Saturday, August 10, 2013

Serena vs. Sorana in Rogers Cup final

Sick with a gastrointestinal disorder, top seed Serena Williams fought her way to the Rogers Cup final today by beating Agnieszka Radwanska 7-6, 6-4 in the semifinals. Williams was obviously not feeling too well, but feeling bad sometimes makes her fight even harder. In a strange way, it was even an entertaining match. The highlight occurred in the second set, when Radwanska appeared to make the shot of the match (if not the tournament), only her incredible get was then one-upped by a Williams shot, which gave Serena the point.

If you go to the trouble of taking out Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Jankovic and Petra Kvitova, you might as well go ahead and take out Li Na, too, and that's what Sorana Cirstea did today. When Li goes off, she goes way off, and even though she's known for fighting her way out of the deepest holes, she was unable to come back against Cirstea, who beat her 6-1, 7-6. Li led 5-2 in the second set, by the way.

Tomorrow's match will be Cirstea's first premier-level final, and the first final of any kind that she's reached in five years.

The run of Canadians Gabriela Dabrowski and Sharon Fichman was ended today by Jelena Jankovic and Katarina Srebotnik, who beat them 7-5, 6-3 in the semifinals. In the other semifinal match, 3rd seeds Anna-Lena Groenefeld and Kveta Peschke defeated 2nd seeds Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina 6-2, 6-4.

Feliciano Lopez and Bernard Tomic were paid $20,000 apiece to travel from Montreal to Toronto to play an exhibition event this week. Both Lopez and Tomic lost in the first round of the ATP Rogers Cup. Crash out in the ATP--no worries, go play at a WTA event.

And speaking of these events, it would be professionally sound if someone would edit Andy Roddick out of the Emirates U.S. Open Series promo spots.

Shahar Peer won the 125-K Suzhou event, defeating Zheng Saisai 6-2, 2-6, 6-3. Peer was seeded third. The doubles title was won by Timea Babos and Michaella Krajicek. They defeated Han Xinyun and Eri Hozumi 6-2, 6-2 in the final.

6 comments:

Eric said...

the Serena/Radwanska match was at an amazing quality.

U know...there were a lot of points where the chair could have called hindrance on Serena...i mean, if you compare it to the 2011 US Open final...there were two points in particular I thought were almost the same situation...

I wish there was more consistency on that rule.

Diane said...

All the rules. And especially the one about playing at the server's pace; that one has been turned completely on its head in some crazy-making Through the Looking Glass way. Not only do the Rafas and Mary Pierces get a pass--the JJs and Capriatis get punished.

Serena's lucky Eva A. wasn't in the chair. She loves that hindrance rule!

sabey said...

Sharapova screams "come on" after every perceived winner. She also screams continuously and is never called for a hindrance.
I'd say there is a lot on inconsistency in how the rules are applied.

Eric said...

i guess the difference is if the opponent has a play on the ball...and I guess Aga didn't in the two points i was thinking about...but I also thought the same on the USOpen 2011 point. I didn't think Stosur had a play buuut...anyway...

the final went quickly...

just curious but what about Sorana's game does everyone rave about? I remember when she came on the scene people wrote about her forehand...but I've only seen her play briefly and I personally thought her backhand was really smooth and powerful...but in general I didn't think she was "anything special" so to speak (unlike watching Li Na or Petra for the first time)...but bloggers, commentators, even Serena talk about her game and talent...so what am I missing? Or does she just underperform a lot? Diane, have you seen her play in person at Family Circle? Have you seen something?

Karen said...

Eric, the first time I saw Sorana play, I was impressed with her forehand. It was a thing of beauty. She also had a pretty good serve, still does, and she moves fairly well. It is her mental game and BH which were really crappy for me. I think her best surface was clay. She was overwhelmed in today's final, but she showed really good composure in getting to the final. It just shows the difference between beating a Petra and Li and beating The Serena.

I think a lot of people were bigging her up because of the Cahill factor. At one point I think people were saying that Cahill was on the court playing. It was ridiculous. I can't imagine that the WTA actually thinks that on court coaching is a good look for its product.

Diane said...

I agree with Karen. The forehand can be exceptional, and Cirstea's movement is fluid. But it is generally so hard for her to maintain her composure. Despite winning just two games today, she does have something to be proud of in the way she handled herself this week.

The ESPN commentators were going on and on about Cahill to the point of absurdity. Like, he told Sori to expect Li to come on really strong in the second set--duh.

However, I do think that one of the commentators (I believe it was Pam Shriver) had a point in emphasizing the fact that Cahill asked Cirstea questions instead of just giving her a lecture. He did make her think.