday, August 30, 2013

Big Sister Na brings it at U.S. Open

So they met again in the third round of the U.S. Open--Li Na and Laura Robson. But, try as she might, this year, the Brit couldn't do major damage to the 5th seed. Li had first and second serve win percentages of 78 and 50, she had a net win percentage of 100 (9 of 9), and she hit 23 winners, with 21 unforced errors. Oh, and she also hit 11 aces.

Well, that's about as good as it gets, and what it got her was a 6-2,7-5 third round victory. Being consistent and avoiding brain freezes on the court are the major problems the Chinese star always faces; perhaps under the tutelage of Carlos Rodriguez, those problems are decreasing? Time will tell. Li's next opponent will be Jelena Jankovic, who isn't looking too shabby, either. JJ has yet to drop a set in New York. Today, she beat Karumi Nara.

Sloane Stephens had an easy straight-set victory over Jamie Hampton, and--as well as Stephens played--it needs to be pointed out that Hampton seemed to not even be there for much of the match.

Ekaterina Makarova advanced to the round of 16 for the first time with a win over Sabine Lisicki, Angelique Kerber beat Kaia Kanepi 6-0, 6-4, Agnieszka Radwanska took out Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, and Carla Suarez Navarro beat Zheng Jie.

Defending champions and top seeds Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci advanced to the second round with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Daniela Hantuchova and Martina Hingis. Here's hoping that some doubles success will boost Errani's failing morale.

In the all-USA doubles match, Melanie Oudin and Alison Riske beat Lauren Davis and Grace Min, and 8th seeds Ashleigh Barty and Casey Dellacqua advanced to the third round.

Will someone please tell Brad Gilbert that the word is "frustrated"? During every major, hearing him mispronounce it makes me so--well, you know. That's alls I can say.

1 comment:

Todd.Spiker said...

I had a teacher in high school who always said "flustrated." ;)