There is never a "normal" opening day for a major, is there? Some of today's highlights:
Venus Williams and Kimiko Date-Krumm, who have a combined age of 77, did what they like to do--drive each other crazy on a tennis court. Date-Krumm made things hard for Williams, but Williams won in three sets. What appeared to be a bee attacked Date-Krumm, and then it went about messing with Williams' serve. These two and their matches.....
Both Simona Halep and Angelique Kerber looked shaky in their first rounds, but both won. By the time she got to her press conference, Halep was talking confidence and "nothing to lose" (really?!), but when she stepped off the court, she sounded more candidly anxious. Her opponent, Danielle Rose Collins, had a great debut.
Camila Giorgi is already out of the tournament, defeated by Anastasia Rodionova. Overall threat and huge hitter Garbine Muguruza, the 25th seed, is out, too. The Spaniard lost to Mirjana Lucic-Baroni. Also making an exit was Kirsten Flipkens, who lost to Sara Errani. New Haven finalist Magda Rybarikova retired in her third set against Caroline Wozniacki. (Is Woz back to her old tricks and zapping opponents with the retirement curse?).
Aga Radwanska and Venus Williams are wearing beautiful tennis dresses. Radwanska's polka dots really suit her.
Chris Evert revealed that she has Petra Kvitova on her list of possible U.S. Open champions, and also had her marked as a top seed who could go out early. I think that says it all.
The "combined age" stat should be mandatory for every match-up, along with head-to-head record. Ivanovic-Wozniaki, two former world #1s, would clock in at a mere 50, while, on the men's side, even the venerable Nadal-Federer are only 61.
ReplyDeleteRemember when Schiavone played Date-Krumm and told her "together we should be on the senior tour"?
ReplyDeleteHaas and Fed is a good match-up--two "old" one-handed backhands.