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Beside the seaside: Simona at Eastbourne 2017

7K views 96 replies 18 participants last post by  seychelles 
#1 · (Edited)
Eastbourne is a Premier tournament with 470 points to the winner.
It has a 48 draw with first round byes for the seeds.
Simona has been there since Thursday the 22nd and ought to play her second round match Monday or Tuesday. The final is played on Saturday.

Draw:

(1)Kerber v BYE
(wc)Broady v Kr. Pliskova
Putintseva v Arruabarrena (Q)
(16)Gavrilova v BYE
(10)Ostapenko v BYE
Suarez Navarro v Makarova
Cirstea (LL) v Siniakova
(5)Konta v BYE

(3)Ka. Pliskova v BYE
Riske v Cornet
Schiavone (Q) v Peng
(15)Bacsinszky v BYE
(9)Mladenovic v BYE
Zhang v Lepchenko (Q)
Konjuh v Barthel (Q)
(7)Kuznetsova v BYE

(8)Radwanska v BYE
Kucova (LL) v Davis (LL)
Bouchard v Strycova
(11)Muguruza v BYE
(14)Pavlyuchenkova v BYE
Babos v Mertens
Tsurenko v (wc)Watson
(4)Cibulkova v BYE

(6)Wozniacki v BYE
Osaka v Osaki (Q)
Hsieh (Q) v Cepede Royg (LL)
(12)Vesnina v BYE
Pironkova (LL) v BYE
Lucic-Baroni v Niculescu
McHale v Duan (Q)
(2/wc)Halep v BYE
 
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#6 ·
Kvitova is still at Birmingham and who knows what Lucic-Baroni will come up with. I'm just hoping Simona can get a win or two here and avoid any injury ahead of Wimbledon and from a selfish point of view, keeping fingers crossed her first match isn't scheduled on court 1.
As for a player being slamless No 1, it's quite likely to happen anyway. Either Simona or Karolina could go to No 1 without winning Wimbledon, if Angie fails to defend her points with most of the other possible Wimbledon contenders too far behind in the rankings.
 
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#8 ·
Eastbourne is a Premier tournament with 470 points to the winner.
It has a 48 draw with first round byes for the seeds.
Simona has been there since Thursday the 22nd and ought to play her second round match Monday or Tuesday. The final is played on Saturday.

Draw:

(1)Kerber v BYE
(wc)Broady v Kr. Pliskova
Putintseva v Q/LL
(16)Gavrilova v BYE
(10)Ostapenko v BYE
Suarez Navarro v Makarova
Q/LL v Siniakova
(5)Konta v BYE

(3)Ka. Pliskova v BYE
Riske v Cornet
Q/LL v Peng
(15)Bacsinszky v BYE
(9)Mladenovic v BYE
Zhang v Q/LL
Konjuh v Q/LL
(7)Kuznetsova v BYE

(8)Radwanska v BYE
Goerges v Bellis
Bouchard v Strycova
(11)Muguruza v BYE
(14)Pavlyuchenkova v BYE
Babos v Mertens
Tsurenko v (wc)Watson
(4)Cibulkova v BYE

(6)Wozniacki v BYE
Osaka v Q/LL
Q/LL v Kasatkina
(12)Vesnina v BYE
(13/wc)Kvitova v BYE
Lucic-Baroni v Niculescu
McHale v Q/LL
(2/wc)Halep v BYE
Quite interesting Draw I must say. ;)

- Ostapenko, Ka Pliskova Mladenovic and Konta are all in the top half. :yeah:
- Goerges and Bellis (my youngest favorite) can meet again in a few days. :lol: (Today they play SF in Mallorca.)
- In theory Muguruza can be dangerous in the SF, but she has some left leg problem (and still playing in Birmingham). I think she will chose to focus more on Wimbledon.
- The obvious BIG question is R16 with Kvitova or MLB:
I think Kvitova is also focusing on Wimbledon (and would chose an understandable early exit vs. the Race leader... :hehehe:)
MLB would surely fight with everything she has, but lately she plays with more errors, and now Simona is usually better prepared. All in all, I would be very happy to see a revenge vs. MLB on grass! :bounce:

