Saturday, September 12, 2015

U.S. Open Day 12: Veni Vidi Vici Vinci


Hey Y'all. Galileo here.

Serena Williams has fallen short in her bid for the Grand Slam. When the Bryans fell short in their Grand Slam bid recently, they fell at the semi-final stage in New York despite dominating the whole tour that entire year. They have only won one slam and have faded dramatically since then. It shouldn’t happen to Serena, but it is a possibility.

Goosebumps were felt by all as Vici finally triumphed 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 on a day for heroines, a day for heroes. Credit must go to Vinci for a brilliant come from behind victory against the greatest singles player ever to play the game. But at the same time it must be pointed out that Serena really went off the boil. This loss is more on Serena. She had the match but she let it go. At the end she was got so tight and she gave up. She lost the match.

There has never been an Italian in the final of the Ladies’ singles here in New York. Now there are two. Vinci is down 4-5 in the head to head and she lost to Pennetta in the quarters here in 2013 by 6-4, 6-1. Flavia is the big favourite but never discount Roberta. Not after that performance.

The ATP side is in the naughty corner for being unable to produce a good match in the latter stages of the slam. We can only hope the final doesn’t disappoint. Federer is the favourite there. While Djokovic is by no means out of it, things never seem to go right for him in the finals of the U.S. Open.

People seemed to ignore the fact that Novak has made four slam finals in one year. Everybody was so focused on Serena they forget that Novak has had a stellar year. Federer’s back half has been impressive, too. He could push for the top ranking next year as he has nothing to defend while Djokovic is defending thousands of points. With Nadal out of the way are all of Federer’s ducks lined up?

Apologies to anybody fluent in Latin, too. But really Vinci has conquered and conquered well. It was an inspiring victory for the Italian veteran who may yet win the whole thing.

Federer will win in four and Flavia in two. And now onto the semi-finals of the men’s. Though it will be only a brief look because, once again, the people of New York were robbed.

QUESTION: When was the last time Serena Williams lost in the semi-finals of a slam and who inflicted that defeat upon her?





ARTHUR ASHE: DJOKOVIC d. CILIC
...Cilic improved in each set of the 85-minute contest, demolition, but still came up short in a 6-0, 6-1, 6-2. Imagine the Redskins going to the Packers. And imagine Jordy Nelson is healthy and Washington have lots of bad luck and Rodgers is on fire. This is the tennis equivalent. The problem for us commenters is that there is no angle to work with. Cilic went 4-5 on the aces and 11-37 overall on winners to errors. He won just 13 points on the Novak serve but still managed to break. And this was the defending champion. This was the guy who won it last year. He sure didn’t look like it. It was a weak performance from Cilic to cap a good tournament. With that serve how could he not manage to at least make a fight of it in the second? Djokovic only went 16-13 but he broke the tournament’s biggest server eight times. Djokovic wasn’t particularly brilliant, Cilic was just awful. But you guys hear enough from me. So here is something stolen from ESPN, but directly quoted. So theft light if you will.

“Meanwhile, Djokovic beat Cilic in 85 minutes, an outcome clearly accelerated by an ankle injury that Cilic carried into the match.
In terms of games, it was the most one-sided U.S. Open men's semi-final in the Open era. Only Bjorn Borg's 6-1, 6-0, 6-1 victory over Corrado Barazzutti in the 1978 French Open featured fewer dropped games for the winner in an Open era Grand Slam."
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ARTHUR ASHE: FEDERER d. GASQUET
...He has not dropped a set since he turned 34. If Federer serves 12 aces he will have 80 aces for the tournament, which would be good enough for bronze. He has averaged 11 aces a match and he served 10 against his compatriot. Federer beat Wawrinka 6-4, 6-3, 6-1 and that is really such an impressive win. Perhaps more so even than Novak’s. Wawrinka nearly broke Federer for 2-0 in the first. After Federer held he just went from strength to strength. 29-17 on winners and just four break point chances conceded. The most impressive numbers? Federer winning 63% of second serves is big. But so is winning 46% of receiving points. Federer also went to net 28 times and won the point 22 times. Sure Wawrinka went away. But he stuck around a tad longer than Gasquet. He also got one more game. But both times Federer was utterly, untouchably dominant. And that’s not something anybody saw coming. And there’s a real chance Djokovic could be blown away. Federer just blew him away recently and he has confidence, too. Anything could happen there. But with Federer in this kind of ridiculous form and wanting revenge he is the heavy favourite. As for the semi-final, well, Federer found his form and that was all she wrote.

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Yaroslava and Casey come through against Groenefield/Vandeweghe 6-7[3], 7-5, 7-5. It was a match that matched and even exceeded the quality of the ladies singles match on Ashe. And now the fourth seeds face top seeds and world number one pairing Hingis/Mirza. With all the chaos during the tournament the final seems pretty logical. And in this tournament of upsets why don’t the fourth seeds have a shot?


ANSWER: Vinci stopped Serena from a fifth straight final this time. Last time it was Clijsters and in New York, too, in 2009. Bryan’s wife won 6-4, 7-5. But if you want the last time somebody converted a match point you’d be looking at the 2003 French Open. It was another Belgian. Henin won 6-2, 4-6, 7-5. But then she did cheat. Venus beat her in London 6-2, 7-6[3] way back in 2000. Only four times ever has she lost in a semi. Incredible.

Thanks all and visit WTA BACKSPIN please.

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posted by Todd.Spiker @ 12:58 AM 

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