Venus played well until 5-2 in the first set but then the wheels fell off. I haven't seen her 2nd serve that bad in years. I'll blame it on the forearm I guess. At least she was hitting and moving a bit better than she's been recently. There were a ton of vintage winners for a HL reel. Hopefully she'll be able to win tomorrow.
Putintseva is batshit crazy. She's usually on her better behavior against big name players but today she couldn't contain herself. Mess.
She played the Fed Cup in Hawaii last weekend. It was a surprise to many people that she played at all this week. But she certainly was not going to travel from Hawaii to St. Petersburg.