According to the past, Simona needs only 1-3 matches in order to get into the grass-court tennis.
(Aaaand I would be in heaven if the dream SF happens: Simona vs. CiCi Bellis... :hearts:)
 
#12 ·
It looks like Simona will be playing on Tuesday, let's hope the weather is better than the current forecast. They already have had some delays of the qualifying matches and last year several players had to play two matches in one day to catch up. In addition, the sea mists that are prevalent in the locality can come in and dampen the courts and delay the start of play. Bearing all that in mind, I breathed a sigh of relief when I couldn't find Simona's name in the doubles draw, that could have created a badly congested schedule.
I would see any wins Simona can get here as useful, but an early exit is not a tragedy, she will then have more time practicing in the London area. However, if she can get past 7000 points and into number 1, then I would say she should go for it, both Pliskova and Kerber have more points to defend in the US Open season that she does, so getting to no 1 without winning a slam is quite plausible at that part of the season as well, people may just have to get used to it.
Simona has not played MLB for over two years and this should be seen as a problem she should be seeking to confront and solve. MLB is so inconsistent that she may lose her seeding prior to the US Open, it could be useful to face her with Cahill being able to offer OCC.
 
#13 ·
Being #1 without winning a Slam is only a bad thing if you want it to be.
She would become the first Romanian #1 in the women's game (Ruzici's highest ranking was #8), which is a huge accomplishment.
Sure, it's not winning a Slam, but who in their right mind would still put Ruzici's above Simona's achievements so far?
So of course I want her to be #1 even if she doesn't win a Slam, it's much better than not winning a Slam and not being #1.
She'd be part of an exclusive group of players, whether her critics want it or not.
And as fans of Simona it should be obvious that her being #1 is a good thing. To imagine it's a bad thing is buying into her critics' narrative.
 
#14 ·
It is a good thing. My only point was that we (and her) should brace ourselves for the negativity that will come with it. Well, for us the GM mockery, for her the pressure of being the #1 seed everywhere and every now and then an inappropriate/irritating related question from a stupid/pressed journalist.
 
#17 · (Edited)
I've previously been to Eastbourne in 2015 and 2016 when it was WTA only and you can already see the damage the presence of ATP matches is doing. On tomorrow's OOP, an obscure British wildcard called Cameron Norrie has been put on centre court with Ostapenko v CSN on court 1.
Only five of the women's seeds are playing tomorrow which raises the chances that Simona, Garbi, Angie or one of the other top players will be put on court 1 on Tuesday.
Last year I remember Doi played on an outside court and a Japanese TV crew were present, as if there was no other Video coverage of the match. Only Centre and court 1 were covered on Tennis TV last year, so matches like Bouchard v Strycova tomorrow could have no coverage. The old British saying about not being able to organise a piss-up in a brewery comes to mind.
I'll be on site tomorrow hoping that matches on Centre proceed quickly, helped along by the rapid defeat of Mr Norrie, so that another woman's seed may be scheduled on Centre.
I'll have a look round the practice courts for Simona as well.
I see Monica has finally finished off MLB, I suppose that's one less thing to worry about, until the next tournament.
 
#23 ·
...
"On RG regrets: “I should have hit that 2nd serve return (at 3-0 in 2nd). Just go for it. But I didn’t. That one is killing me, actually.""
...
YESSS, her problems (of this kind) started in 2015. When she used her returning as a weapon, she was amazing, and when she forgot it, she lost her chances.
Now it seems she's getting to understand the importance being aggressive in the key moments.
 
#22 ·
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#25 · (Edited)
Those who played today had the best of the weather. The forecast for tomorrow is not favourable, but the small mercy is that Simona is scheduled first, so has a chance of playing if there is any clear weather. I'm not surprised to see she is scheduled on court 1 at 11am on Tuesday, but that's better IMO than one of the outside courts where there can be distractions of people walking by and talking during the play.
I saw Duan play at the Surbiton ITF last year. She is very big, looks ponderous and will I'm sure be seeking to play short points. I hope Simona takes her seriously and is prepared to be diligent in making good deep returns of serve and playing Duan like any big hitter with suspect movement.
Best of luck Simona with your performance and with the weather!
 
