Whatever psychological demons haunt the likes of Sam Stosur, Petra Kvitova and Ana Ivanovic--those demons leave Simona Halep alone. The Romanian, whose psyche appears to have been purified in the sanctuary of the Holy Church of Chris Evert, won the Tournament of Champions in Sofia today. Dropping her first set of the tournament, Halep defeated Stosur 2-6, 6-2, 6-2.
My only concern about Halep as she went into the final was her leg. It did bother her from time to time during the match, and she said that she, too, was worried about it before the match began, but that she really wanted to win, and that's apparently what she focused on. She was also fortunate that the injury didn't get worse.
Other than the injury issue, the match was kind of predictable. Stosur came out ready to control things, and control things she did--during the first set. After that, Halep's now-characteristic comeback began, enabling her to win the second set. In the final set, Stosur looked better and there was every reason to believe that the last set would be the most competitive one--but then, Stosur was broken. And she was broken. Unable to scare Halep away with her heavy topspin, the Australian instead struggled to find a Plan B, and allowed Halep to extract errors from her, just as she had in the previous set.
Though she has done well on a variety of surfaces, clay really make's Halep's game deadly. She has just enough time to get a good reading of exactly what her opponent is up to, and then she's ready with a counter-plan. She hits the ball deceptively hard when she needs to, and specializes in luring her opponent to a defensive position. And Stosur, for all her gifts in the serving and forehand departments, can be pushed around by a clever opponent.
With Halep, it's all about whether her serve is on. If it is, she can almost relax into her aggression. She's got the movement, the shots, the footwork, and the confidence. Developing a more consistent serve would really take some pressure off of her.
Halep has played in six finals this year, and has won all of them. For those of us who have been watching the Romanian and waiting for this for a long time, this year was the pay-off. For others, it must be quite a surprise. Romania has a strong WTA contingent, and now it has a leader. When the new rankings are published, Halep will be number 11 in the world.
Maybe Halep's success will spur even more triumphs for the other Romanians, too. Just like with the Russians a decade ago.
ReplyDeleteSo many, like Halep, have been close in the past but often just came up a bit short of taking big steps, reaching finals but hardly ever winning any. 6-0 is quite an inspiration.
Simona probably sleeps in her Believe shoes :)
ReplyDeleteSimona's serve was better in '08 and '09. For those of a technical bent there's this: She kept her serving arm elbow below the shoulder until reaching the backscratch part of the swing. She tucked the elbow a little farther back, which few do (Serena and Pete do), and the racquet started down at the toss. Now Simona raises the arm quickly a la Azarenka (bad) and loses fluidity and power. The elbow is off to her right side. No power server does this. See the Paris indoors video on YouTube to see Simona's former serve. I'll try to find her coach next year at Indian Wells...
ReplyDeleteI checked it out not long ago, and you've described the change well. And I've noticed how quickly she raises her arm, as though she's actually going to take a swat at the ball.
ReplyDeleteKeep us posted.
stosur is kind of like any roddick...
ReplyDeleteyou can't just win with a strong serve and forehand. you have to have point construction...and i saw their match in moscow...Halep killed Stosur with strategy. She knows that Stosur loves the backhand corner and Halep just kept firing off backhand DTLs.
did today's match go the same way?
really, stosur needs to come up with some other patterns...and not just rely on her opponents making mistakes bc they can't handle her spins. She needs to go for more lines too. or at least a bit closer...she hits in the middle of the court too much
Eric, I posted a reply, and my cat Roxie hit the exit key (she could have at least hit "publish," but that's Roxie for you). Anyway--yes--pretty much the same thing--rushing the net and driving Stosur to the corners, and also getting her on the wrong foot. Halep also threw in some tricky serves that put Stosur on immediate defense. It was a really good performance in sets 2 and 3.
ReplyDeleteIn the latter part of his career, Andy R. figured it out and added more strategy to his game. He became a much better player. Stosur just pkays it too safe.
Many of the players get the hitting arm elbow up above the shoulder. Some serve well but the great serves have the low tucked elbow (below the shoulder) and a significant shoulder turn away from the court that forces the hip into the court and the knees to bend. See Serena and Pete Sampras. The two best. Yet NOBODY teaches that arm and trunk rotation. NOBODY. Maybe the coaches are on crack. Jes' kidding. But most are asleep as to the serve, which is a very delicate thing. My point about Simona's serve had nothing to do with her amazing footwork and point construction. Those are taken care of. I wrote of the improvement that she'll need to challenge the top top players.
ReplyDeleteI think Halep is a genius at recognizing short cross-courts and then rifling them down the line. And at keeping her own cross-courts deep enough. Also, her opponents don't take advantage when she does hit the aberrant short cross-court.
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