#27 ·
This match is important for her mental state.
Grass and a BB - perfect opportunity.
 
#31 ·
I didn't like the look of the weather forecast this morning and didn't travel to the site, so, same as everybody else, can only look on Eurosport to try to glean what's going on. They were saying "no play before 11.45 GMT"
Update: no play before 13.00 GMT
- so it will require checking periodically to see if there is any chance of a resumption.
 
#32 · (Edited)
The Los Halepenos site has updates from a fan waiting on court 1.
https://www.instagram.com/los_halepenos/?hl=en
The notional play not before time has been pushed back to 15.00 local or 14.00 GMT.
I don’t envy anybody hanging around waiting in the hope there might be some play, the location has little cover and is pretty miserable when it's raining.
Update: now not before 14.45 GMT
 
#40 · (Edited)
Well done Simona! Whatever happens from now on, my first tournament thread is not a first match loss.
You could see Simona improving her movement as the match went on. She adjusted well and finished the match well, even if she doesn't win this afternoon, it's made the tournament a useful experience. Duan could have caused even bigger problems in R1 at Wimbledon. Hopefully this goes some way to banishing any nightmares of Roland Garros and helps her focus on the present.
Simona ought to realise that the grass can help her, it takes time away from her opponents, it enables her to hit more winners and put opponents under immediate pressure with accurate returns.
Pironkova is another player who has good results on grass and it would be a great opportunity to play another potential Wimbledon R1 opponent. I hope Simona goes to the match with the intention to win it. Albeit, the withdrawal is always likely to be somewhere in the back of players' minds, any further bad weather could lead to a further schedule congestion.
Best of luck for R3 Simona!
 
#41 ·
It was her first match on grass and Duan started well. Simona actually played really good. She was trying to be aggressive since the beginning, but she made few too many errors and Duan didn't let her to do much. But Simona did what she's supposed to do - waited for her chances and then took most of them. I'm pleased with what I saw. Match against Pironkova should be easier.

Stats W-UE:
Halep 32-20
Duan 28-28
 
#48 · (Edited)
It was her first match on grass and Duan started well. Simona actually played really good. She was trying to be aggressive since the beginning, but she made few too many errors and Duan didn't let her to do much. But Simona did what she's supposed to do - waited for her chances and then took most of them. I'm pleased with what I saw. Match against Pironkova should be easier.

Stats W-UE:
Halep 32-20
Duan 28-28
First of all, Pironkova lost to Arruabarrena in qualies. Simona had a break since RG final, she shoudn't be tired after one match. And after hearing what she said in interviews she wants to be number 1, so I really can't see her withdrawing before semifinal.

Kerber just lost the first set.
Are you happy to reconsider now the "easiness" of this encounter?

That's why I took a break from this place since RG... and I guess I should continue. I have a hard time with fans frequently overestimating Simona, hence always creating expectations. I like her for what she is, but I see no point of claiming she's better than she is, or to underestimate her opponents (in an almost insulting way), just because they had one (or five) bad matches before.

I don't imply Pironkova is the better player because of the scoreline. But Simo is not Serena. The margin she has above other players is minimal. She can easily lose if she's not at her best, that fragile her tennis is. And as she's not willing to risk it much before Wimblendon, it's expected she won't give her best here. Hence it's highly likely she would lose to someone like Pironkova.

Let's just be happy she didn't lose in R1 anymore... hopefully she will spare us (and herself) that embarrassment from now on as well. I didn't have many expectations about this round when I heard it was Pironkova. A player isn't defined only by some loss to Arruabaerrena. Simo also lost to Cepelova and many others. Piru is also the one who sent Aga packing at RG last year (among many scalps). She's also a tall player. Few tall players would lose the match before entering the court against a small player like Simona... who's still not able to compensate that through proper aggression. On the contrary, that gives them confidence they have a shot, and likely Piru will take hers today.
 
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